Brevin Galloway: Inside the Mind of a D1 & Professional Athlete

0:00This former college basketball star faced everything from a career threatening ACL tear to the intense struggles of mental health. proving the battle off the court is the hardest one to win. Join Brevin Galloway as he reveals his incredible seven-year journey, navigating four different schools, capitalizing on the chaos of early NIL deals, and transitioning to professional basketball in Lithuania. You want the real, unedited truth about how to overcome adversity and build a global brand in the modern era of athletics? I always have hope. That's one thing that I've always had throughout my life.

0:34I can take a bad situation, I'll flip it into a good one. And one of my former teammates, Jarrell Brantley, he would always tell me today could be today. That stuck with me because you never know what day your whole life could slip. You never know. You could get the contract that day. Your video could go viral that day. You could get good news. If you stop, then obviously you're never going to get to that good day or that good point. That was always in the back of my mind going through my dark time and my dark period. If I stop now, I'm never going to see the light. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production.

1:03We are the number one business show on the planet. with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. Hey guys, what's up? They say if it's radical, we cover it. Well, it's not only radical, it's a guilty pleasure. I guess I'm always a Clemson Tiger. You know, once you're a Tiger, you're always a Tiger. My buddy Revan Galloway, pro Lithuanian basketball player and all-time Clemson grade. I'm just going to put you on that list, Brevin. What's up, man? I like it.

1:38I like it. That's a crazy statement, but I love it.

1:45Let's just tell everybody the ins and outs of Brevin's basketball journey and maybe just your life journey, man. Let's go there. Yes, I'm originally from Anderson, South Carolina. I went to T.O.N. Hanna for three years and then I transferred to Seneca High School. I played basketball, you know, growing up my whole life. Always what I love to do. My dad was a really big part of my life in terms of putting the ball in my hands. Obviously, the game was just kind of in me since a young kid. Obviously, I was able to grow into a good player, decent player, I have to say, and make a name for myself along those lines.

2:11Basketball has been nothing but great to me. It's taught me through a lot of adversity, taught me how to be a man, taught me how to grow up, and just become who I've become. So I'm thankful for it. What led you to Charleston? How was your time down in Charleston? Charleston was great. That was my first spot, and I went because of Coach Earl Grant. Earl Grant was an assistant at Clemson during a time period before he got the job at Charleston. I already had to build a relationship with him since Clemson was recruiting me. And then once he got the job at Charleston, it was kind of like an easy decision.

2:34I already knew where I wanted to go and spend my four years. I trusted him. My dad was really, really good friends with him growing up. I think throughout their college, after college, that's whenever they met. He already had a relationship with him, Bill. So it was pretty much just kind of an easy yes at that point. You got a lot of people watching on TV and everybody thinks they know and understand what it's like to be a D1 athlete. And when you get hurt, the rehab or the practices and the structure and all that, walk us through the lens. Just the ins and outs of that, something that maybe people don't totally understand with what it's like.

3:02As a college athlete in general, you definitely have more bad days than good. That's one thing that people kind of need to know going into it, because not every day is going to be roses and sunshine. There's going to be a lot of storms that you have to face and, you know, just face head on early in your career. And like, I feel like that matured me for later on. But yeah, I think the biggest thing with just being a college athlete is really just overcoming adversity because that's what it comes down to. I mean, when I think about my toughest moments at Boston College, what I had to go through from a mental health standpoint, from dealing with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, people don't realize that we're actually people, too.

3:33And we have feelings and we have needs that we need to attend to other than just performing stuff on the court, because that's all the world sees. The world just sees how many points we have, how many how many threes we miss. That's all the DMs I get. I never get any supportive DMs about checking in on you. How are you doing? Like when you're real life stuff, real life problems. I feel like that's just the common thing that college athletes have to deal with is just they treat us like superheroes. We can handle criticism any kind of way, but anything that pops up, we're just supposed to be able to just deal with it.

3:57And we're not supposed to pretty much let it affect us. That's probably the biggest thing that I learned throughout my college career was just it's OK not to be OK. And it's OK to speak up about it and actually let the world know that you're not OK. And you may get backlash for it, which I do get on my socials. At the same time, the small percentage that I can affect in a positive way is what I'm going for. You come to Clemson, Clemson's in desperate need of a shooter. you provide that and what was it like playing for Brad Brown now? It was great. I was thankful that he gave me the opportunity to come back home, especially since I'm from the area.

