THIS IS EPISODE 509 OF THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST
Ricardo Allen is a defensive back for the Atlanta Falcons. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft (No. 147 overall) by Atlanta out of Purdue. He quickly became a starter and helped the Falcons to the NFC championship and a berth in the Super Bowl in 2016.
In August 2018, Allen signed a three-year contract extension with Atlanta, and after suffering an Achilles injury in 2018, he returned in 2019 to have a productive season. He was also named as the Falcons’ 2019 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee.
In April 2015, Ricardo and his wife, Grace, were married, and together they have three children. Ricardo and Grace also host their own podcast, “All in with the Allens.”
On this episode of the Sports Spectrum Podcast, we talk to Ricardo and Grace about their journey of faith, their NFL draft experience, how a difficult loss in Super LI actually helped shape Ricardo in a positive way, and the importance of investing in their marriage.
Clemson RB Gideon Davidson, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
The Clemson Tigers are coming off a season (7-6 record) in which they finished with fewer than nine wins for the first time since 2010. Last year’s performance was an exceedingly unusual sight in Death Valley for a program now accustomed to being at the top of college football, winning two national championships (2018, 2016) in the last decade under head coach Dabo Swinney.
The Tigers enter 2026 just outside the top 25 due to a number of key departures, including quarterback Cade Klubnik, so a strong running game will be key in a return to the soaring heights they once enjoyed. And the man tasked with spearheading Clemson’s rushing attack will be Gideon Davidson.
The 20-year-old is a true sophomore and the youngest running back on the roster. Still, the highly touted former four-star recruit from Lynchburg, Virginia, registered 60 carries for 260 yards to go along with 11 receptions for 93 yards in his true freshman campaign, and expectations are much higher for him now that he’s the lead back in 2026.
🚨Clemson RB Clemson Gideon Davidson is going to be a PROBLEM…
“Really, not everything comes when you want it,” Davidson told ClemsonSportsTalk.com earlier this month about waiting patiently for his opportunity. “I just had to kind of sit back and trust the process. This year, it’s paid off. I finally get my chance.”
Davidson is no stranger to adversity, or to overcoming it. Long before the 6-foot, 200-pounder became a high school state champion, and long before he was named Virginia’s Gatorade High School Player of the Year, he was a child sitting with his siblings in an orphanage in Accra, Ghana.
His father had died while his mother was pregnant with him, so they moved in with his uncle. But not too long after that, his uncle couldn’t support the family either, and Gideon and his siblings were sent to the orphanage. After a year there, Gideon and two of his brothers were adopted by a U.S. family. Soon, however, that family was overwhelmed by the three boys. That’s when “empty-nesters” Brian and Christine Davidson heard about the plight of the siblings and decided to adopt them. They arrived at home on Nov. 11, 2011.
Gideon soon fell in love with football, as many kids in the United States do, and very quickly demonstrated his aptitude for the sport, becoming one of the most sought-after running backs in his high school class. Still, he remained humble and grateful for all he’d been given, both from the Davidsons and from the Lord.
“[The Davidsons are] the ones who raised me to be a Christ-follower, first and foremost,” Gideon told Cardinal News during his senior year of high school. “They’re the ones who looked at my life and saw the most important thing in my life and that was to become a Christ-follower and glorify God in everything I do.”
Gideon now describes himself as a “Man of God” and lists his favorite Bible verse, Joshua 1:9, in his Instagram bio.
Davidson has never forgotten where he came from or the story God has written in his life, and he wants to help others navigate the challenges of the adoption process.
Earlier this year, he launched “Gid’s Fundraiser” for Flourish Adoption Ministries in South Carolina and raised nearly $13,000 to help fund adoption-related expenses for families and support for birth mothers. For his community service efforts, he was nominated for the 2026 Good Works Team and named to the 2026 Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Watch List. The Wuerffel Trophy is billed as college football’s premier community service award.
“I wanted to give a kid that chance (at adoption), and then help a family who also wants to do that for their child,” Davidson told TigerNet.com earlier this month. “I wanted to allow a family to come together without any of the financial struggle.”
His desire to give back is rooted in all Christ has done for him.
“I want to be humble and always stay humble as I play for the Lord,” Davidson said in a Q&A for the Winter 2023 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine. “Humility is the soil for all other Christlike virtues.”
