Name: Score Big: The Ultimate Identity Playbook with Jerry Rice
Uploaded: 2026-01-27T19:46:12.663Z
Duration: 59 min 35 s
Description: Score Big: The Ultimate Identity Playbook with Jerry Rice

Transcript for "Score Big: The Ultimate Identity Playbook with Jerry Rice": Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining. My name is Ben Long. I'm the creative director at Rubrik, and this is SCOR BIG, the ultimate identity playbook with Jerry Rice. We'll we're about to start things off with the cybersecurity playbook where we'll learn how to safeguard identities and recover quickly from active directory and Entrite ID incidents. And then immediately following that, we'll have a fireside chat with NFL legend Jerry Rice. So, again, if you have questions, please drop those in the chat, and one of our team members will follow-up. And the q and a will be closed during the presentation but will be opened up during the fireside chats. And we'll read through those questions and choose a select few. So, please, anything you wanna know, let us know where you're from, who your team is. If you have a Super Bowl prediction, we'd love to hear. And we'll choose a few of those and ask Jerry. But as of now, I'll turn things over to Noam Perel as he's gonna walk us through our identity resilience overview and Rubrik solution. Film, it's all you. Thank you, Ben, and hey, everyone. Thanks for joining. I'm based out in New York. It's super cold outside. I hope you're staying warm. Fireside chat actually sounds sounds good, and it's perfect timing for that. Just before we kick off, I'll walk us through what Rubrik's doing with identity. I work on our new product incubation team, and what we've been doing with identity actually even amazed us, the level of success and the traction we're getting with customers. So first, if you know what we're doing with identity, thank you for partnering with us. And if you don't know what Rubrik's doing with identity, I'll cover this today in ten minutes, and then we'll kick us off for the fireside chat. Without further ado, let's get started with Rubrik for identity. So what are we going to discuss today? So first, we'll talk about the identity threat landscape and attack types. Then I'll discuss specifically about the challenges with persistence. We'll double down on the term persistence. We'll discuss some of the challenges with hybrid identities with ENTRE and OCTA, and we'll discuss Rubrik's approach to that. So what are we seeing? In general and I want you to focus on the graph to your right. We're seeing that there is a growth in cyber spend. So people are spending, organizations are spending more money on trying to prevent attack. But we're still seeing that the attacks are successful with the ransomware victims actually growing in numbers. And specifically, if we look at identity, that is an even an ever growing, call it, attack surface. Look at organizations experiencing 50% of attacks on their AD, 90% reported experiencing an identity related incident. So it's clear that if you look at the overall trend of spending more, I I believe organizations want to say, okay. Let's spend more on securing our identity. But what does this securing actually mean? And this is what I'd love to go on this journey of security, resilience. Let's break it down. Again, we'll break it down in the next ten minutes. So if you look very high level and a very simplistic view of your identity, what is your IDPs? IDPs essentially are the gateway to or for your identities, your users, could be machines now, could be agents. But it's a way of accessing securely and limiting access to your resources, right, to your applications, whether they be on prem or in SaaS, whether they be in cloud. This is how you log in and access those resources. But what happens if that identity system fails or is compromised or you can't trust it? Then the access to the resources is compromised as well. So if that is not reachable, if that is compromised, then the access to resources is compromised. And I will say Rubrik has been serving customers for identity for operational use cases for a few good years now. We have over 3,000 customers that have gone through this identity journey with us, and it's been very successful. But there's a new trend here, and I'll give you example of a very big department store out of The U out of The UK. It was Marks and Spencer, where it started with attackers compromising a third party vendor. They impersonated an insider. Right? So the attackers got away in. Then once they're in, they would call use techniques like living living off the land, basically trying to elevate their permissions and creating persistence. Creating that persistency is a way that even with first like, with responding to the incident, trying to cut access to the attackers, the attackers always find a way in. They always if they've gone through the door, they leave some window or they lives they they leave an opening that they can reenter and reinfect your environment. Eventually, once they gain enough permissions, they can actually go ahead and disrupt your business. Specifically, in this case, they deployed DragonForce Encryptor on the VMware, and we're seeing a lot of the attacks happening at the hypervisor level. Now in this scenario, when they attack the hypervisor, what happens is they can utilize active directory and specifically the domain controller replication against itself. So they could deploy their malware on the different domain controllers, and once they need, they can detonate it. Whether it be compromising all of the domain controllers, compromising some of them, in this scenario, you are in what's called a zero trust scenario. You cannot trust or they have utilized the trust of your active directory. So you cannot trust who's logging in, how, and which those identities and what they're doing in your environment. So what I'd love for you to to to the main takeaway from this and what I'd love for you to think about is identity isn't just the new perimeter. I think if I would say a lot of you would cringe, roll their eyes, saying, okay. When are we getting to to the fireside chat? But if there's a a huge