Page 56 - LVGL Summer 2021

UNLV

rroyo: Outside of football, my family motivates me. I
Ahave one daughter and just recently welcomed a son,
and have been married 11 years. I am the first of my family
to graduate high school, let alone college. To get a schol-
arship. I have a tough background, broken home. I think
whatever that is, it’s there. I think a lot of us still try to find
throughout the course of our life what exactly motivates us.
I had some good role models. I was raised by a village. I am
from a town of about 1,000 people, really small town, with
one stop light that is for a crosswalk not traffic. I think all
the people in my town, all my closest friends motivate me
a lot. I keep doing and make them proud. I have always felt
like I don’t want to let people down. I have some people in
my life that I reach out to when I have to think about certain
things. There is a guy that I am close to in regards to men-
tal training and team building: Brett Ledbetter is a guy who
does a lot of things with basketball teams, and he worked
with us at Oregon. And he has been a really good sounding
board on ways to coach a team.

: Are you in favor of the playoff expansion that is
Qbeing discussed right now? If so, which number is the
right one in your opinion, 8 or 12 or another option?

rroyo: Well, I am a fan of it because I think it is really
Agoing to highlight some more teams in the country.
Some more coaches and players, and universities and cit-
ies, and even markets that haven’t had the exposure. That is
going to be really good. I think it is going to widen the lens
a little bit. This is good in a lot of ways: market value, social
responsibility, different areas of our country, different ways
to do it. I think that could be good. There is obviously inher-
ent stuff that comes with it—more games and all the other
stuff are still moving targets. I think getting more market
value for a collegiate athlete and college sports in general,
I think that’s cool. I think that helps educate the greater
group a lot of the time.

: What do you think about the new stadium? How big
Qof a role is it playing in your preparation and recruit-
ing? I have heard there are already record ticket sales.

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