A Viking, A Redskin, A Buccaneer, & A Cowboy

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This is the Truth Network. Once a world champion wrestler, now a champion for Christ. Once the Russian nightmare, now the devil's worst nightmare. And your tag team partner, Nikita Kolob. It's time to man up. Hey, welcome back to another episode of The Man Up. It's time to man up with the devil's nightmare Jatoita Nikita Kolob. And man, a really special treat today. Listen to this.

Super Bowl winning quarterback from Marietta, Georgia to Black Mountain, North Carolina to becoming a standout at Florida State as a seminal to the premier football league, the NFL, the National Football League, Brad Johnson. Brad, welcome to It's Time to Man Up. I appreciate it, Nikita. Thank you for having me on your show, man. We've known each other a long time, so I appreciate you reaching out to me. We have, and it's just, it really is truly an honor to have you on. It's been fun getting to know you over the years. And today, let's just talk about kind of your journey today, Brad. I mean, born in Marietta, Georgia, and then you moved to Black Mountain at some point, yeah?

Right, right. I pretty much grew up in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It's up in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, Western Park. And my dad, he ran a camp called Camp Ridgecrest and Crest Ridge for Boys and Girls. And it's a Christian camp. Kids stayed in cabins, and there was archery and lakes and spend the night and go camping and soccer and basketball and soccer wars and all those kind of things. That's pretty much how I grew up in the camps. It was eight-week-long summer camps.

My mom was assistant principal at the high school there at Owen High School and Reynolds High School, local schools there, and PE teacher and all those kind of things. So we always had keys to gym, always had a ball to play with up at the camps. And then just later, just so you know, too, Nikita, my dad actually started Camp Windshape at Berry College in Rome, Georgia through Chick-fil-A also. So our whole family, we grew up in camps.

That's what we did. Wow. And I'm actually familiar with, I've actually been on the campus of Berry College in Rome, Georgia, believe it or not, and was not aware of it until I was down there for a variety of reasons with the number of college students working with them in health and wellness. So the camp experience, so you have lots of experience in camps. That's amazing. So any memories that kind of just immediately pop in your mouth, like from some of those experiences in some of those camps, something's funner than others?

Yeah. It was just, it was fun. Eight-week-long summer camp. When I was a little kid in Cabin 1, Ron Springs, who actually took over from Camp Ridgecrest, he was my counselor. And now, so I'm coming in there, I didn't want to be known as the son of the camp director. So I told him I was from like Miami.

I want to be treated just like every other kid, you know? And so I guess that was my first lie, but he did figure it out after a while that my dad was the camp director, you know? But it was awesome. You know, after, if you had a birthday, they would throw you in the lake after lunch, and in the lake, in the lake, and all that kind of stuff. And you're part of tribes by age group, Apache, Shawnee, Choctaw, Arapahoe, and Sioux. And it was really neat.

It was a really neat experience. And every Sunday you would dress up like an Indian and they would have a thing where we would hike through a trail and there'd be a big council ring. And you'd sing, you couldn't talk during this time, during the night.

You only could say how if something was good or wow or something was bad. And so you'd sing songs, your tribal song, you'd play games within the whole thing. And there was also, they did a thing called rankings. And so, you know, how you progressed during and out the course of the week, you went from a hunter to a warrior, to a brave, to a scout, and then hopefully be tapped out for a little chief. You had to be a certain age to do that.

That's quite, it's one of the hardest deaths you could ever pass if you ever became a little chief. And that test was, you couldn't speak for 18 hours. You had to build a fire throughout the night with two matches. If it didn't work, you were, you didn't survive. You didn't make the, pass the test.

Disqualified. You had to run a mountain. You had to run a certain, you had to run up the mountain with two people falling in between you.

You couldn't get past. They would do a devotion at the top of the mountain. You'd come down, you'd write a 1,500 word essay, what the camp meant to you.

And then you'd have to work all day and you couldn't speak the whole time, from 12 at night all the way until five the next, in the afternoon. So, but I just remember camp being, you know, a place of great friends, great respect, and you could grow closer in the Word, and just a lot of great, great memories going to camp. And it's a pretty awesome way to grow up. Wow, that's, that's amazing, Brad. And your dad then was, so was he instrumental in developing that whole, that whole program? He, he worked as a counselor, then he ended up taking over as the, you know, the head of the whole Ridgecrest and Crestfish from Boys and Girls.

Okay. And so that, that's kind of how it happened. There's, I can't, I don't know how many kids, there's probably 25 cabins for the boys and 25 cabins for the girls. So a lot of kids coming in and out. There's a two-week camp at that time, and then it kind of branched off into some other things later on.