takeaway that I'd love for you to take and just think about is identity services isn't just a gateway into the data and resources for attackers. It's actually a target in and of itself. If you disrupt the identity layer, that is a huge, huge cause of disruption for any modern enterprise. Now a lot of you that have dealt with active directory, know your IT environments can think, okay. Yeah. No worries. We have the VMs backed up, and we can recover from that. We even have the backup secure. Right? If the more more advanced of you, right, would say, okay. We have the backup secure. Why why don't we do that? The problem with these attacks, and this is the main takeaway, is that the sophisticated attacks fully utilize and compromise the trust of the IDP itself. Meaning that it's if you try to recover from just the backup of your VM, the attackers still could still could still reintroduce yourself themselves inside of your environment because they gain persistence, whether it be techniques like the golden ticket, skeleton key, DC shadow, and there are plenty more techniques that attackers can use to gain persistence. Once they gain that, you cannot rely on VM level recovery. And then the industry standard and if you look at every guidebook, and I read a really good really good report by the Australian Cyber Authority. And the basically, the recommendation in this scenario if they go and gain persistence in your environment is to go through a full forest rebuild, a full what Microsoft called the Active Directory forest recovery workflow. And only that can make sure and can remove the attackers and can make sure that the persistence is no longer there. So how does this process look like? So if you're not familiar with it, and again, I encourage all of you after this after this webinar, go online and look look at the look at the documentation yourself. You try to find out this documentation. If you try to print this, it turns into a 150 page long document. So to do this forest recovery and take the attackers out, it's a super manual, super error prone, cumbersome process. Actually, 80% of the time that people try to do this, they fail because you're under pressure. Identity identity trust is no longer there. You need to restore things quickly, but you rely on a super manual, super cumbersome process. So you have to automate this, and that's what we did. We actually addressed this. So if you take all these steps, what Rubrik did is we went ahead and made a simple five step forest recovery for your active directory. So this brings sometimes it takes customers days. I've I've had conversations where it took weeks sometimes, and this brings it to under two hours for a forest rebuild. Now there are other solutions that can do this automation of the forest recovery. But the problem is they are deployed on a VM. They run on Windows. And why is that a problem? A, Windows traditionally is a lot more susceptible to attackers. And if you deploy on a VM think about it. If you deploy on a VM, you rely on a on the hypervisor. But if we are assuming that active directory will be compromised and that sits on the hypervisor, then the backup solution that you're relying on also relies on that hypervisor. Hence, you have to assume that that solution will be compromised. Let's break it down. The solution that you rely on most to automate the forest rebuild is susceptible to that same attack, can be compromised. So that leaves you unprotected. That leaves you basically increasing your recovery time. So what Rubrik did, and this is what we did for our enterprise customers and our data enterprise solutions, so we use the same architecture, is we have a fully hardened hardened Linux, physically isolated, and keeping the backups immutable. And net net, the solution is reliable, and you can you can count on it to recover your systems when you need it most. Now it's not all about AD. If we look at our distribution of our customers, 90% over 90% of our customers are actually in hybrid mode. So they have both AD and Entra or what what used to be called Azure AD. And if we think of ENTRE, and we don't have time, but if we think of the multiple ways they can get into ENTRE as well and compromise ENTRE, whether it be through the VM connect, bypassing MFA, what I want you to think about is what happens if attackers compromise your Entra environment. And these are the things that are overlooked. So in Entra, say you're building your access. Right? You you're setting Entra up. You have your security groups, your conditional access policies, named locations, and these define access to, say, enterprise applications. Now what happens if whether it be an error or whether it be attackers compromise, say, the named locations and just change the configuration there? Well, this access that you rely on, that breaks it. So I encourage everyone to think about all those other objects in Antra, not just your users and groups. But what about the enterprise applications, conditional access policies? Named locations that we just gave. Now, yes, some of them have recycle bins, but the attackers can remove them from recycle bins. And then what would you do? So please think about these objects as well. Lastly, Okta. So Okta, very famous for its service availability, five nines, and we're great partners with Okta. Definitely not touching on the service availability, but Okta has a shared responsibility model. Meaning, that is it it is your responsibility to make sure that the configuration is correct, policies and groups are are intact, and that any backup is the customer responsibility. So make sure that you can do your dependency mapping, make sure your backup's available, make sure that you have granular recovery. And that's what rubric identity is for. We combine the hybrid identity use case. We don't have separate products for active directory or on track. It all comes into one place because we understand that the identity stack is is a very, I say, well knitted stack. It relies on each other. Active Directory and Entra can be two sides of the same coin. Same same as Okta. So when you think identity recovery, don't think in silo. Don't think just AD or just