Kool-Aid McKinstry gives motivational speech to local high school team

Who better to motivate some high school defenders than Alabama defensive back and second-team All-American Ga’Quincy ‘Kool-Aid’ McKinstry. The cornerback was recently at a practice at A.H. Parker High School in Birmingham, watching some high schoolers work.

McKinstry, who is from the Birmingham area, apparently knows some of the coaches on staff. And after practice concluded, the corner gave the group some motivation.

“Am I working, am I the person I want to be?” McKinstry said in a video posted by the A.H. Parker football Twitter account. “Outside of here, am I the person I want to be? Am I the human I want to be? Y’all gotta love this s***. And as a defense, y’all gotta work for each other. Y’all gotta work each other, become a family, play for one another. Play together. Talk to each other. Defense is about communication. If everybody knows what they’re doing, defense going to play fast and play together and play together. And everybody gotta do their job.”

A great word from a great player @GaQMcK1 ‼️Thank you for stopping by.
🎥: @Dirxbigphil pic.twitter.com/pmGlw6MRk0

— A.H. Parker Football (@AHParkerFootba1) May 10, 2023

Parker defensive coordinator Rex Sharpe followed up, pointing out to his players that what an Alabama cornerback just told them is important is exactly what the coaches have been harping on.

“Half the stuff he just said, haven’t I told y’all? Haven’t your coaches told you that? So I want you to hear it from somebody else. As far as communicating. As far as doing the stuff you gotta do. As far as learning your job. You have to, fellas. because if you don’t, one person messes up, that’s seven points,” Sharpe said.

As Sharpe was speaking, McKinstry either saw some of the players who were supposed to be listening goofing off, or just got fired up in the moment. He cut in again and went on an impassioned diatribe about committing to the work to get better.

And he called out some of the high schoolers, saying the practice he saw them do wasn’t to the level of the elite prospects.

Y’all don’t practice hard, at all. Y’all don’t work like five-stars. I ain’t gone lie, you can ask DMo [Demarques Densmore], all them boys, ask my coaches. When I play, I practice hard. Every f****** day bro. Every day. I ran through the s***. Y’all ain’t practicing hard at all, bro. You, you — yeah, I’m talking to y’all bro. I’m talking to y’all, bro. Y’all don’t practice hard. These boys following behind y’all. Y’all boys gotta bust y’all a**** every day. 90 degrees, 50 degrees, it doesn’t matter bro. Y’all boys ain’t working, bro. You all in the back of the line. You, when Sharpe was talking, you were looking all around. Bro, you gotta be in the front. You should be making sure ain’t nobody else looking around while he’s coaching. C’mon, bro. Y’all gotta work, bro,” McKinstry said, gesticulating the whole time.

His message to the defenders before him continued. And as McKinstry continued to extoll the virtues of going hard in practice, it’s easy to understand why he’s thrived under Nick Saban at Alabama.

“I’m going every rep. You can ask coach. Have you ever seen anyone lock me up? Ever? Never. I promise you, y’all gotta want it. You gotta be that. If you wanna be that, you gotta be that, bro,” McKinstry said before softening for a moment. “He might’ve won a few, I ain’t gonna lie. But if you gonna be that, you gotta be that, bro. Like, period. You can’t be faking this s***.”

After he walked off, Sharpe stepped back up and summed up the moment.

“Real stuff there my boy,” he said.