Wow, but, but you got to spend, so, so other kids would come in for a couple weeks, but you, you, you were there for the entire eight weeks, right? So. Well, more or less. As it went on, Nikita, I was like, man, I don't, I don't feel like I want to clean up my cabin every morning for inspection, you know?

Right. So I would go to the, we'd have skills, you'd, it'd be like two or three skills in the morning, then it'd be two or three skills in the afternoon, and then, so I'd go to my basketball skills, and I'd go to another basketball skills, and if I want to go to do soccer, I'd go to soccer. So I ended up just becoming, you know, the kid that was just all in the camp, going wherever I wanted to. So I always had somebody to play with, and I always, it seemed like some counselor would always kind of take me under the wing and, for that kind of experience. Wow, what an incredible, what an incredible upbringing, like, like for real. And then you said your, your dad went on to help then develop the, the, the Chick, the Windshape, the Chick-fil-A program after that? Right, right. Chick-fil-A's kids, they ended up, they went to Camp Ridgecrest also.

Okay. They took that little chief test that I was talking about, Bubba and Dan Cathy, and then they started the camp with Truett Cathy, you know, he passed, but, but they started the camp at Camp Windshape, and so my dad took over from that from scratch, and they started that on the back part of Berry Campus, which is now called Camp Windshape, in the back part of Berry College. And Berry College, I think it's like 50,000 acres back there. Yeah. It's just, it's an incredible place if people get the opportunity to go to Berry College, and then especially go to the camp also.

Either one, either Ridgecrest, North Carolina, or at Camp Windshape down in Rome, Georgia. Wow, that's, that's, that's really, that's really amazing. Now, you mentioned a number of different sports. You were a multi-sport athlete, but before we get into that, you kind of cut your teeth, so to speak, in all these camps, right, with the opportunity to experience all of the different sports, it sounds like.

It did. I mean, I was, you're trying to ride horses, you're, you're just swimming in a, you got a kayak, you're shooting archery, you're playing soccer. I mean, just, you name a sport, we were doing it, and you know, we played two square, four square, all those kind of games in free period, and it was just, it was just an awesome place to, you know, every two months, or two months out of my life, every summer, you know, to age 14 or 15, I always, I lived at the camp. Wow. And kind of got free of charge, too, with my dad being there. Wow. Pretty, pretty cool experience. Him being the director, he, even though you were from Miami, so, you know, but.

Yeah. That's a great story. I love that story.

That's awesome. Miami. So, okay, so, so you get to experience all these different sports at the camps, and then obviously, eventually, in, you know, you're, you're in school, so now it's not summertime, now it's fall, fall, winter, spring, and, and you play multiple sports, but during those days, was football always your favorite, or did you like any of the other sports? I know you, you're a big guy, I know you, I know you played basketball, I'm guessing. Yeah, yeah, basketball was my passion. Okay. I never missed a day of playing basketball from second grade all the way through my freshman year of college. Christmas, New Year's Day, I always found a place to at least shoot some foul shots or, you know, something. I was going to get in a few shots and play, always lived at playgrounds or gyms, had keys to gyms, and so basically, my goal was to become an NBA basketball player.

Okay. And as it went on, I ended up being 3A player of the year at North Carolina, scored 2,400 points, and, you know, I grew to be six foot five, and a guy that couldn't jump and dunk out and jump out of the gym and guard anybody, but yeah, I could score, I could score a bucket, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to do from high school to college, what I wanted to play. I had more potential. I was an All-American in football, but I was an All-State player in basketball, but the All-American status was more potential in my size, and so many people at that time thought I was, you know, I looked like a potential Vinnie Testaverde would be in that height, but in basketball, they didn't think I had enough potential, so my goal, I really want to play for a guy named Bobby Cremins who was at Georgia Tech, and he offered me a scholarship there, and he said, Brad, there's another guy named Dennis Scott.

He's an All-American, and, you know, only play five guys, and you'll probably be sitting the bench behind him. He said, what do you want to do? Do you think, what do you think your next level is potential-wise? And I said, Coach Cremins, I think it's in football, and he says, he said, Brad, you can come here, but you'll sit the bench, but, you know, I think you ought to follow your, you know, whatever gives you the most chance of reaching your goal to become professional, if that's what you want to do. So at that time, he kind of taught me into playing football. I chose to go to Florida State, play for Bobby Cremins, I mean, play for Bobby Bowden, which is an unbelievable honor to do that and all the wins and what kind of program he had, so that's kind of how I chose to go to Florida State and chose my football path at that time. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna ask you a couple questions about that.

