T.J. Watt: Fighting depression amid college injury struggles | Forward Progress

0:00Get business done with the new American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited card. With unlimited 2 % cash back on all eligible purchases, unlimited 5 % cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel Online, and a flexible spending capacity that can grow with your business, you'll have the confidence to keep building. Apply today and earn a welcome offer of$1 ,500 cash back after you spend$50 ,000 in qualifying purchases on your new card within the first six months of card membership. Terms apply. Learn more at go.mx.graphite. As we wrap up the week, we're bringing you one of the many positive messages from our past interviews.

0:35Each Thursday, we're sharing stories of our most watched athletes, celebrities and leaders. We hope these problem solving narratives inspire you to tackle obstacles in your own life. This week, TJ Watt.

0:52What do you remember from your parents living with you and Derek for a month at Madison? I honestly haven't thought about that in a long time. That's another example of my parents and just the people that they are and the parents that they are. I had my knee surgery, Derek had his foot surgery around the same time, so they moved into the hotel on campus and they would drive us to and from class, to and from PT appointments, to everything. To be able to have your parents to lean on at a time where I was in a very low point of my life going through surgeries and position changes and all that to be able to have that normalcy and have family dinners even if it was in a hotel room was special.

1:34Your mom cried yesterday when she was talking to me on the phone about that period you went through then. Yeah. I mean you don't play a snap for like three years. Take me back to kind of that time and what's going through your head? Yeah, so my freshman year at Wisconsin was great. I was a tight end. I was scout team. I had like scout team player of the week a lot. Like it was, we had a lot of fun. I enjoyed it and I thought it was important for me to go up against other 20, 22 year old grown men in football and I thought it was important for me to redshirt that year and get my confidence. And then, like, December came around in bowl prep.

2:19You do a lot of interleague stuff where it's against your own guys. And we were doing, like, a drill, and I dislocated my kneecap. And it was just one of those things where it swelled up at the time, and they just said, just let it rest, and you can come back in the spring, and you'll be fine. Came back in the spring, and, like, the second or third practice, it happened to my left knee. So I was like, okay, well, I rehabbed my right. It worked, and then it was my left, so let's just rehab that. I'll come back in the fall." Came back in the fall and it happened again to my right like two practices in.

2:52So then I was like, all right, I'm not going to continue to do this. Clearly something's wrong. So that's where again, thanks to JJ down in Houston, Walt Lowe, the team doctor, was able to get me in and get surgery on my knee. And that was when they were playing LSU in the bowl game, Wisconsin. So like I got surgery that week and was a dumbass and like tried to be cool and like go to like the pep rally and all this stuff. And like three days after surgery and I'm on pain meds and I'm like trying to like walk on it like stupid. And it took me like a lot longer to recover the first time around. It's like four or five months.

3:30And then I came back and spring ball and that happened to my left knee. It's like same exact thing so it's like all right i'm not wasting any more time fly back down get to surgery and that was cool too because i got to spend quality time with my brother who i admired and didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with in his adulthood yet and to be able to see the house and every time i go to visit jj i take a picture and video of his house because he's been in different houses he's been like eight different houses but like because he always lives in the coolest houses and i always use his motivation like i probably have like six videos my phone just like getting outside of his house and it's just like wow like hard work works like you're doing so great for yourself and like i see the blueprint i see everything behind like i know why you have this great stuff and i want it too and it was great to be able to spend that time with him and then he came back up after having the surgery was way more smart about it um had a purpose.

4:32I said, this is the last time that I'm going to go through this surgery. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but I'm going to put all my chips in the middle of the table and give it everything I have. And I think I only took like three months, maybe four months tops to recover from it. Get business done with the new American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited card with unlimited 2 % cash back on all eligible purchases, unlimited 5 % cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel Online and a flexible spending capacity that can grow with your business, you'll have the confidence to keep building.

5:05Apply today and earn a welcome offer of$1 ,500 cash back after you spend$50 ,000 in qualifying purchases on your new card within the first six months of card membership. Terms apply. Learn more at go.amex.com. But you thought if it didn't work, that was probably it. What was the worst of the headspace you were in? So I did the first time and I was like, I was very distraught. Called my dad, told him everything. And then when I got the surgery, I was back on the high. I thought it was going to be great. I was going to go into spring ball, going to kill it as a tight end. Had all these great plans.

5:39And then he'll tell you, I called him like a second or third practice, like in the middle of practice. Like he knew exactly what happened. Just kind of broke down and I was like, I have no idea why this keeps happening to me. I feel like I've done everything right. I've trained hard. I want it. I'm trying to be as proactive as possible with Brad and get my body right. I'm studying the playbook. I feel like I have potential to do some damage on this team, like be an asset, and this keeps happening to me. And he's just like, I don't have the answer for you, son. I just want you to know that we fully support you and we want what's best for you.

6:21and you take the lead. And I said, well, I want to get surgery one more time on this side, and then we'll go from there. And that's where, like, I watched Derrick Rose videos. I watched Adrian Peterson videos in my dorm room or in my apartment. All those are huge. And you like how so? I think that's why it's important to do stuff like this, too, is to, like, you never know what someone's going through or where someone can find motivation. And to be able to see guys that went through knee, severe knee injuries and we're able to come back and play at a high level. Like at the time, that's all I needed to see.

6:54I needed to see someone go through it and do it, come out on the other side. And that was very important for me and just gave me the energy to be able to get up off the couch and start rehabbing and stop being so pitiful towards myself. Were you depressed at the time? Yeah, because I couldn't go out. Like my buddies would want to go out, like Mifflin, like the big party. I couldn't do that. I couldn't be a college kid at the time, which is, I think, looking back was good for me. Because I think my freshman year, I kind of lived up college a little too much. I don't think I was as focused as I should have been.

7:28I think that really, that pushing all the chips into one, into the center of the table really centered me and said, all right, I'm done, like, messing around. Like, I'm going to do everything that I possibly can to make it to the NFL. And, I mean, I can show you in my notebook upstairs, like, What did you write down? I'm going to make it to the NFL. I think it was like 2016 or whatever, like I will be in the NFL. And like, I think the self-belief as I grew and changed positions and was like, I have two brothers that grew up the same way that I did, ate the same meals that I did, are willing to share all their secrets with me about how to be successful.

8:11Like, why can't I do it? And that's when things switched. I stopped presenting my brother. I was like, I'm going to use him as much as I possibly can. I moved in with Derek, that was awesome to be able to live with him for a year in college because we butted heads so much, but to be able to live with him. Didn't you guys used to beat the crap out of each other? We used to beat the crap out of each other over video games, anything. And that still comes out now from time to time, but living together gives you a whole new perspective and appreciation for your brother. It was pretty cool. That's it for now, but if you're hungry for more in-depth interviews, head over to YouTube.com slash Graham Bensinger.

8:48you can dive into our deep library, which includes more than 2 ,000 clips spanning 12 plus years. Thanks again for listening.