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00:00I'm Cam Smith, host of Ebony's Amplify presented by Nationwide.
00:05Today, we are amplifying former NFL linebacker turned football coach Eli Harrell.
00:10Harrell is the founder of the Seven Legend organization,
00:13whose focus is to prepare players for college football and also the classroom.
00:31What's up, everybody? Cam Smith, host of Ebony's Amplify presented by Nationwide.
00:36And I have sitting with me, retired linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, Eli Harrell.
00:43Cavalier, went to Virginia, played your ball there, man, but just a natural athlete,
00:48but also just an impactful person off the field and off your respective athletic environment.
00:53So what, how are you doing, man?
00:55Because we were having a conversation before we started,
00:58and I can't wait to get into Eli's origin story because I believe that everyone's superheroes,
01:04everyone has an origin story, but I can't wait to get into your origin story.
01:07So how are you doing?
01:08I'm blessed, man. Blessed. Loving where I'm at in life.
01:11Nice. All right. As I mentioned, multiple sports that you excelled in, right?
01:16But especially when it comes to football.
01:18But take me back to that first moment where you realized, man, I just love sports,
01:23but especially this game of football.
01:25I really fell in love with football, you know, watching Vic, watching Percy, watching Sean Taylor,
01:29Percy Harvin, you know, watching him, Michael Vick, seeing all those guys, man,
01:35they were real life superheroes to me.
01:38Taking off, you reached the highest of the highs when it comes to the sport of football
01:41and being in the NFL and having a career there.
01:44So with that platform, you were able to use your status, your title, your name,
01:49your experience to help others. And you did that by founding the Seven Legend Organization.
01:54So you got to tell me, going back to that creation, the vision of it.
01:59And has that vision held up?
02:01So I'll never forget. I think I was in about fourth grade when I first started playing tackle.
02:08My mom would always tell me about the number seven, you know,
02:11the number of completion and it was just a powerful number.
02:15And then it just so happened Vic was wearing it.
02:17So I took it on, you know, and I always just had that in the back of my mind.
02:23You know, I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer when I was 16.
02:27So from that moment, I kind of came up with the phrase Seven Legend.
02:31And I didn't really understand it.
02:33I didn't really understand the magnitude of it until I got a little bit older.
02:37When I started Seven Legend, it was based off of that, you know,
02:41and it kind of transformed a little bit with me trying to, you know, implement it within my life.
02:50So just the number seven, just try to be that every day.
02:53Try to be that completed project every day in my life.
02:58And in order to do that, I had to incorporate youth.
03:10I train young athletes, linebackers and defensive linemen.
03:14And with the training, I, you know, I try to give them life skills as well.
03:19You know, trying to kind of mentor them a little bit.
03:22And I'm trying to come and put together a mentorship slash men's mental health entity piece into it.
03:33You know, just a safe space for men to talk, you know, and invent about their life.
03:37I didn't graduate college.
03:38You know, I took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself for me to forego my senior season.
03:44And once I lost ball, man, I fell deep into a depression.
03:49Like I lost myself.
03:51When I finally found it and I finally tapped back into the source.
03:56It was beautiful, man, because it was always there.
03:59The seed was always there.
04:01I just had to water it, right?
04:03So using those things that were so traumatic to me then, giving those stories to the youth,
04:11not being afraid to reason with the youth and give them these things that happened to me.
04:17My downfalls.
04:18I mean, everything.
04:20And hopefully they can learn and take something.
04:23You know, if it's just one little thing, you know, and hopefully they can apply it to their life.
04:30That's why I'm in this thing, man.
04:33When you think about the community that you're from and the impact that you're making,
04:37what do you think will be the lasting impression of 7Legend?
04:41I want it to be something that's definitely picked up if I'm no longer here.
04:46And I want people to look at it as something that, you know, it's broad.
04:52It's not boxed.
04:53I just want the people that are with me to be aligned with me.
04:56And hopefully this can be something that my children pick up and that they can do something with it as well.
05:03And I believe they will, man, because we're here to amplify the voice
05:07and also the platform of rising visionaries like yourself.
05:10So do you consider yourself a visionary?
05:13And if you do, why?
05:15I do.
05:16My mom named me Medgar Evers, and I don't believe in coincidences.
05:21My middle name is also Elijah.
05:24And just looking back on my life, man, and how things played out,
05:28I definitely see myself as a visionary.
05:30I really and truly salute guys like Marcus Garvey, Huey Newton.
05:35Those guys, Malcolm X, Haile Selassie, right?
05:38Those guys are guys that I model myself after.
05:41And I really try to follow in their footsteps, right,
05:44trying to reason and speak truth and light, man,
05:49and just let people know that, hey, right, we all got that fire in us.
05:54We just got to channel it.
05:55We just got to tap into it.
05:57So that's me.
05:58I definitely see myself as a visionary.
06:01You channel that fire from the football field as a linebacker during your time
06:04in the NFL to impact in your community.
06:07So many different youth out there, man,
06:09and making sure that they can maximize who they are on the field,
06:13off the field, but just as a person in general.
06:15So I consider you a visionary, you consider yourself a visionary,
06:19and everybody watching this interview.
06:21I really appreciate that.
06:24But Eli Harrell, thank you so much for the time, man.
06:26It's been a great conversation.