ENTRE. Don't think, okay. Yeah. Yeah. I can cover my conditional access policies. What about the objects object IDs that could be changed after you rebuild your forest? Right? Think about that and think about the holistic use case of hybrid recovery. Lastly, I'll touch on the I'll touch on shortly that when we think of attacks, getting rid of that persistence and, if you need to take something from today, take the inspirational talk with Jerry and take persistence with identity and Rubrik. So if you need to deal with that persistence, you have recovery. But when attackers are moving throughout your environment or when they're utilizing the risks of and exposures, we actually wanted to provide a solution there as well, which is why we came with the full identity resilience. So think about you have the big red button for recovery, but you can actually monitor your identity health. What is being changed in your environment? New users, new logons, GPO changes in AD. And then you can also roll back granularly if you have to revert to a good known state of your your identity or specifically your IDP. And we also provide a way of hardening and making sure that we track indicators of exposure of your IDPs, and then we provide you with the ability to remediate and fix those issues. So in in if we if we look at it from from a high level perspective, Rubrik provides an ability to recover from a ransomware scenario, not just for your data services today, but also for your identity services. We also are able to monitor changes to your IDPs, and we can help you roll back a very surgical level, a very granular level, specific objects. And we track indicators of exposure and risks and misconfigurations, and you can remediate it from the Rubrik platform. Thank you very much for the time today. I hope you enjoy the fireside chat. Ben, back to you. Thank you so much, Noam. It was fantastic. And for everyone who's joining us again, thank you, and welcome to SCOR BIG, the ultimate identity playbook with Jerry Rice. And without further ado, it's an absolute pleasure to be joined by NFL legend and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. Jerry, thanks for joining us today. Hey, Ben. Thanks for having me. Let's go. Yes. Okay. Let's do it. So I I I can't not mention the stats. I have to start there because they're jaw dropping. 23,000 yards, nearly 200 touchdowns, 13 Pro Bowls, 10 All Pros, and for good measure, a Super Bowl MVP. But it all started at Mississippi Valley State. So can you please describe your experience at Mississippi Valley State and being drafted out of that school? Well, I'll start here because I got letters from major schools like USC, Notre Dame. And Mississippi Valley, they sent a coach out to talk to me face to face, and I had the opportunity to actually shake his hand. And that goes a long way in Mississippi. So I decided to go to a small HBCU Mississippi Valley State University, And they were throwing the ball, like, 90% of the time. So I felt like I could make a name for myself and and and put help put Mississippi Valley on the map, and I decided to go there. The head coach, his name was Archie the gunslinger Cooley. He wore a cowboy hat, and, you know, he he was that type of coach that could inspire you, and and and you knew that he was gonna work you really hard. The quarterback was willing to sell like Todd, and, you know, he threw the ball the majority of the time. Very, you know, very tight spiral, lot of velocity on it and all of that, and it just worked out at Mississippi Valley for me. It really did because, I was able to catch so many balls and also, you know, put myself on the map, and I get drafted by the greatest franchise ever, the San Francisco 49ers. Amazing. And was that coach Cooley that came to visit you in person? No. It was a defensive coach. It was a defensive coach, and and and and I remember when I got to, mister McValley State, Archie, you know, he looked at me and he said, hey. Do you wanna be great? And, you you know, for a coach, you know, just to ask you that, you know, it it made me feel a little bit uncomfortable at first. Do you wanna be great? But then I I knew what he meant because you had to have the confidence that, hey. Look. I'm gonna come in. I'm gonna impact this offense, and I'm gonna be that go to guy. And, you know, I'm a help this team get to the next level. So I took that challenge on, and after that, everything just took off. Yeah. It seemed like it worked out okay. Is is there one lesson from coach Cooley? You know, growing up playing sports myself, you know, I I there's things coaches have said that always stuck with me. Is there anything from coach Cooley that has stuck with you through the years? I think I think what he told me about you could go to any school and. you can be successful and. you can get to the next level. Because, you know, before, it it was in and it's probably still a little difficult because when you go to a small school like HBCU, Mississippi Valley State, you're not gonna get all that recognition like a USC or Notre Dame, Right. you know, those major schools. But I would not change anything. I if I had to do it all over again, I I would still go to a small HBCU, Missouri Valley State because, you know, I had had a great time there. And, again, it it obviously worked out. You know, the legendary Bill Walsh spotted you, wanted you on the team, drafted you in the first round at sixteenth overall. So, you know, going from, you know, a school like that to a world class organization, recently won a Super Bowl. Can you can you please describe, you know, what was your first impression when you joined the 49ers? Okay. Ben, think about this scenario. I got I got to tell you this story here because I think the San Francisco 49ers, they were in town to play the New Orleans Saints. Bill Walsh, he was just turning the television, flicking the the television. He noticed this receiver running across the stream, catching the ball, running away from everybody, and scoring touchdowns. So Bill goes back to the scouting department here in San Francisco and say, hey. We need to look at that guy, Jerry Rice from Mississippi Valley State