Just a couple more before we kind of get there. I meant to ask you too, so growing up in camp now, did you have brothers and or sisters who experienced those camps too, or were you an only child? Yeah, I have a sister, Julie. She's six years younger than me, so I was separated a little bit, but she did the camps also. She did, okay. She didn't play the sports as much as I did, but she enjoyed doing all the camps and she's been a, you know, great sister, you know, one of my biggest cheerleaders.

That's awesome. Now, a random question here, you know, do a little more, even though we're friends, I still have to do a little research on you, you know, Brad. So, you go by, you know, you said you're from Miami, but you also, I also found out you go by your middle name.

Is there a reason why you go by your middle name? Nikita, I'm not from Miami. I just made up that story. No, I know, I know, I know. Yeah, okay. Just to be clear, you're from, I know you grew up in Black Mountain, North Carolina, just for my listeners, to be clear.

Yes. Yeah, my middle name is Bradley and my parents just decided to call me Brad and thought it was a short name and we kind of went with that. I don't know if there was a particular reason, but that's what it was. Now, I'm just curious because my birth name, you know, I think most people know by now I wasn't born the Russian nightmare Nikita Kolov. Nikita Kolov was born in the hallways of North Carolina thanks to Don Crenodle and Sergeant Slaughter. If it wasn't for those two guys, there never would have been a Nikita Kolov, but my birth name, I mean, I did not like my first name and I'm going to keep people hanging. For those who don't know, they'll either have to go Google it or buy my newest book on my life story, but I went by my middle name only because I just did not like my first name. Now, I like it now, but I sure didn't when I was a kid in school, boys. So anyway, I went by my middle name.

So anyway, just a random question there. So, well, that's cool. Well, so you mentioned you stand out in high school and that's a great story on how you got to Florida State down to the Sunshine State and that was actually one of the questions I was going to ask was, what was it like to play for the legendary coach Bobby Bowden?

Yeah, it was awesome, awesome. You know, when I went there, he was 63 years old. He came and spoke at my high school banquet. He came into my house and I asked him, he gave me a spill while I should go to Florida State, you know, hoping to get me there and all that. I asked him two bold questions. I asked him, you know, are you going to play the best player?

And I asked him also, how much longer are you going to coach? At that time, we thought 63 was older. He's still living. He's like 94.

Look at that range now. And so it's pretty cool, Nikita, when I got there, I think he, I played, I was in school at Florida State for five years. And in my third, my third or fourth year at Florida State, he won his 200th win, which we thought that was unbelievable.

Wow. And so we usually had meetings at like 1 30 in the afternoon. Well, there was one day he called a meeting, an early meeting at one o'clock and I went to my, I went to my, uh, my roommate, Gene Hopp. I said, Gene, holy cow, you know, we won our 200th win.

I think he's getting ready to retire, you know? Right. And, and what he did, he actually gave his testimony and it was really cool for a football coach at that moment to do something like that. And he went on to win 300, I think 67 or some, some odd games.

Wow. He coached another 20, 20 years. Um, and so it's pretty incredible looking back the mountain, the coaches that he brought in, the longevity that he had, it wasn't a place where they were firing and hiring coaches left and right. Kind of like what happens now.

Right. And I just, man, I, my experience at Florida State was awesome. Uh, the guys I grew up with as friends, as players, and then the coaches that we had, that's pretty awesome. I met my wife, Nikki, and I hit my, uh, my quarterback coach was Mark Rick and he hooked me up with his sister after I graduated.

And so I just, man, I couldn't, couldn't pick a better place. And lucky coach Rick, he, I don't know if he liked me as a player too much in college, but he definitely liked me as a person. So fortunately he hooked me up with his sister, Nikki. Well, that's amazing. And, and that kind of almost led me into my next question because I had heard, you know, lots of different stories about, you know, Bobby Bowden, his, you know, being a man of faith and a follower of Jesus and heard a number of those. So you just kind of confirmed what, you know, what I had heard in the past. So that's amazing.

Yeah. I tell you something really cool, Nikita, and I think it was 2013, they named, I think that was the year they named the, uh, Florida State, they named the field, Bobby Bowden field. And on that day, I think we had like 400 players show up and, uh, we were all the way from the, from the goal, from the goalpost all the way to the 50 yard line, they named it, Bobby Bowden field with 10 rows back. And we weren't really talking about, you know, the 367 games or however many it was a national championship. So we were really talking about, man, how it was.

That's really awesome. He was our head coach. He was first class, uh, and how much many of us have become, uh, either coaches or teachers or mentors, just how thankful we were to play for coach Bowden. So it was pretty awesome, his life and story and everything you can imagine it's been said about him. It's all true.