Davidson and his new-look Clemson Tigers teammates will begin their 2026 slate in one of college football’s toughest environments, a night game on the road against No. 11 LSU. Kickoff is set for Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Cincinnati Bengals WR Dohnte Meyers, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
One of the more captivating storylines emerging during this year’s NFL preseason has been the rise of Dohnte Meyers. The Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver had never played a snap of NFL football until this preseason, yet if he continues to impress, he just might make Cincy’s final roster.
Meyers’ latest superb showing came on Saturday in a 27-9 victory against the Chicago Bears in which he was all over the field. He caught five passes (six targets) for 41 yards, rushed once for nine yards, returned two kickoffs for 54 total yards and returned two punts for 34 total yards.
Meyers’ big day against Chicago came after he grabbed three passes (on a team-high four targets) for a team-high 29 yards, ran once for 13 yards, and returned one punt for 11 yards in the Bengals’ 16-14 win against the Detroit Lions in the team’s first preseason game.
“Every day, it’s something I can prove myself and continue to compete,” Meyers told reporters after Saturday’s game about his ever-increasing chances to make the 53-man roster. “Nothing’s set in stone. Nothing’s done. And every day’s an opportunity to get better, so I feel like that’s something that I hold myself to and I feel like that’s what the club expects from me.”
Despite his newness to Cincinnati’s locker room, Meyers is no stranger to high-level football, or to winning.
He played college football for two years at FCS Presbyterian College before entering the transfer portal and winding up at Division-II Delta State in Cleveland, Mississippi, ahead of the 2020 season. That season was canceled due to COVID-19, but he played 2021 and 2022 with the team. In 2022, he earned first-team All-Gulf South Conference honors.
After going undrafted in 2023 and an unsuccessful tryout with the hometown Atlanta Falcons, he turned his attention to his body. He knew he needed to get bigger, faster and stronger, and to pay for those long training sessions in the summer of 2023, he worked as a food delivery driver.
A door for Meyers to return to football cracked open when he heard about an open tryout in Atlanta with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He paid $100 to participate.
“I balled out,” Meyers told the Bengals’ team website about that tryout performance, and the Roughriders offered him a futures contract in November 2023. But his 2024 debut was delayed due to a broken hand and ended early due to a separated shoulder, and it seemed like he’d never catch a break. During that time, he sought solace in the presence of God.
“That was the only thing that could really provide some stability,” Meyers told the Bengals. “I’ve got to lean on my faith because there’s no way I could justify what’s going on. I’ve got to lean on God. I have to. He’s my foundation. He’s got to be doing something.”
In particular, the Biblical story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers resonated with Meyers. He has been known to post on Instagram — where he lists the Bible verse Romans 8:28 in his bio — about Joseph.
“I look back at my journey, none of this is supposed to happen. None of this makes sense on paper,” Meyers told the Bengals. “You look at Joseph. … Every step he took felt like he was moving further away from where he was called to be, and that’s how I felt.”
Joseph eventually rose to become Egypt’s second in command, and Meyers’ CFL rise during the 2025 season was almost as meteoric. He caught 65 passes for 1,056 yards and eight touchdowns in 15 games, earning an All-Star nod and helping Saskatchewan to a No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The Roughriders would go on to win the Grey Cup, the CFL’s championship game.
“God works in crazy ways,” Meyers told the Bengals team website.
Meyers parlayed his CFL success into multiple workouts with NFL teams, eventually signing with the Bengals in January. His story got just a little bit crazier a week before training camp, when star QB Joe Burrow asked to throw with him. He agreed, only later revealing that he drove overnight from Atlanta to Cincinnati to make it in time.
“If you achieve something that you can do by yourself, you probably didn’t dream big enough,” Meyers told the Bengals. “This can only happen if God does it, because if not, I can’t do this by myself. … Everything is perfectly and divinely placed by God.”
Just like he did while mired in obscurity and hampered by injuries, Meyers will seek to continue to draw close to God as his dream of being an NFL player draws closer by the day. His last chance to make an impression on Cincinnati’s coaching staff in live game action will come on Friday, when the Bengals finish their preseason slate with a road matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.
Oscar Tshiebwe in April 2026. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY JASON ROMANO, FEATURING OSCAR TSHIEBWE
Oscar Tshiebwe is an NBA player with the Houston Rockets. He went undrafted out of Kentucky in 2023 after winning the 2022 Naismith Player of the Year award and being named a first-team All-American in 2022 and second-team All-American in 2023. He led all of college basketball in rebounding in ’22 and ’23.
