Dak's Pandemic Party Pushback; Cowboys Pre-Draft Signals; More Draft Prospect Interviews!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, boys and girls, Welcome in to the Boys and
Girl Podcast with Cowboys, NFL Network reporter Jane Slater and
NFL Network producer Bobby Bell. Cowboys Community with the inside
scoop on the Dallas Cowboys, now coming straight to you

(00:22):
from the Lone Star State. Here's Jane and Bobby. Well,
hope you guys are surviving it another week in isolation,
Bobby and myself saying, incredibly bored as we are now
hard to believe what two weeks out from the draft,
which is absolutely insane that this thing has been creeping
up on us. It's really been interesting doing these mock

(00:45):
draft interviews, which we're gonna bring to you in a
little bit because we're sort of getting a little bit
of the insight into what these teams are going through. Uh,
you find yourself at middle e sort of zoning out
in some interviews because it feels like a miss American
paget get some of these canned responses, Bobby. And then
there's some guys who you'll hear later in our podcast.

(01:06):
Kenny willikis the Michigan State defensive end. I mean, this
guy just jumped off the stick the page to me,
I haven't watched this film in Italy, says it hasn't
jumped off in terms of film. I'm gonna remember Kenny
will Kiss, and I think you will too after you
hear a little bit from him. And then at the
NFL Network we did a mock draft. Uh the other
night Cowboys on the Board at seven Burrow. I did

(01:30):
not get Joe at Burrow, but it is fascinating and
keeping with the spirit of the NFL Network. I won't
give away my pick, but we have certainly talked about
him in these podcasts. He was there at seventeen and
I think he'd be a nice fit for the Cowboys. Uh,
real quick, Bobby, Let's get to the Nick and Sam's
investigative journalism that took place earlier this week. If you're

(01:52):
not from Dallas, Nick and Sam's is a steakhouse that
a lot of cowboys frequent. As somebody on Twitter told
me my bourgeoisie was showing. I joked, when hasn't it
that that that is James Later is not just Cowboys insider.
She doubles as Nick and Sam's insider as well a
niche for her. That's where I did my Dez Bryant
sit down four hours after he was cut from the team.

(02:15):
But tm Z had reported that the police department there
and I believe it's prosper where Deak Prescott is living,
had come to his house about calls of thirty people
there for a party during the pandemic. Now, look, Doc
has already been on our radar. In this podcast, we
talked about throwing the DEZ in the controversy that created.

(02:38):
But here he is once again in the news, which
I've got to imagine gives the cowboys all sorts of
headaches because he's been the guy that hasn't given them
any headaches over the years. Uh And and the police
showed up, and as it turns out, the police left
after not being able to confirm that there were more
than ten there. I've talked to some people that are
familiar with the situation. I was told there were at

(03:00):
slutely not more than ten people, and I just waited
in because I saw the picture. And if you've been
to Nickins, Sam's the smoking gun that TMZ was using
to prove that there were all these wine glasses around
the table and in this setup that reads Natalie and
glowsticks on the table suggest there had to have been
a party at Dak Prescott's house. Uh, Bobby, I've been

(03:22):
to nickin SAMs as I said multiple times exactly. The
artwork is very distinctive in there. And there's also this
shamps locker, uh, the champagne locker that is this cooler
behind this large table and then boost to the left.
That's not Dak Prescott's house. And then when I reached
out to my sources at Nick and Sam's as it were,

(03:45):
sure enough they've done what a lot of us are doing.
They shot a zoom video earlier in the day and
showed what a party would look like when the pandemic
was over. That was then, I guess a picture of
that zoom video made its way to TMS. So mile
we take away from this really is Dad get some
better friends? Uh? And I was told that not only

(04:06):
did they not order a ton of food, but Samir,
the head chef there, always throws in a ton of
extra food through an extra food and Dak even did
another solid. He provided extra money to their cause, which
is now currently feeding medical providers. So maybe if we
had just killed the layers back a little bit, we
would have seen that maybe it wasn't as bad as

(04:28):
it looked. Still, Dak my man trying to get paid
to to be To be fair, we don't know that
Dak is not such a fan of Nick and Sam's
that he designed his dining room as an exact replica.
That is a question I didn't ask you. I can
always be a better journalist, but I can tell you
this much. I've never been in Dak Prescott's home, but

(04:50):
I can tell you that that is in fact Nick
and Sam's unless he completely replicated it, which I find
very hard to I I can. I would almost guarantee
there's not There weren't to more than ten people there
because you didn't get the invite. I feel like if
there was a thirty person party there that Jane's later
would have been there. With the first hand report I
get quite frankly, I was. I was a little upset

(05:11):
about it. But you know, as we've talked about, I've
taken this quarantine seriously. Uh, I haven't seen a soul. No.
I know this. I the Zoom rooms and me and
you sitting here talking like this. That's uh, that's kind
of been your your most face to face interaction. We've
had a lot of face to face interaction, Bobby. So
I've appreciated us spending all this extra time with you

(05:33):
interviewing these draft prospects. So I wanted to put that
one to bed. And I'm not giving my opinion, like
I said, of any of it. I'm just telling you
I don't know whether he had a party or not.
Those are the details as it relates to me sort
of doing some fact checking, and there you have it,
pre draft whispers. What are you hearing at the water cooler?