University. So, actually, that's how I got drafted. He was flicking the channels. Mhmm. And and then to to for them to make that trade with the New England Patriots, which the Patriots are in in the Super Bowl now, to get down to that sixteenth spot, and they picked me. And I was like like, it would just it blew me away completely. Bill Walsh, probably, the greatest coach to ever, you know, be a coach. To be honest with you, he was not only a coach, but he was also like a a great father to me because he gave me the confidence that, hey. Look. I could play with the big boys. I could go out there, and I I I could own my own. And I'll never forget it, but, you know, he really put me on the map, and it was just no way I was gonna let him down. That's that's fantastic. I'm sure that meant a lot to you, but I think he also saw kinda the the perfect perfect piece for his West Coast offense. Right? And and, boy, you guys certainly made it work. You know? And then, again, I I I heard a rumor that your first plane ride was the night you were drafted, going on a plane, again, showing up in a world class city like San Francisco. Overall, how would you describe your your rookie season? Ups and downs. Mhmm. And, you know, you're always gonna face adversity. It's just how you deal with it. Because when I first came in, you know, they handed me this big playbook. And I and the terminology from the West offense, I mean, is you have to be on point because there are so many adjustments that you might have to make on a snap of the ball. That's the West Coast offense. Mhmm. So it took me a while to really get a feel for that, and it also in that process, I was dropping footballs. I didn't help the situation because when you're when when you're a first round draft choice, the expectations are so high. Mhmm. And and I was dropping footballs, and the media got down on me. The fans start started booing, which they had the right to do. And it just took me a while to get used to that playbook, but once I got that playbook and I felt comfortable back on that football field, everything just took off, and I was able to put up outstanding numbers and and and and lead my team. That was the most important thing. You know, the leadership, skills, all of that, and just showing up and being accountable every day. So, yeah. You know, it was it was a rocky road at first, but, you know, I think we all have to fight through adversity. But once you get through that, you you have a a play map and you know exactly what you wanna do. I I couldn't agree more. And and with that pressure and that that challenge, did that did that compel you? Did that drive you further to to prove. yourself? It Yeah. really did. That you know, having that pressure, man, because, you know, I I get asked all the time and say, you know, what happens the night before the Super Bowl? Mhmm. I mean and and we always put the first 15 plays in. Once those 15 plays are in, I'm up playing the game in my head already. So. I'm playing the game all night long, and I'm not sleeping that well. The next morning I get up, basically, I can't eat anything because now it's it's that situation of, you know, got those butterflies and stuff like that. You know something big is getting ready to happen. Of course. And then so I can't eat anything. By 10:00, meeting 01:00, first bus over, get to the stadium, and then I did the worst thing ever. I put my uniform on, and I decided to just relax on the table. Fell asleep. We'll sleep. was snoring. My teammates walking by. They're like, what is going on with Jerry? This is Super Bowl twenty three. Jerry is asleep right now. But I had played I had played the game already. I knew exactly. how I wanted to attack. And so, you know, that strategy worked for me for many, many years. I I mean, again, your preparation is legendary, so that's no surprise. I think you you were very relaxed. I I I have to ask, how did that Super Bowl turn out? We we ended up winning that Super Bowl. And, also, the thing about that Super Bowl too, it was about three minutes ten seconds left in the game, and we had the two minute drill, and we had to go over 80 yards downfield. And and and Joe Montana being the prankster that he is, he came into the huddle, and he said something about this actor named John Candy being in the stands. And I'm like, Joe, why are you talking about John Candy right now? We gotta go over 80 yards downfield to try to win the Super Bowl. But Joe wanted to send a message that, hey. Look. We got this. We got this. Yeah. And we. were able to move the ball all the way downfield and win that Super Bowl. And, man, it was like that was my first ring. And and I remember my teammates, you know, they're running trying to catch me because, you you know, to celebrate with me, but I was so excited, man. I had so much energy after the game. They couldn't catch me. I I I I can imagine. That's a tough task. I think I think you know, I love that idea of preparation and then confidence from preparation. I think that's, you know, necessary in all fields. You know, I I back to your rookie year, if I can, you said there's some ups and downs. So was there a particular moment during your rookie season or a particular, you know, even a catch that that stands out to you where you felt like you belonged? Or it was like, I'm I'm here, you know, you know, you know, for yourself, for coach Walsh, for your teammates? It was there was there ever, like, a a distinct moment, or did it just happen over time? The moment came on a Monday night against the Rams. I think I had close to, like, maybe I think I had maybe 10 catches. I had three touchdowns in that game. I had over 200 yards or more, and I felt so comfortable going into that game. I I I knew that I was ready to go. I mean, because now all the thinking, it was gone. Now it was just time for me just to react. Just the play. I knew how I wanted to attack, and I went out, had a outstanding game. The next day, Bill Walsh sent someone from upstairs down to the locker room to tell me to come upstairs. And I'm thinking, okay. I'm going upstairs. Bill Walsh is gonna say, great job. Congratulations, Jerry. All of those things. I walk into his