Alright, Alright, Alright: Matthew McConaughey Delivers Awesome Pep Talk to the Texas Longhorns

If you didn’t think Matthew McConaughey is one of the coolest and most down-to-earth actors in Hollywood before, you likely will after watching this clip. The Texas Longhorns posted a YouTube video this week of the Academy Award winner’s recent visit to their training facility, in which he shared some of the secrets of his success.

“When you do well, you feel it, and you can look in the mirror and you go, ‘That’s right. I earned that. I did that,” he told the athletes. “Ask yourself, man, when you look in the mirror tonight, just say, ‘Why do I play this game?’ At the end of the day, every single one of you has really only got to be playing for one person.”

The mini-speech was like something out of Matthew’s fantastic movie, We Are Marshall, and it was a lot more than a collection of existential affirmations. McConaughey shared some laughs with the players, revealed what his favorite film role has been to date, and finally explained the mysterious origin of his now-iconic chest-bumping sequence from The Wolf of Wall Street.

Lucky enough to say i did the Wolf of Wall Street chest beat with the man @McConaughey himself. Such a cool dude! #hookem

— Logan Vinklarek (@LGDV_18) September 25, 2014

Matthew graduated from the University of Texas in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree in radio, TV and film. He was only 23 when he got his big break and was cast on a whim in Dazed and Confused. Later this month, he’ll be honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award…and rightfully so.