4:23I wanted, I was a childhood dreamer of mine at play for Clemson. I'm very, very thankful for that opportunity, the deal I made to do so, especially considering the fact that I had so many injuries and setback. You know, he could have easily picked somebody else in the transfer portal. From my conversations, he trusted me and believed in me and the vision that I had for the programs. It was a great honor to play for him, especially since, you know, I went to all the kids camps growing up and he signed the back of my t-shirts and stuff like that. So it was weird to be able with a place for him and have him yell at me actually for a couple of bats, a couple of mistakes, but it was a good experience nonetheless.

4:50For parents out there that are curious about this, what advice, now that you've lived and breathed, you did well, you have done well. I want to talk about what you can talk about in that regard, but how should parents think about this and how could they be starting to maximize their children that have the talent to maybe get this kind of attention and be a D1 and all that? Is there advice that you'd give them or the athlete? I think from a parent's perspective, don't force it on your kids in terms of trying to hope for it because obviously Getting NIL deals, I hate to say it, but it's just not fair in terms of who gets some and who doesn't just because it all comes down to attention, social media clout and followers and how it is nowadays.

5:23If you can't really make anybody else's attention or bring anybody else in money, you're probably not going to get those deals. That being said, obviously, if you have the platform for it and if you love social media and you like doing that type of stuff, then, yeah, go ahead and go all in for it. But if not, and you kind of just want to make some extra money on the side and your kid doesn't really want to give all in for it, then don't do it. Because then it's going to end up just ruining your relationship. Probably you're fortunate on somebody. That's what I would say from the kid, from the parents perspective and from the kids perspective.

5:49Like I said, like obviously, if you want a little bit of extra money in your pocket, you can get your comfort zone, make a couple of TikToks, make a couple of Instagram stories. And hey, you might get some free food, free clothes, free gear, like whatever it may be. Like obviously, I said, like the elite of elites get money for their content. But like I said, those are select few. But yeah, really just do what you want to do. Obviously, if you want to get out of your comfort zone, you can. But at the end of the day, just do whatever your heart wants. It's become fascinating to me, this balance between being the content creator and being the superstar athlete.

6:16Those two are very different things. Am I an actor or am I an athlete? They don't always come together, right? It never does. And like, especially people in the comments and people on social media in general, like they treat you like one of the other. Some people view me as an athlete. Some people view me as a goofy content creator. So I have to live with that, obviously, because that's the position I put myself in. But still, at the end of the day, it's funny to think about how really people treat you differently based off how they view you. Like it, love it or hate it. I mean, social media is here.

6:41And if you can get your arms around it and embrace it, it brings a lot of opportunity. But it can have the impact negative, too, with mental health and all that. You've got to be able to compartmentalize it, right? That's where I've had to learn. And that's where I feel like I matured and grew during my time period in Boston. Because I got on social media and that was whenever I was at my lowest in terms of my weight, depression, my suicidal thoughts, mental health. that's whatever I was fighting for my life pretty much. I would get on, I was already battling demons inside of me and my mental and then I would get on Twitter and then see all these other mean tweets about me.

7:10So I'm like, dang, like I really have to like remember social media is not real life. Take a break from it and kind of distance myself from it. And obviously seeing those tweets about me hurt. I live two years now. It's just, wow, I'm happy that I was able to kind of face all that head on because it's made me tougher mentally individual and stuff like that. When you look back now, it never goes away. We're all human beings. We're dealing with struggles every day. What have been like tactics or things or people? What kind of got you through to the other side? I always have hope. That's one thing that I've always had throughout my life.

7:38I can take a bad situation to flip it into a good one. One of my former teammates, Jarrell Brantley, who played in the NBA and he plays overseas now, but he always like growing up, he was my teammate at Charleston. He would always tell me today could be today. That stuck with me because you never know what day your whole life could slip. You never know. You could get the contract that day. Your video could go viral that day. You could get good news. If you stop, then obviously you're never going to get to that good day or that good point. That was always in the back of my mind going through my dark time and my dark period.

8:02If I stop now, I'm never going to see the light. And so that was something that's always stuck on me probably throughout that whole process. Were you getting paid for some of these engagements between Boston College and Clemson? Were you there some that were dollars and some that were trade or merchandise and those kind of things? Combination? Yeah, it was a combination of both certain companies. Like with Amazon, I partnered with them and did like my own little clothing lines. I was able to make my own graphic see. I got paid to promote their products and then I also got to have my little own clothing line to the side.

8:27So that was one of the cooler deals I feel like that I did throughout my time at Clemson. But yeah, then I have a shop gold deal and that's a jewelry company. And I was there, but they obviously sent me free jewelry and then I made TikToks and got paid for that in exchange. So those are two of my favorite deals that I probably did with the NIL space. You obviously can get merchandise and pay for both depending on which company and what the contract is. So what's it been like leaving Clemson now playing pro ball in Lithuania? Talk to me about that process and the transition. Obviously, it's a night and day difference in terms of just the culture and everything.