office, and he said, I want more from you. I want wait. Wait. Okay. Oh, 10 catches over three touchdowns with 200 yards or more, and you want more from me. So he wanted to send a message that there's more. Mhmm. I want you to work harder. I want you to lead, you know, by example. I want you to show up and be accountable every day. I want you to get better. So that was important to me, and, and and I I knew if I if I led the right way, my teammates, they were gonna follow. And that's the way you build a championship team. That's wonderful. You know, again, it's I think one of the things that's always amazing is you had the obvious talent and the drive, but also the mindset. You know? Even even as you accomplished, you know, all the stats I mentioned earlier, all those all those milestones as you pulled further ahead in receptions and yards and touchdowns, you know, did the did the records drive you, or was it this idea of being great for you and your teammates? I think being great for for me and my teammates, my family, the fans. I never wanted to let the fans down. I never wanted to let any anyone down in Mississippi. So I don't think you did. yeah. So I just I I I worked harder. And and and Ben, another thing too, I never felt that I had arrived. I always. felt there was more, and I stayed I stayed hungry. I stayed hungry. Even my teammates, you know, they would the guys would tell me, like, Jerry, why are you still working so hard, man? You the man. You don't have to work that hard anymore. But I knew that if I continue to work hard, that was gonna, you know, inspire them. And and I think that's the reason why I just, you know, I I just kept pushing hard. I've I've heard about those workouts. I've I've heard you're hard to keep up with. Yeah. Again, no surprise there. But was there ever even through all of that, was there ever any any time where you had to strive to find motivation or push through some moments, you know, try to try to figure out what was next? You know, how how do you get to that next milestone? Yeah. When I when I tore my ACL, MCL. I'm I mean, because now, you you know, because you think you're invincible, then all of a sudden you hit with an injury like that. Now it's how you're gonna deal with that and still try to, you know, be there for your your team and all of that. And it came to a point where I felt like I was not part of the team because I was not out there fighting with those guys, you know, Mhmm. every ball game, you know, doing doing the week, doing practice, all of those things. And but, you know, I was able to fight my way back from that and actually go on and go to a couple Super Bowls I mean, a couple Pro Bowls and and all of that after having a severe injury like that because it actually it probably took me about two years before I really, really felt comfortable out on the football field again. And but after that, man, it was just like back to just being me, loving what I do, going to work every day to learn something every day, not just to get through it. And I think it just made me better overall. Again, I'd you know, there's some themes from from this from this webinar and this chat around resiliency and and, you know, determination. And I think, you know, you exemplify that, obviously. Going back to the idea of you're talking about, you know, doing things for your teammates or or wanting to be a great teammate. In your opinion, what separates a good teammate from a great teammate? God. You know what? And I learned this a long time ago because when I first came to San Francisco, Roger Craig had this hill. He had this hill that we would that he wanted to invite me to. I had never felt pain like that, to be honest with you. The last the last the the the hill is about two and a half miles up, and and the last 800 meters is great uphill. I mean, straight uphill. And that just taught me I mean, for some reason, it's like it gave me that that power where I could excel in the fourth quarter when everything everything you know, we have played the game. Everybody's tired. They're exhausted, but I still had energy. That's. when I I I I did the majority of my work and stuff like that. So so Roger Craig, exceptional teammate, showed up every day being accountable. Joe Montana is the same way. The greatest quarterback ever came to work hard every day, you know, from Dwight Clark, from Ronnie Lott. So, you know, those guys, they were great teammates. They were great leaders, and and and I think that's the reason why we won so many championships too because we didn't have to rely on the coaches. Mhmm. We had the players. We had the players. We had the leaders to get it done, you know, on the field. Sometimes a coach is gonna call a play, and it it it might not be the right play, but you still gotta make that play, you know, work. And I think we had those type of players on the field that could do that. I think I think, you know, when you talk about accountability and a shared vision and a pursuit of greatness, when those things come together, you know, obviously, you know, impressive results. And I think that's what, you know, what we all want. And, hopefully, we, you know, we are in an environment in which, you know, we we we are in that shared pursuit. So, obviously, again, everyone you just mentioned, legends, you know, household names and ands. It's remarkable when you all come together in a common. pursuit of your vision, what you can what you can accomplish. And and I still have to pinch myself because I got the opportunity to play with some of the greatest players to ever play the game. Now Mississippi boy, Mississippi Valley State University, small HBCU, and get a chance to play with the legends. Amazing. And and you again, amazing teammates. You also, you know, played against some amazing opponents. Was there one defender that you faced that that was the tough you know, who who in your mind is the toughest defender you ever faced, and and why? I hate defensive backs. I'm sure they hate you too, Ben, to be fair. I'm sure you're not surprised by that. But, you know, I I would say probably Darrell Green and Deion Sanders because we're talking about two of the fastest