Former DB Toney Hurd Jr. highlights journey from A&M captain to coach

Returning a 55-yard pick-6 in the 2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl vs. Duke, former A&M DB and captain Toney Hurd Jr. was named the Defensive MVP to cap off his final season in Maroon & White. The DB coach at Second Baptist Private School joined TexAgs Live to discuss his life after football.

Key notes from Toney Hurd Jr. interview

• I'm actually coaching defensive backs at Second Baptist Private School in Houston, Texas.
   
• When football ended, I started my own 18-wheeler company. I had it for about seven years, where I grew it to five trucks and five trailers. Then I was doing business development for companies in Houston. I transferred from trucking to coaching, and God has been amazing on this journey, man. He’s been truly amazing.
   
• I had my CDL and started with one truck. As I continued to grow my company, I had to step out of the truck and manage my company. I had a daughter 11 months ago, and I had to make a decision. My time was worth more than the money. It was definitely a challenge, but you know I'm always up for a challenge.
   
• My dad was a diesel mechanic, so it was kind of in my blood a little bit, and I just took it from there and ran with it. There would be times in the truck when I'd be super tired. We would spend hours on the phone talking and catching up. That journey for me was very much needed. I’d say the biggest trick with trucking is when you start hearing those dots on the side of the road… It's time to pull over. Let’s get a nap!
   
• I started with the Defensive Back Academy. It's called the Houston Elite DB academy. I train the best defensive backs from the Houston and Galveston County area. We train three to four times a week, and I started building from there. My first session I had 38 backs. When I closed my trucking company, I didn’t really have a plan, but I started to pray. It led me back to football. I never filled out an application. God had a magnificent plan, and now I'm back here coaching.
   
• I honestly think it's the most rewarding thing I’ve done. Being able to give back and have these kids be able to call me and check on me means I'm really making a difference. I just got out of our varsity session for Second Baptist, where we go every morning from 8:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The biggest challenge at first was to remember their names. Now, I know their names, their family members' names, and I know what they’re doing. Building that camaraderie is the most important piece to me, man. I really enjoyed being in the locker room, and now, I enjoy it here.
   
• Football for me was pretty much the only thing consistent in bringing me peace and joy. I had a lot of ups and downs in my life, from being homeless as far as struggles growing up. Football was always that consistency that brought me peace and joy. Currently, in my life, football has been the one thing with these kids that gives me peace and joy. Giving back is something that was always difficult for me to do, and now God has put me in a job where it's my full-time duty to give back and plant the seeds.
   
• I’d say my daughter simplified life for me, man. To be able to wake up and get to do something you love, not everybody doesn’t have that opportunity. Every day, I'm so thankful to God for giving me the ability to be a father and devote my time to people who want to take something away from it.
   
• You wake up every morning, and it's like, man, it used to be all about me, and now it's all about my daughter and planting the seeds to make other people better. That feeling is so rewarding.
   
• Growing up, my mother and I went from hotel to hotel. I went to like six different elementary schools. We had some inconsistencies in the home. My mom and dad used to get into it, and my mom would have to escape from where my dad was to make sure we were in a safe place. Throughout those transitions, we were homeless at some points. We may stay at a hotel for a week or two, or at my grandma's. Life is all about how you transition.
   
• I was No. 4 out of 550 students graduating from high school. Notre Dame was my No. 1 option. When Charlie Weis got fired, it opened up the recruitment for me, and Van Malone came and scooped me from my feet. The best thing is I'm in Texas now and graduated from A&M, and it's the best thing.
   
• I think who you know is more important than what you know. The Aggie Network… Every job I’ve had, I’ve had an Aggie working with me. I appreciate being a part of it, and I appreciate the people who’ve been able to pour into me on my journey.
   
• Von Miller was my recruiting host. To start that off, that way was amazing and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be around that talent. To be around Johnny Manziel, Ryan Swope, Jeff Fuller, Sean Porter, Jonathan Stewart, Luke Joeckel, Jake Matthews. Guys who played in the NFL for 10 years. To be around those guys and see what it took for them to be great is awesome because I can give back and show what it takes to these younger kids.
   
• I wouldn’t say 2013 was a circus, but it was like a movie. We didn’t know what we were getting into, but looking back, it was one of the most electric times in A&M history.
   
• I got the interception, and Kevin Sumlin was telling me what was going to happen before the play. It was crazy. We worked on that style of play throughout that week of practice. Being prepared was the biggest part of that interception.
   
• At halftime of the bowl game against Duke, we came into the locker room, and the first five to 10 minutes it was quiet, but we got the energy rocking and rolling. It was the sense of urgency to do it now or never. Manziel came firing out on all cylinders. One thing about that was that it was a team effort. I took four quarters of hard-nosed football from all of us.
   
• If you go back and watch it on film. My feet never stopped moving. I knew he was going to run a slant. I wanted to get out of the quarterback's vision. He didn’t know I knew, but I wanted to pop back in and get the pick. My feet were hot the whole play cause I knew it was coming my way. Based on the No. 2 receiver, I knew what No. 1 would do. I took a second to get my read step, and I saw him coming on the slant. I knew it was bingo. The ball hit our hands at the same time, but I snatched it out of his hands, and from there it was just a race to the end zone.
   
• When football ended for me, it was tough because I had this vision of playing 10 years in the NFL and following in Aaron Glenn’s footsteps. I didn’t watch any football, not NFL, not college. I didn’t go to a game. It was like I’m going to get in this 18-wheeler and make as much money as I can. It took me about two years to actually watch it. After those two years, I learned it wasn’t just football I loved. It was the locker room, the brotherhood and the camaraderie. It was everything that came with football. Now that I'm coaching, it makes me kind of emotional because I never knew I'd be here. I think the trucking was me, and this here is God. If I had listened to God when I stopped playing football and was embarrassed, I would’ve been coaching for 10 years. 
   
• With the trucks, I had a plan. With the coaching, it's not that I don’t have a plan, but it's whatever God's plan is for me. If he wants me to coach at Texas A&M, if that’s a part of his plans, I'd love that as well, but I'm trying to make an impact anywhere I'm at, doing something I truly love.
   
• I think Mike Elko is doing an amazing job trying to connect with the alumni and older guys who used to be there. He’s very personable, and he's doing a great job.
   
• The rivalry with Texas, it's blood, sweat and tears, in the trenches, tough fights... Everybody remembers when we beat them, and everybody remembers the amazing players who played in those games. The Vince Youngs, the Mike Goodsons and Jorvorskie Lanes. Everybody remembers those big names that played in those games. I think it's amazing to bring those rivalries back.