Ronald Ollie Is An All-Time Favorite 'Last Chance U' Player. He Tells Us Where He's At In Life Now.
Damn. It feels good to hear that laugh again.
It’s been five years since America met Ronald Ollie in Netflix’s sports-doc series, Last Chance U, which debuted its final season on the gridiron this week. Of all the players featured in the show, most fans will probably tell you that their all-time favorite is Ollie, the always-laughing defensive lineman from Season One. What’s not to love? In Scooba, MS, we got a glimpse of his bigger-than-most-rooms personality, forming a friendship with academic advisor Brittney Wagner that’s still alive and well today. Later on, we learned of his heartbreaking backstory, losing both of his parents at an early age.
In Last Chance U’s final check-in with Ollie, he was thriving at Division I school Nicholls State, where he racked up an impressive NFL resume. Unfortunately, he wasn’t snatched up in the 2019 NFL Draft, signing with the Oakland Raiders later that summer. Wouldn’t you know it, another documentary series, HBO’s Hard Knocks, was in town at the same time. When the episode featuring Ollie aired in August 2019, it painted a fairly unceremonious exit from the team for the lineman. Aside from Ollie's social media, that’s the last time we’ve really heard from him, who earlier this year signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, which has since postponed its season indefinitely.
With Last Chance U saying goodbye to football, we had to check in with one of the guys who started it all. So... how’s Ollie doing?
He’s good. Scratch that. Goooood. Did you expect anything else?
ESQ: How are you holding up?
RO: Man, I'm good, man. Getting through every day, just trainin' man and trying to keep my head on the main goal and stay focused. That's it.
ESQ: What do you do when you're not training?
RO: I help [a friend] train at his gym and I make music [laughs], so that's really what I be doing in my spare time. Either I'm making music, or I'm helping train, or I'm training myself.
ESQ: That's cool that you're still making music—how's that going?
RO: Man, it's going great! Actually, like, I love music, you know?
ESQ: I feel like everybody needs something to keep them from going insane right now, you know?
RO: Yeah. And music is definitely it for me right now [laughs].
ESQ: You were supposed to play football this season in Canada, right?
RO: Yeah, man, I signed a deal with [the Toronto Argonauts] for Canada and, you know, pandemic happened so everything is kinda questioned right now.
ESQ: How did that come about?
RO: I got a call one day and it was from Toronto. We talked, they wanted to know what I was doing in the states and they wanted to know if I'd be willing to come play for them and I was like, Shoot! I'm still in shape, I still work out every day. I still in my business, so, yeah, of course I can come play.
ESQ: I talked to Dakota Allen and John Franklin for a different story, and it's interesting—John said five years later, he's still running away from people at the mall like recognizing him for the show.
RO: [Laughs] No, most definitely. Like, it's definitely still a hit. I go anywhere, we out and somebody will recognize me. They'll come up to me, they ask me if they can get a picture, so the love is still felt. Everybody wants to know what we doing now. And it's just like, Ah, it's a pandemic so there can't be much we got going on!
ESQ: What kind of things do they say to you?
RO: [In an extremely high-pitched voice, holding back laughter] “Oh my God, like, are you Ollie from Last Chance U? Like, we love you!” They just have so much energy, man, and it's all positive energy and I feel that energy.
ESQ: It's crazy—John said that he gets DMs like every day telling him that.
RO: Every single day.
ESQ: Telling him how he helped them.
RO: Most definitely. The kids that we inspired along the way, they need guidance. So sometimes I reach out to kids, because I wish I had somebody doing that for me growing up. That helped me a lot growing up. Kid just be looking for that, a role model, and somebody they’re looking up to who just understands. Like, see 'em. Just seeing them and let them know, like, Hey man, it's rough out here. Life happens but you still gotta keep your head on the goal and you gotta get whatever you want outta life.
ESQ: Do you remember your time in Scooba differently now, than how you remembered it maybe a year out from it?
RO: I go back and see that it was definitely teaching me a lot that I needed to learn in life. Cause during that time I was in Scooba, it's obvious to me now that I see my life, now where I'm at, I've grown so much from that. It's just like, Bro, like, you had no clue what life... what the world had to offer. You know? You had no clue of what you might be, the relationships that you might build, the times in your life when you want to give up but you can't because you have people looking up to you and people rooting for you. I just didn't see that. I didn't see that. Like, I know I enjoyed it. I have to say, I enjoyed every bit of it.
ESQ: Which memories do you think of the most?
RO: My teammates. We were just like a family. It's just a family atmosphere. We were so close to each other, like it got personal. We dip into each other's personal lives and that made us closer, and we built the relationships throughout the year we were there. Everybody loved each other genuinely. We always check on each other, see how we doing, see if we're okay. I can just say the best thing I got from that is the relationships that I built with my teammates... I talk to everybody, everybody that reach out. I can reach out, too. I reach out to them and make sure they're okay and we have a conversation and we talk.