guys in the NFL that probably could run a 40 yard dash in a four two, four one. So my work was cut out for me, but I the way I practiced during the week, I knew exactly how I wanted to attack those individuals. When you got fight fast defensive backs like that, you got to get them, you know, off their level. You gotta get them, you know because they want you to just run because they know that you can't outrun them. So I. would always come to the line of scrimmage with a plan, you know, double move, triple move, get them off their base, then get into my route. And Deion and I, we had some great matches, and we still talk about that to today because, you know you know, we talk about not being able to sleep because we know what's gonna happen the next day, how we get we had to battle against each other, something that we were looking forward to. You know, you always wanna go up against the best. Of course. And he won some matches, and I won some matches, but I I think I might have won the majority, though. I'm I'm a take that. go with that. Yeah. Okay. No. I I I you know, growing up watching both Dion and Daryl, I mean, incredible athletes. I'm I'm sure that, you know, every snap was a challenge. That's fantastic. I'm gonna ask a few more questions, and then I'm gonna jump ahead to a few questions about the Super Bowl knowing that's right around the corner in our own backyard. And then we're gonna open it up to some of the q and a from our guests that have attended the the webinar. So last question I I'll ask you is, again, as as spoke to earlier in our line of business, we often speak speak to the idea of preparation and resiliency. So if you were playing today and and and the way that the game has changed and, obviously, you know, I think passing has come to the forefront. over the decade or so, What aspects of your approach would stay the same, and and would you change anything? You know, I probably would put on little bit more size because. of the bubble strings, the run pass option. The ball is not being thrown down feel as much. You know, a lot of passes are short underneath, and you gotta be able to take that pounding. So but I could always adjust my body. I never had a problem with that. But I think football is just about football. Mhmm. That's what it is. It it it's like that was like my playground, and I could adjust to whatever, you know, the opposing team, what they tried to do to me. So in today's football, it would probably be the same, but I I probably would put on more muscle where I could take that pounding underneath because, you know, short passes, bubble screens, all of that, and you gotta be able to run with the ball. Yeah. It's, you know, I obviously, a physical game. It's it's also, you know, a mental game. And I think just being prepared for whatever comes your way, I think, you know, that will lead to success, and I think that's great. I don't I you know, I think it just be it's a testament to, again, your preparation to be as successful as you were over the years. And so, you know, hearing it from you, it it means a lot. I'll go ahead and jump to the Super Bowl, if that's okay. You know, again, knowing that's in a few weeks, I think ten days or so, we got seahawks and the patriots, Yeah. again, in Santa Clara, in the Niner Stadium. So you touched on this earlier, you know, your preparation ahead of the Super Bowl, kind of the moment. It's the world's watching. And, you know, do you change your preparation in any way? Do you prepare for that in any way? Obviously, you also had the opportunity to go through multiple Super Bowls. Right. So, you know, were you for your first Super Bowl, were you aware of the adrenaline and the excitement for the moments? Were you able you know, took a nap that's so you know, you were able to put that put that at rest. But, you know, how how you know, your your your your perspective of that moment, what was your what was your preparation like for those those big games? Well, my pepper preparation was basically about the same Mhmm. because I was always my speed was always 100%. So so it it it I didn't have to change I didn't have to change anything. The the only thing probably, you know, you got to be able to calm your nerves, Mhmm. you know, because you you can basically get exhausted, you know, just thinking about the game and and with your emotions and all of that. So, you know, trying to just, you know, just just calm yourself down. But once you once you get on on that football field, it's time to cut loose and just go. Display. And your body is used to this. This is what you have done your entire career, and now it's time to just let loose and and just play football. But every every Super Bowl and, you know, because when you go to one, you know, people think, okay. The next one, you know, you know what to expect. No. No. Because the reason why I say that is because every Super Bowl to me was different. Mhmm. The first one, yeah, I was a rookie. The next one, you know, yeah, I was a veteran, but it still felt important that, hey. Look. This is the biggest game ever. There's no tomorrow. If you don't win this, you lose. You don't get the ring. You don't get a chance to hold a trophy. So. every Super Bowl that I played in, it meant the world to me, and I knew the urgency of it. And and I think I did okay. We think so. think we we think you did too. Would that be your advice then, you know, as as you talk to, you know, teams and organizations that they're trying to, you know, improve collaboration, especially when the pressure is on, you know, this idea of either being prepared for the circumstance or not letting the moment get by you. Is there, you know, is there any kind of wisdom you can you know, any parallels you can draw from those moments to kind of our world and and, know, in in tech and business? I think, welcome the moment. Mhmm. Prepare the right way. Be ready. Be ready. And and and I was always excited, you know, going into big games because I knew I had put the work in. Mhmm. Now it's like I could just go out there and just have fun. And and if you go back to probably Sunday night football, playoffs, Monday night football, that's when I