(05:55):
And and you know, as we lead up to that
seventeenth pick, body, So this is the this is a
weird year. And we were talking about this before we
started taping that usually you do get a better sense,
like I mean, I know you were all over Layton
vander esh is going to be the pick in and
you were all over Tristan Hill is going to be
the pick in twenty nineteen. Who And I don't think

(06:16):
that the Cowboys haven't probably I'm sure the Cowboys probably
have zeroed in on somebody in a similar fashion like
they did with Layton and and Tristan. I just don't
know that the way everything is set up this year,
and then the way that we're not really getting the
thirty visits, So we can't see that narrowed thirty list
of guys that they interviewed. We can't kind of sort

(06:37):
through that, which has always been a reliable measuring stick.
Um And so because you can talk to just about anybody,
we see them interviewing top one running backs are like
a first round running back that we know they're not taking,
and so it's a it's a little bit more of
a guessing game. Now. Now there is one advantage, and
that is even though the Cowboys were not able to
conduct any of their thirty national visits, a did get

(07:01):
some scheduled. And and so the closest thing we can
find is who has gotten that, Who who got that scheduled?
Who who was one of the ones who potentially got
one of those first few thirty visits scheduled. And as
much as Cowboys fans seemed to be panicking about it
on social media, the interest in Kenneth Murray, we know
Kenneth Murray, the linebacker at Oklahoma, had one, and I

(07:23):
think a lot of people have been saying, well, maybe
that was just an outlier. Maybe they were thinking maybe
he's a trade back guy, and and that's just a
specific player. Well, I was talking to somebody this week,
I can confirm that they actually also added to their
thirty visit list Patrick Queen, a linebacker at l s U,
and Patrick Queen and Kenneth Murray are the only two

(07:44):
linebackers who would get picked like those are the only
two linebackers who would potentially be in the in the
teams to twenties range. And so the fact that the
Cowboys used two of their very precious thirty visits on
them tells me that they're very serious about potentially adding
a linebacker with their first pick. And what are the
implications of that? Does that mean? Is that an implication

(08:04):
of they're going to be using more linebackers. Mike Nolan's
played a lot of three four uh, Mike McCarthy's defenses
that the new linebacker coach they hired, Scott McCarley. Scott
McCarley's only coached linebackers in a three four system before
um So, so maybe that's a signal that they're going
to be using more linebackers. Maybe it's a a signal that,
you know, they're not happy with the depth that we
saw last year when Layton Vanderesh went down and Jalen

(08:26):
Smith struggling. They they struggled, and they need to flesh
that out. And maybe that's what they felt was what
was really falling apart for the defense. Uh, but whatever
it is, they definitely are interested in linebacker at seventeen.
And so as much as I think that would stun
people and send some people into a panic, I think
people need to prepare for that the possibility. Well, people
were stunned in a panic when they picked Layton Vanderesh

(08:48):
at linebacker, remember two years ago. They didn't they couldn't
understand it, and he ended up being a Shawn Lee
two point before he got himself injured. A couple of
points I want to bring on that front. You and
I have been receiving some conflicting information about Layton vander
reached out to someone close to the situation. I was
told the injury is not a concern. Uh, there's kind
of been some speculation about that. Uh. The last time

(09:10):
I reported on Layton vander Esh, she was working out
in Idaho, where he has been during this pandemic with
his lovely wife, H Maddie. I've been told it's more
to the point of what you're talking about Bobby this
is going to be more of a three or four
linebacker set, and that we could see Jalen Smith potentially
rushing more. So maybe they need more linebackers, maybe they

(09:33):
want uh, they certainly had. They certainly struggled a little
bit in that area last year to your point, when
Layton Winch went down, which is unfortunate because when Sean
Lee was going down, you know, we would see these
teams lose more games than they were winning. Layton fills
in for Shawn Lee his rookie year and he started
to feel good about things. And then you felt good
the fact that Sean Lee came back on on the

(09:55):
you know, team friendly deal and he's done it again
for you this year. Because I'm telling you right now,
I had teams ask me about Sean Lee and where
the Cowboys are at on him because there was an
interest from other teams, and unlike some of these other players,
he didn't choose to go to Las Vegas. He didn't
choose to go uh to the Redskins or teams in
the past, and I've had an interest in him. Instead,