8:56Obviously, I'm out here. I can't understand anything they're saying. So I just have to use Google Translate a good bit. Other than that, the people are really, really nice and welcoming. You know, the city that I'm in, in Lithuania, is called Kadaini. So it's about the same size as Clemson. So it's not like it's really that big in terms of like a size difference. But yeah, I mean, it's been great out here. Obviously, I got to get adjusted to the food. There's no Bojangles. There's no McDonald's, no Wendy's. They got to have a McDonald's, but it's an hour away. I'm a fast food guy. I really, really, really love and miss my fast So at the end of the day, we're just playing basketball with a whole bunch of guys.

9:25Obviously, still got the same type of vibe in the locker room. It's a little bit more on the line in terms of, you know, the league they were playing in. I'm in the top league in Lithuania. It's the same exact league like LaMelo Ball and all them played in. Whenever they spend their time in Lithuania, it's a well-respected league. So I'm excited to be here for my rookie season. It's a great platform for me to be able to level up quick, too. Hopefully, if I have a good rookie year, by year three or four, I'll be able to be making a lot of money doing this. I'm happy and excited for the future. Yeah, there's a lot of money over there.

9:49There's a lot of fans and support for basketball overseas. Definitely, especially it depends on what country you land in. Serbia is crazy. Basketball is really, really crazy. I'm trying to think where else. The league's in Spain, the EuroLeague. There's really, really high-level basketball over here. And there's a lot of NBA guys coming over here playing, too, obviously once they kind of get later on in their careers. But so, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of big names and money to be made over here, overseas basketball for sure. How's your game these days? Are you still stroking it? Hey, man, it's going to be beautiful.

10:15I can't wait for y 'all to see the highlights. It's going to be a good year for me for sure. I'll leave it at that for now. I'm excited. You're playing point guard though, right? Yeah, I'm playing point guard. How's your squad overall? We're actually going to be a lot better than what I thought because obviously you never really know until you get on the court with everybody. I'm excited. A lot of basketball coming up, so we're excited. Some of the best players in the NBA right now from overseas. Every other big name is from overseas these days. Basketball competition is high over there, and I'm sure you're feeling that or seeing it, the skill.

10:40That's the biggest thing. It's like obviously the NBA would be lovely to play in, but at the same time, I want to make sure that I'm able to play and not like because obviously I could have fought for an NBA spot or this and that would I have played probably not and I want to make sure that I'm in play actually enjoy my career while I can because that's what's really matters and like you said like the competition and respect over here is is big it's not like you're just playing against 40 year old men like now you're playing against some elite guys Brevin where is it all headed man we all got to write our own story we know you're going to be putting the effort in we know you got the game but obviously if the shit happens that you can't control what's next five or ten years to just live that pro basketball dream even go as far as you can?

11:15Where you want to go with your career and everything? Definitely want to play the like top level ball over in Europe if possible. I want to play in the Euroleague. I kind of want to be known as a dominant guard overseas. That's just what I envision for myself. I want to be an international celebrity as well, you know, with the social media life and, you know, TikTok and do all that type of stuff because I love content. That's another half of me that I have to be able to do in order for me to be fully happy. So I just want to be on top of the basketball stuff, be on top of this content creator stuff.

11:39I kind of want to be known for overseas basketball because I feel like there's not a lot of content creators that are doing overseas basketball content. Last few videos I've made this past couple weeks did well numbers on social media. I'm excited to start that journey as well in terms of that. So yeah, I'm excited for everything. That's the modern player, man. You got the game on and off the court, the social media game and the game. It's a winning combination.

12:04Speaking of those social media channels, Brevin, where can everybody watch the latest content? I'm Brevin Galloway on every single platform. world. I want to make sure that we limit the confusion. That's smart. You're way ahead. As a marketing guy, you got it put together. You know, Brevin, 2743, Galloway, number one. It sounds cool, but it gets confusing. It hurts your SEO too. I love it, brother. Well, I really appreciate you coming on the show. It's been great watching your journey. Once a tiger, always a tiger. Yes, sir, baby. I appreciate you. It was an honor. Thank you for having me. Hey guys, you know where to find us?

12:36Search for Brevin Galloway. You'll find all the highlight clips from today and go give him a follow on TikTok and Instagram. He's blowing up and doing a great job with his content. You know where to find me at Ryan Alford, that blue check right next to my name before I could buy it. We'll see you next time. This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.

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