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Phillip Geiggar: Receiving his T-Ring
How did you just feel picking up your T-Ring? It felt great. Ever since I got my degree, it's been really emotional because I'm the first one in my family to graduate from a big university like this. It's really emotional. I'm going to take pictures of it on my phone and send them to my mom and my sister. There is no feeling better than this. What does it mean to you to now be tied into that fraternity? It's funny, because when I was trying out for the All American Football League, I was down in Houston and there was a guy who was taking our weight. He was an older guy, but he had a T-Ring on. I looked at it and told him I was going to get mine soon and he told me to take care of it. So it really is like a big fraternity and it made me feel really good. How significant is that to you with the tradition going back to Coach Royal? Anything involving Coach Royal is an honor. With him doing what he did here and the legacy that he is. It's an honor. Then Mack Brown is a great person and he has a National Championship under his belt now. To be a part of that is special. You see the state of Texas football now with the improvements to the stadium being so significant, how do feel being a part of the teams that laid the groundwork for that? It feels really good. People ask me all the time if I have a championship ring, and I say no, but I have the first Rose Bowl ring, which mean so much, because I was part of a class that started that. What have you been doing besides the Texas Gameday show? I've been doing that and I've been chasing this football thing. I've been playing Arena2 for two years in Louisiana, and now I'm going to the All American Football League to play. It's outdoor football, which is what I've been trying to get back to. What's the structure of the league? The structure is that you have to have your college degree to play in it. The main office is in Atlanta, Ga., and the Texas team will be in Houston. It's a good way to have spring football, because people miss football in the spring, and it's hopefully going to help raise graduation rates, because there are a lot of good players that don't get to go to the NFL. Where do things stand with the league? There's a draft coming up on the 26th of January in Houston. That's the draft party for the Houston team. They'll draft players and they're also having a draft after-party at Ringers on the same night at 8:00. It will be good exposure for the league, so I'm looking forward to it. How does the draft work? They have protected players from Texas that won't be in the draft, they're automatically on the Texas team and go into camp with them. For the rest of the draft, it will be the guys that didn't get protected. I think they can protect 20. Those players that aren't protected have to be at the draft in Houston. Then they all come back here for the Ringers after-party. How has your television experience been for you? It's been a lot of fun, especially doing it with Stevie Lee since he's my best friend and he's a whole bunch of fun to be around. Jim Knox is there too, and he's been a lot of fun. It's been a really good experience and something I'll look into in the future. Have any plans developed for a Kickin' It with the Horns reunion? It's funny. I was talking to Tony (Jeffery) not too long ago, and he said that we need to have an old school Kickin' It with the Horns, and I told him that's a great idea. I would love to do it if that were in the plans. Is there anything else new with you? I'm currently trying to get my mom and my sister to move to Austin, along with my nieces and nephews. They love Austin, and that's really about it. My biggest plan was to finish my degree and get in this All-American League. Now that I'm here, my ultimate goal is to get in the NFL, so stay tuned. What about plans much further beyond football? Way down the line, I was thinking about starting my own clothing line, mostly for jeans. I actually ran into a guy who is starting something like that and he said he'd love for me to be a part of it. So, I'd like to do that, and I'd like to coach or maybe be a personal trainer. Then there's the broadcasting and being a football analyst, so there are a lot of roads I could go down, and I wouldn't mind going down all of them.
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