performed at my best. That was the biggest stage. That's that's what I wanted. So I was willing to make the sacrifice during the week to put the work in so I could go out and and have a fantastic game. Knowing then that when the lights were brightest, you could perform. And and, it. again, you certainly did that. There's no there's no debate. I'll I'll end with this question, and I think we'll we'll start taking some of the questions from our guests. But, again, as I mentioned, Seahawks, Patriots, right around the corner. You have a favorite. Who do you think will win and why? Well, I like Drake May. I I like Stefon Diggs, all of that. I I like the Seahawks with Sam Donald. I I like j, you know, JSN, the receiver number 11, Cooper Kupp, Kenneth Walker. But I gotta go NFC. And, you know, I gotta go NFC and and but not taking anything away from the the New England Patriots. I I feel they deserve to be there. There was a little bit of a question about Drake May. I I I think they said something about his shoulder. He might have hurt his shoulder a little bit, but. but I I remember my first Super Bowl, Super Bowl twenty three. I think going into that game, I had a a semi little sprained ankle. So I was but I think that made me focus more and and made me really play better because I was aware of it, and I and I and I think I went out and played one of my best games. But I I I think I got to go with the Seattle Seahawks, and but I'm just looking forward to exciting football games, Super Bowl sixty here in San Francisco, man. I'm ready. I'm ready. Energy ready. is high. And and, Yeah. you know, I I again, it's the Seahawks are a fantastic team. That that defense is is fierce. Knowing that you went against, you know, again, other Hall of Famers like Ronnie Lott, how did that prepare you, you know, during practice? You see that every day. Right. And when. you go against these excellent defenders, you know, did you did you recognize the fact that, you know, you're challenging each other for those moments to help you both succeed, you know, when you when you get into these big games? It was a all out war, Yeah. one o ones. Defensive backs, they wanted to win. Wide receivers, we wanted to win. So you had the offensive linemen's, defensive linemen's. They would take a break just to watch one on one. Because, you know, if it was running lot, if it was Deion Sanders, you know, it was it it was like you wanted to, basically, you wanted to show them up and and you wanted to give them your best shot. But. think about this. When when you're practicing at that high level like that, you're making each other better. Yeah. You're making each other better. So, you you know, now when you go into a ballgame and and you're facing some stiff competition and all of that, you have done it already. And you can just, you know, you can just play football. So, you know, Ronnie Lott was one of the most intimidating hitters ever. I when he hit Icky Woods in Super Bowl twenty three, because I would always sit on the bench when the defense you know, when they were on the field, and I would listen for a certain sound. If I heard that sound, I knew that Ronnie had hit someone really hard. Oh, that's amazing. I'm I'm glad I was never the recipient of one of those hits. I I I'm gonna go ahead and try to read some of the questions that have come through here. So give me one moment, please. I'm gonna try to get those in. I'm not seeing anything in the queue at the moment. Give me one moment, please. Ben, can you go back there to that section on the right? Bear with us, everyone. One moment, please. And then, Ben, can you enlarge that, please? I can't quite see that. Thank you so much. Okay. I'm gonna read these from the from the the top down, Jerry. Okay. So the question is, what is your success mantra for the younger generation, not only in sports but in life, to help them stay motivated and not lose hope? I think this is a great question. So what would you say, you know, to to younger generation in terms of just kind of what what they could they could do to motivate them? I I think the younger generation be thankful, for the old generation because you look at contracts now, you know, contracts that are, like, guaranteed. These players are making so much money now, but but they're still an obligation. You know? You still need to go out there on that football field, and and and you need to play your best football, not only. just for you, but also for the fans. And and I know social media is a big thing, all of that now. And the main thing is not to get distracted, you know, keep getting better. And, yeah, you're gonna have off the field opportunities and all of that, but, you just gotta, keep everything in perspective. But the most important thing is football. And those fans that are sitting in the stands that's paying your salary, they deserve to get the best football ever. And that was my approach back in the day. The fans made me play my best football. And if if I'm not wrong here, what kinda what I'm hearing you say is kind of the joy of football. You know, when it all comes together and and when you say it's just about football, kind of, you know, it's it's not any smaller and it's not any bigger than that. It's just what it is. Right. That's fantastic. And we have a question here. Maybe back to the you know, going back to the college conversation. This is from Willie Jackson. What are your thoughts on the transfer portal today, and how would that affected you know, how would they have affected your choices if you had the transfer portal? You know, you talked about USC. I'm. sure those. calls were to come after you hard. So, you know, do you have a perspective on that? Do you you know, the current landscape? I know it's, you know, changing all the time. Do you have a perspective. on that? Yeah. It's a little different. It's a little different now because, you know, I always wanted players to actually get paid. I really do because, you know, I, I I know education is the most important thing. And if you've got a scholarship, you can go, get that education. That was the main focus. But now you got guys, actually jumping in the portal, moving