He impacted a lot of young men's lives, didn't he? That's amazing. All feet agree. Clemens carpet is where you need to be with carpet, vinyl, tile, and hardwood from the top brands. Clemens carpet does it right from beginning to install voted number one by you in the reader's choice awards, Doug, Chad, Benny Pee-wee and the team at Clemens carpet look forward to seeing and serving you soon. This is Nikita Koloff.

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There are whole inventories right there with the right price. Everybody drives a Crescent. You should too drive crescent.com. You're drafted in the ninth round by, uh, my favorite team, uh, the Minnesota Vikings. Hello. And, uh, and so, and you have, you have this, uh, a 15 year career in the national football league playing for the Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Dallas Cowboys. And, and of course, as I said in the opening, you won the super bowl with, with the Buccaneers. Um, uh, this is interesting too in 2002 season, you lead the box to the first super bowl ever super bowl 37, I think, right.

Um, over the men in silver and black dot Raiders as, as they've been called. And, and you earned a second pro bowl appearance. So even though, yeah, you, I mean, you said late bloomer, but man, you, you really proved yourself, uh, in the NFL. One other note I want to mention before you talk a little bit about that. Yeah. One of the notables I found was you made NFL history in 1997 against the Carolina Panthers of all teams.

That's where I live now. So here we go. Uh, in which you became the first NFL player to complete a touchdown pass ready for this, for all the people out there listening to yourself. Yep.

Yeah. So, so I had a lot of funny things like that happened to me that game. I actually, I dropped back and throw a pass. We're on the three yard line and ball got deflected. It came back to me. Uh, it was third down.

Um, and I knew if I got tackled, we still could kick the field goal base got scrambled and dove into the end zone and it came 12 points in fantasy football. Uh, this is the first time anyone's ever caught, I mean, thrown and caught their own path and we didn't know what it was. It actually won an SD award that year. So that's a cool moment and kind of a headliner kind of moment from, from our career and stuff. And Nikita went and kind of went going back a little bit in time, tell you about basketball with 1987.

That was, I couldn't decide. That was the year I graduated from high school where I was going to play again, when I was talking about, and that was the year, uh, the great, um, Phil Sims, the New York giants beat the great John Elway, Denver Broncos. And, um, and, and so after the game, Phil Sims, when they won, he said, I'm going to Disneyland. And so the confetti was falling on his face and that's, they did it. And I remember the next day we were saying, I'm going to Disneyland. Cause that was the first time the commercial came out. And so that was one of the factors too, you know, being a big guy, big quarterback, and then it's so cool.

Cause 16 years later, I got to say the same thing. Uh, when I was with Tampa Bay, we beat the Oakland Raiders and the confetti was falling on my face. And I was holding my son, Max, with my wife, Nikki, she's, uh, seven and a half months pregnant with her other son, Jake. And I got to say, I was going to Disneyland. So it was really cool looking back, some of the things I got to experience, um, full circle, full circle. That's awesome. And Hey, favorite coach in the NFL, would you say you have one, one that, one that didn't fire me.

Oh my God. Or you could get fun of the NFL. I had great coaches.

Let me just give them the list of people real quick. Um, my college coaches, Martin Rick, Bobby Bowden and Minnesota had a guy named Jack Burns, Brian Billick who went on, went to super bowl, Danny green, Tony Dungy was with me there and he gave me a job later in Tampa. And then I had a North Turner in Washington that Tony in Tampa, John Gruden in Tampa, uh, Mike Tyson, Minnesota, and then Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett in Dallas.

So I was only with headliners and winners and hall of famers and unbelievable coaches. So very, very thankful. That's amazing.

That's a, that's a, wow. That's a hall of fame list right there. Uh, uh, real quick, favorite player.

Did you have a favorite player that you played with? For a receiver is whoever, whoever's open can catch it. That's good. Good answer. I got to play with, uh, I threw Chris Carter and Tim Brown their hundredth touchdown pass.

Okay. I threw Randy Moss's first touchdown pass. I threw a Warren Sapp his first touchdown pass and I threw myself my first touchdown pass. That's amazing.

Well, and for those who aren't familiar with football, Warren Sapp's a defensive player, so that's even more impressive. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I play with so many guys. I can't tell you how many guys I've played with.

I know. Hall of fame and two of the greatest leaders that I play with on the team were, uh, John Lynch. He was getting ready to go to hall of fame this year when I was with him in Tampa and then Jason Witten in Dallas.

