Jay Arnold on his decision to hang up the cleats and moving on

Key quotes from Jay Arnold interview

"(On his Capitals jersey) I just like Alex Ovechkin, I'm actually a Blackhawks fan. Also I'm a big Jeff Gordon and fan

"It was a tough decision to retire from football and hang it up. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, but I had been battling shoulder injuries and haven't played a healthy down of football since my junior year in High School. I've been dealing with shoulder problems for quite a long time. It just got to the point where it kept getting worse and worse and it wasn't getting better, so I had to make the decision that was best for my long term health.  The two (toughest parts of the decision) were leaving those guys in the locker room behind because you bond so much with those guys over two-a-days, workouts and everything. Another part of it is that football has just been a huge part of my life for so long, it's hard to imagine not playing the sport."

"I don't think we'll have a problem filling that (energy guy void) there is always at least one guy on the team that's going to have the ability to step up and be that vocal leader, bring that energy and get everybody fired up. It's not going to be too much of a problem to fill the void. I'm going to miss being that guy however, but they'll find somebody else."

"The thing that stood out the most and that I appreciated the most about being an Aggie was just taking the field at Kyle field. The excitement never goes away, even though people say after two or three games it does. Every time you run out there, you can't help feeling a little star struck looking up at the crowd, everybody's yelling, it's just a mad house out there."

(When I realized I wanted to go to A&M) was 2010 when I was a sophomore (in High School) I came to the game when A&M beat OU and I had been a life long OU fan. It's a funny story why (I chose to be an OU fan) but everybody in my family was either a Texas fan or an A&M fan. So, I decided I was going to be different and become an OU fan. I go to that game as not just a fan, but being serious about where I want to go to school. I just fell in love (with Texas A&M) it was so loud that night and  it was one of the best games I've ever seen."

"I didn't really get a chance to bond with the coaching staff until Coach Sumlin got there my Junior year of High School and I haven't looked back. I was recruited by OU and it was really cool because growing up as an OU fan, one of my first memories watching football was when OU won the National Championship in 2000 and Josh Heupel was at Quarterback, then he ended up being the guy that recruited me. It was hard (to decide Texas A&M over OU) but you have to get over the fanhood and make the best decision for your future and I felt like A&M was the best spot for my future."

"It was after this most recent surgery (when I finally decided to end that long term suffering with my shoulder and hang up the cleats) I want to say the surgery was on January 3rd (of 2015). I pretty much knew I wasn't going to be back this spring. I was still holding one or two percent hopes that I could stay (but I knew it was over). It was hard going out to practice everyday and being around the guys and knowing it was probably going to my last days out there, but at the end of the day the decision had to be made."

"They all understand (Coach Chavis, Coach Sumlin and Coach Price) that I had to make a decision that was best for my long term health. At the end of the day, it comes down to, if I have kids one day, than I want to be able to lift them over my head. I don't want the shoulder to be so far gone that I'm not able to do a lot of stuff long term."

We were playing Highland Park my junior year (when my shoulder first got injured and really started bothering me) it was in the fourth quarter and I had to dive to make a play on the quarterback. He was going one way and I was going the other and I kept my arm latched on (his pads) and it just yanked it right out."

There's a possibility ( that I go back to MMA) but I'm probably going to have to spend at least two to three years getting this shoulder back healthy. It's down the road, if possible. I tweet more about MMA and Hockey than football and on occasion (I tweet about) Nascar too.
I would love to be an MMA analyst and (on the latest upcoming fight) Connor MacGregor was going to fight Jose Aldo, but Aldo pulled out because of a broken rib and if you know anything about broken ribs you know that you would not want to fight with one. Now (Macgregor) he's fighting Chad Mendez for the interim Featherweight Belt. It's going to be a pretty interesting matchup, but I have to go with MacGregor because I'm such a huge fan of his."

"I had a playoff beard growing to support my Blackhawks (my favorite hockey team) but I Shaved it all off (after the playoffs) so I've been growing this mustache out for about two weeks."

"This team (Texas A&M's 2015 football team) has something really special going on, There is an attitude that I haven't seen, it's a team that can surprise a lot of people and 'we're' (it will always be we for me even though I no longer play) looking forward to getting on the field and showing people what we can do, especially with this new defense. We're going to be attacking and it's going to be really exciting football to watch.'Less thinking' is a great motto for us because we know what we're supposed to do and we go out there and do it. We have so many great athletes on defense and we're going to be able to showcase it."


"I was active with coach Chavis during my rehab and I was in there for all the meetings and got to see a lot of that. I've been out to practice and I've seen that it's definitely a different tempo. (John Chavis' long term success at many different schools has to do with his salesmanship) he really gets the guys to buy into his very simple defense. He's one of those guys that you want to play for and you want to win for and I think that's a big part about being successful in this league."

"I think Will Ferrell might be funnier than Chris Pratt, but lately Chris Pratt has been pretty awesome."

(My favorite memory, the one I'm going to remember the most is) that Chick fil a bowl, that one really sticks out in my mind because we came back from the three scores at halftime. We got it turned around real quick and it was my first time playing a full game from start to finish in college. So as I was coming off the field, I was exhausted. I remember coming to the sideline and just laying down on the bench, but at the same time you're so excited that you almost forget about how tired you are. "