ESQ: Do you still keep in touch with Ms. Brittany?
RO: Most definitely! [Laughs.] Most definitely, we talk. Just to chit-chat still. I’m calling for problems, she may be feeling some type of way, you know, and I don’t even know. And I just call her out of the blue. Or I tell her I might be feeling some type of way. She just texts me or called me out of the blue and we just talk.
ESQ: A lot of people last saw you on Hard Knocks, but we didn't get to hear from you too much. What did you take away from that experience?
RO: The Hard Knocks experience was kind of weird [laughs] for me… I just got negative energy from Hard Knocks. Like I was just getting negative energy while they was around, so I just didn't, like my soul and my good spirit didn't sit well with them, you know what I'm saying, being around and following me because I didn't like the energy.
ESQ: It's interesting you say that, because something Dakota talked about is how much like Greg Whiteley and the Last Chance U crew would just shut the cameras off and talk to you guys and basically, you know—
RO: Just talked! Like really get to know us. Just take the time out, like Greg and them, and just actually take the time out to actually like dip into our life and see why we were the way that we were and the things that made us who we are. Everybody just liked Greg. And we liked the guys who came here, filmed us, and had their fun time with us ‘cause we had some moments [laughs]. We had a lot of moments. Everybody had a lot of moments.
ESQ: I forgot how Season One ended! With the fight.
RO: Oh yeah. That was wild, man.
ESQ: I can't imagine what it was like to live through that.
RO: Yeah, that was crazy. That was one of the top three craziest times of my life [laughs]. Like, things like that would just happen out of the blue.
ESQ: Life has been so hard for so many people this year. Is there anything you've learned this year that could've never learned as a 17-year-old in Scooba?
RO: Um, no. I always say, what we have is totally different mental states of mind, then and now. I treat everything as like, every day you've gotta get better at something, or every day you gotta learn something. But this time, I took the time to really continue to find myself. Just do what I do. Like take yourself back to see: Am I doing things wrong? Am I handling my business the way that I'm supposed to? Then just making sure that everything is how I want, like I'm actually working towards that goal, so like writing down goals, categorizing 'em, trying to achieve one goal at a time every way that I can.
ESQ: That's interesting that you talk about finding yourself during this time—have you found any answers in what you've been looking for?
RO: Yes. Just revisiting a lot of past situations, revisiting the things that made me and made me who I am. Just all the things that brought hurt to my life, that I had to heal from, or deal with, or face to help me grow. It's just like, I had to accept it, you know what I'm saying? Know what happened, understand what happened, and move on from it. That's how I'm really taking everything now. And it's just like, I'm so genuine sometimes, like I really think I get misunderstood a lot of times. So it's just like, man, you may come off as an asshole to some people, but the people who know you, they know the real me and they understand why I am the way I am [laughs]. Just trying to get better man! That’s it.
ESQ: It's just like, the more open and genuine you are with people, the more you’re available to be taken advantage of, or taken out of context, you know?
RO: Yeah, because I have to understand that everybody don't have the soul that I have. Everybody don't have the energy that I have. I'm the type: I could walk in the room and just light it up, like literally on accident, like without even trying [laughs]. It's just who I am, man, it is the personality that I have. And I have to use that, too, also, and that was me finding myself first. And then two, it's just the energy that I give off and the vibe that I give off. It's good, like it's good, it’s positive, you know? And it's big energy, you know what I'm saying?
ESQ: It’s like the Bruce Lee thing where he was always like, “Be you.” Like, if you're not being authentically you, you’re short-changing yourself.
RO: Yeah, and I tell myself a lot, man: Before you deal with and be real with anybody, you have to be real with yourself. Like you have to look at a mirror every day and you have to see yourself every day. Like you know everything about yourself, so like every emotion and feeling, you have to challenge that. You have to make sure that you're being great and holding yourself to that standard. Because like I've said, you know what you want. Everybody knows what they want. And if you want it, you have to put action in it and get it.
ESQ: For people who want to catch up with you, what else would you want to tell them?
RO: Uh, yes—I got new music out [laughs]. I got new music out. You can go listen to my music, please. What else? Nothing man, I'm still being me, staying true to myself. I'm still learning every day. Still moving on from experiences that I'm going through every day, because everything happens for a reason, and I really feel that way. And at the end of the day, if I even don't play football again, I won't stop being who I am just because I'm not playing football. And some people ask me that, if I never played football again because the way that you're seen as a person? I only control what I can control. I can' t change anybody’s mind. I can only be me, and until you can have a talk and conversation with me and really speak to me, like you'll know where I'm comin from when I say that.
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