He'll make the hall of fame here, uh, in a few years, tied in. That's, that's amazing. That's amazing. Well, um, we, we got, got a few minutes left here and, uh, time just flies on, on this show, but you, you've mentioned her several times. You're, you're a beautiful bride. Uh, Nikki, you've got, you got two, two sons. I know we've talked, you already met, you mentioned your brother-in-law Mark Rick, former head coach at the University of Georgia, University of Miami. He introduced you to your lovely bride and, um, and, and one of your sons, uh, you mentioned Max. If I, if I understand right, he's a quarterback for the LSU Tigers and, and got his first college start December 12th, 2020 is what it's saying. And they beat the underdog, underdog LSU won the game.

Yeah, no doubt it. Uh, we have two boys, Max and Jake. I coached Max out of the womb as far as trying to be a quarterback and coach all his youth football teams, middle school, high school teams. And then he, uh, got to start the last two games of the season last year. And it was really weird being in the stands. I can't yell and say, look out or this guy, I'm up there biting my fingernails like every other parent.

And, uh, then my other son, our other son, Jake, he's a senior this year and he's, he's committed to LSU and he'll be going there early in January. So it's a man, it's, it's fun to watch him. And I used to control everything that he did. I used to be, now they're bigger than me and the only way I can control them is take away the phone. That's the only power I got left.

Spoken like a, like a true parent. And, and, and I know Max is a quarterback. Are they both quarterbacks or just Max?

Yeah, Max, he's a lefty. He's a quarterback, number 14 at LSU. And then Jake, uh, he's a tight end. So I don't, I don't know how to teach him how to block or catch, but he's really done well for himself.

That's awesome. Well, Hey, if it helps, uh, and it may not, but I played tight end in high school and college and, uh, had a halfway decent career, uh, and just loved catching the ball. In fact, Mark Reed, my quarterback, we're, uh, our, our team had the most winning, the best winning record in, in the school's his hundred year plus history and inducted our entire team that year into the hall of fame. And he looked at me at the banquet detail. He goes, best hands in football. I go, what are you talking about, Mark? He goes, best hands in football. I go, what do you mean? He goes, I just knew I could, all I had to do is get it close to you and you would catch it.

It didn't matter where it was. And I go, wow, that's quite a compliment. I appreciate that.

So, yeah. Well, let me, let me ask you this, Brad, what is something for our listeners out there? What is something important that you want people to know about Brad Johnson? I was fortunate enough to achieve about every thing I ever wanted to as an athlete. I went through every high and I went through every low.

I went through every low from being benched to being booed, to being fired, all those things. And so I think one of the greatest thing is I'm able now because of winning a Super bowl of going through some tough times where I'm really fortunate enough now as I can share all of those experiences. And one of the greatest things I could do when I, when I got done, I didn't know what I really, really wanted to do. I didn't want to, I didn't want to be a coach, like a college or pro guy.

I wanted to be with my family. I want to coach my kids. I want to impact those around me. And so one of the big thing for me is just being able to make an impact on, on the youth and really just kind of being myself and being able to share those stories of the good and the tough. And, uh, that's, that's, I wake up every day just hoping to tell any stories like that. And so I'm very, very thankful for my wife, Nikki, our two boys, and just, you know, all the friends and people that have impacted my life.

I'm going to the summer camps and all my high school coaches, Kenny Ford, Bill Burroughs, and just, I'm very, very, very, very blessed. Well, and, and I think our listeners probably sensed that and just your story today and what you shared with them, Brad. And I know in the time that I've gotten to know you and been around you, I could just attest to that and, and say, you have such a heart for people and, and a tender heart. And man, I appreciate you being on the show today. It's been such a joy interviewing you for the Man Up show. And will you come back sometime and do it again? I'd love to.

Reach out to me. I'm home. Anytime you get home. All right. Well, hey, thanks for tuning in to It's Time to Man Up today.

Brad Johnson, Super Bowl quarterback with the Tampa Bay Bucks. Tune in again next time, and you're going to hear another great story. God bless everyone.

Have a wonderful week. Men, I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days with Lex Luger and I at Man Camp, pursuing the heart of God. Ladies, if you're listening, we'll send your men home better equipped to be men of God, godly husbands, and godly fathers that appeals to you. Give them your blessing and encourage them to sign up today at mancamp.info. Pastors, if you would like to bring Koloff for Christ Ministries and Man Up Conference to your community, go to koloff.org and email me.

Remember this, it's time to man up. We so appreciate our listeners. If you will support this program with a financial gift of any amount, I will send you a personalized copy of my latest book, Nikita, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption. Go to koloff.net. That's koloff.net, koloff.net, and make your contribution today. Nikita Koloff here.

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