around, you know, trying to get, to a team where they can showcase their abilities and all that. I I was always one of those guys that felt like, hey. Look. I was gonna fight for it. I was gonna earn getting on that field. And if if I if I couldn't do that, I was not gonna jump in the portal and go somewhere else. Yep. You know? That's that that would be a little bit different for me. I am but, you know, with them making the amount of money that they're making, I'm all for it 100%. Yeah. I again, it's it's interesting to see as things develop. You know, I think everyone is happy to see the players being taken care of, but I think time will tell how how it all shakes out. I think we have time for a few more questions, if that's okay. You know, the the obviously, the burning question that everyone wants to know is, you know, what did you find more challenging? The NFL or Dancing With The Stars? Man, you so wrong with hell. I'm just reading them as I see them, Jared. Oh my god. Okay. Okay. How can I answer that one? Alright. Oh, okay. Dancing with the stars, they reached out to my agent, and they say, hey. Look. We want Jerry on dancing with the stars. And when my agent approached me with it, I said, man, come on. Man, I'm not going on dancing with the stars. I'm not gonna wear a shoe that got a little heel on it and and and wear the tight pants and all of that. And then I thought about it. I said, you know, NFL, that's what I wore. I wore the tight. pants. I am. Yeah. And and maybe I could reach a whole different demographic of people that might not know about me from from sports, you know, maybe football, but, you know, that show opened me up to the world. It opened so many doors for me, and and and and I joke around about this all the time because when I when I go through airports now and I see moms, I don't know if they know me from football or Dancing With Stars until they do. that little shimmy thing. When they do that little shimmy thing, I know they know me from Dancing With the Stars. But, yeah, it it was like it was it it was really difficult because I'm so used to a big football field. Now you got this condensed little small dance floor, then you got a few people around that dance floor. But then television wise, over 2,000,000 people are watching. So so I I I felt I really had to work at it, and and and I did. I did. I I I took the same approach that I that I took in football. Mhmm. I wanted to win. Yep. Whatever I do, I want to win. So along with that, you know, there are some sacrifice. You you you got to put the time in. And and I think for the first I I think the first ten weeks, I did not miss a practice. Mhmm. When I got to the semifinals finals, I was going six I think I was going six hour well, yeah, I'm going four hours in the morning, and then I think I had four that evening. So I poured myself into it, Right. and and and I felt like it opened up so many doors for me. And but, of course, you know, football will always be the most difficult thing to do. Of course. Well, maybe. How about golf? I know I know I I know know I I I've read I've read stories around how you would wake up before film. studies, you know, wake up at 4AM, get to the driving range, you know, at the break of day, put in your work, Go watch film, and then and then get back to the range. So I know, you know, I know football's hard. From personal experience, know golf is very hard. I won't speak to dancing. But how's the golf game? What what end with the golf game? How how. are we doing? Hey, Ben. You can't blame anyone in golf. Okay? It's all you. It's. an individual you you. the you know, you say you got your caddy. Yeah. You might be able to say, yeah. Your your caddy gave you the wrong club or the the wrong distance or something like that or he didn't read that putt or or whatever. But golf is one of those games that is is not you're not gonna be able to mass master golf, but you can play this game for the the rest of your life. Mhmm. You can also play this game, and you can go to the golf course by yourself. You can just play the course. So I love the game, and I and I really I when it hit me, man, I was the bug. I had it because I was getting up early in the morning going to the range to hit golf balls, then there was, like I think there was nine holes that you could play. Then I would be at meetings at 08:00, then I would, you know, practice. And I think I got done maybe about 04:00, and then I would go back and hit more balls and and work on my game. So so, yeah, very challenging, a game you can play, you know, for the rest of your life, but you're not gonna be able to master golf? And and how many times do you do you get out now? I'm I'm I'm probably I I would say probably three times a week. Okay. So three times a week. I actually, my my handicap had gotten down to I I think the lowest for me, I I was a plus two. That's. when I was really, really working on my game. Yeah. I I I think right now, I'm probably, like, maybe around minus one or something like that. I But I'm sure there's myself included, I'm sure there's lots of people that wish they could get that those numbers, but I I I don't. know that I don't know that you put the the same amount of, you know, again, preparation, dedication, and and and to golf as you did dancing, as you did football. But with that, I know we're out of time. So, again, I just wanna, you know, give my thanks to, again, NFL legend and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice for joining us today. Jerry, thank you so much for your time and sharing some of your stories with us. And, again, you know, I'm I'm sure your name will come out often over the next few weeks as we're looking ahead to the Super Bowl. So thank you for taking the time today to join us. Yeah. And then I wanna say to the two teams that are here, you guys deserve to be here. You guys are goats. You guys are the greatest of all time. I'm looking for a great, great Super Bowl, but I'm also looking for, you know, people to come in and see our beautiful city because San Francisco is amazing. So, you know, thank you guys so so much for having me. Super Bowl sixty, let's go. Thank you, Jerry. Have, a great.