After signing a two-way deal with the Indiana Pacers and then with the Utah Jazz, he led the G League in rebounding in 2024 and 2025. On April 12 in the NBA, Tshiebwe posted a career-high 29 points and 17 rebounds against the L.A. Lakers. He signed with the Rockets as a free agent on July 24.
Today on the podcast, Oscar Tshiebwe returns to the show to tell us about his NBA Draft experience, how he left money on the table in trusting in God’s plan, celebrating the Lord even though he was undrafted, what it means to have courage in the dark, writing a book, and how he has mastered the art of rebounding.
Baltimore Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
When Calais Campbell was presented with the Bart Starr Award in 2019, he thanked his mother, Nateal, for teaching him and his siblings about the Lord.
“Mom, I just appreciate you making sure that we knew Jesus,” he said. “I remember being a little kid and being scared of the dark, or whatever, my mom just told me, ‘Nothing can ever happen to you as long as you’re covered in the blood of Jesus.’ That was real and it’s been with me ever since.”
This week, the longtime NFL veteran spoke with the media for the first time since his mother was murdered on June 30. His brother, Ciarre Campbell, was arrested and charged for the crime. Understandably, the past couple of months have been “pretty tough,” Calais said, as his family navigates the emotions of the tragedy.
“We appreciate all the love and support and prayers that have come from all over the NFL community (and) all the fan bases,” Campbell told reporters. “Continue praying for us because we need it.”
A six-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman, Campbell turns 40 in September and is entering his 19th NFL season after signing with the Baltimore Ravens on a one-year contract. He was asked this week if he considered skipping this season to deal with the tragedy, but instead he decided to play and said this will most likely be his final season.
“I love the game of football a lot. It’s a place (that) brings me joy,” Campbell told reporters. “The training was adjusted a little bit. It was a little harder to train. … I work really hard (and) I feel really good where I’m at. Practices have been going well. I really like where I’m at right now. The coaches did a really good job of letting me ease in and get myself where I need to be.”
The Bart Starr Award is presented annually by Athletes In Action at the Super Bowl Breakfast to “the NFL player who best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community.” Campbell was recognized as the winner in 2019 for his community work through running the CRC Foundation, named after his late father, Charles Richard Campbell. The organization’s mission is to teach critical life skills to young people. Through sports, creative talents, vocational skills, financial skills and quality health and nutrition, the CRC Foundation helps young people develop into empowered and self-aware leaders for the future.
In addition to thanking his mother that day, Campbell also thanked his father, who died when Campbell was 17 and taught his son about the value of integrity.
“I believe that integrity really is having faith because a lot of times, people really get in trouble when they start trying to do things for themselves, they feel like they’re missing out on their blessings so they start trying to cut corners and do things to get ahead,” Campbell told the Super Bowl Breakfast audience. “And you lose your integrity and it really just crumbles your foundation.
“So for me, I think that integrity really is just having faith that if you keep doing the little things right and keep working hard and take your time and doing things with love and passion and hope, good things will happen when it’s your time.”
The Bart Starr Award held special significance for him because of the role AIA played in his faith journey during his time in college at Miami.
“For a tall, 6-8, gangly freshman coming all the way across the country from Denver, Colorado, Athletes in Action was at the school. I started going to everywhere they were holding meetings and found myself a home,” Campbell told the 1,400 attendees when accepting the award. “Growing up, my mom made sure that we understood and knew Jesus, and that was a big deal too. You go to college, you’re on your own for the first time, you don’t have your parents to take you to church or nobody to tell you what to do. You have to make a decision for yourself.
“I was trying to find my way and Athletes in Action being there really gave me an opportunity. I don’t even know how many people they affect, but I know it’s a whole lot. I’m just honored to be here and accept the award.”
His work with the CRC Foundation also led to him being named the 2019 Walter Payton Man of the Year, arguably the most prestigious character-related award in the NFL, given to a player who exhibits commitment to philanthropy and community impact as well as excellence on the field.
“My goal when I give back is to inspire people, to encourage people to believe that dreams are achievable if you put the work in,” Campbell said at the NFL Honors that year. “Everybody, and I mean everybody, can give back. Wherever you are in your life, it doesn’t matter where you are in your life, but reach back and help someone. It’s our duty to help our neighbors. Even if you can only give five minutes to someone in need, give it to them. That one-on-one quality time, that little bit of extra time can make a world of difference. Those five minutes can change a life.”
In his present time of difficulty, Campbell is experiencing the impact of others’ prayers and support.
