BATON ROUGE — NFL Hall of Famer and Southern Head Coach Marshall Faulk disclosed that he has Parkinson's disease on a podcast.

Faulk, 53, talked about the diagnosis on an episode of "Caring Neurologist" with Dr. Sandeep Thakkar, whose show primarily talks about the disease. Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder of the central nervous system affecting the body's movement and balance.

He said on the podcast that he had been dealing with the disease for a year and a half.

Faulk, a New Orleans native, was introduced as Southern’s new coach this past offseason; he was Colorado's running back coach under Deion Sanders beforehand, and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2011. He won an MVP with the then-St. Louis Rams as a major part of the "Greatest Show on Turf" offense.

He said he told his doctor during a physical that he noticed rigidity in his hand as he was playing golf, and his doctor told him "you need to go get checked."

Faulk said since he started on medication, he doesn't "have a lot of issues," but he still feels the rigidity in his hands.

"I just pay attention to my gait, you know, while I walk, when I'm working out, my ability to balance," Faulk said. "It’s still where it is."

He also said that he hadn't had a conversation with family and friends about the diagnosis, but said he would if his lifestyle changes.

"I'm functioning. I'm good. You know, I just I think I caught it early. I'm in a good place."