(10:17):
he once again stuck around for Dallas, which I think
is a good thing. Yeah, I think it's a good thing,
and I think that everybody should be encouraged by how
much he seemed to be able to maintain his health
throughout all of last year, which is always a concern
with him. He was pretty healthy throughout the whole year,
and he played his best football. And I will always
go back to you and I know I I think

(10:39):
the biggest issue that happened last year is people still
try and sort through what happened with that eight and
eight team. I firmly believe the problem with that team
last year was they lacked any sort of real leadership
on defense, and that was partly because Sean Lee taking
a reserve role. I felt like, it's not my place
to be that guy anymore. Somebody else needs to. It
wasn't a petty thing. It was like a I shouldn't

(11:01):
be the one being this guy as I'm not one
of the main contributors. But I will always remember after
the Rams game when Shawn Lee had a great game,
Jordan Lewis was standing up at his locker and they
asked him how he felt about However, you know, how
good did it feel to see Shaun Lee play the
way he did? And he said, you know, well, that's
our captain. Well he wasn't wearing the captain's patch, but
that tells you how that locker room actually feels, and

(11:23):
and and so that I think it was there was
a thirst for his leadership, and I think the team
really really struggled with him having to take that back
seat leadership role. And so hopefully next season some other
guys step up, or with Shawn Lee potentially getting more work,
he can kind of resume that role a little bit.
And I think, you know, bring some stability to some

(11:44):
that you know, a lot of those young players on defense.
You know, you and I have tried to mirror some
of these virtual chats in the way that perhaps some
of these teams would. Uh. Now, like I said, we're
not coaches. I'll never pretend to be a coach. I
understand the game better than a coach. I would never
What I'm good at is getting information. And you and
I have gathered some of the questions that are asked

(12:08):
if some of these players, And so I think what's
been interesting about this podcast as you're sort of seeing
how these guys adjust and and respond on the fly,
what was one of the questions that really stood out
for you, uh that teams typically ask these players and
and and why it's important. Well, I mean one of
them you can see is just it's really been great.

(12:29):
I saw Jim Naggy from the Senior Bowl, uh, praising
the Cowboys on Twitter on Thursday for kind of pulling
back the curtain and letting fans get a glimpse of
like the evaluation process. Because everybody thinks they're a Twitter
scout now that they can do the job of NFL scout,
and so it really is a good opportunity to look
and see like, look, this is so much more about
you know, evaluating them as people and their psyche. And

(12:52):
you're almost paying you know, playing psychologist as much as
you are a talent evaluator. And it's about for scouts
as well, wholetivating sources and getting teams to be upfront
with them and frank with them about you know, what
their player did at college and and and it really
is a a you can't just sit from your laptop
and and be a scout, you know, it's a much

(13:13):
more involved job than that. So it's it's been helpful
for people to see the Cowboys, uh, what they do
when they interview prospects. And one of the questions that
I'm glad to start asking these guys about because I
saw this is a favorite question of Mike McCarthy in
these interviews, which is Mike McCarthy has asked in several
of these videos, what is the most important thing that
you want us to come away with about you? And

(13:35):
and I think that's the thing is that from talking
to two people inside the league and figuring out what
kind of questions do you generally ask these prospects, it's
it doesn't sound like a bunch of complex stuff where
you know, we're we're giving you an s a T
question and we need they're generally are giving them more
straightforward questions where they feel like these players can take

(13:56):
it in a a an honest direction, you know, not
leading the witness at all, just letting them explore the
space with their answer and and you know, flesh it
out a little bit. And so I do think that's
interesting how everybody kind of responds differently to these things.
You know, it's so interesting you say that I've been
doing these, uh these pop up journalism classes with journalists

(14:17):
and bringing in a lot of my colleagues in my
free time and one that really stood out for me
was Kaylee Hartong, who I worked with at Longhorn Network.
She was at ESPN, CNN. Now she's at ABC News.
And I asked her why she got into journalism, And
you know, it's so funny. I had a journalism professor,
wants John Sawatsky, or not a professor, but at instructor
at ESPN, who had all of the reporters that that

(14:40):
you see on TV have for the most part, gone
through the art of the interview with John Sawatski, and
his favorite questions were the simple ones to who, what, when, where, why,
and how, I mean the basics of the basis of journalism,
not loading the questions to your point where you sort
of dictate what the answer is going to be. And
when I asked her why she got into journalism, she
talked about her her father traveled the country as an

(15:01):
airman and put on these air shows and he died
in front of a crowd of thirty people. And at
ten in the background is a news report. We call
it a video in our business, so it's an anchor
talking over just video. It wasn't an interview with a
lot of people. But she said even at ten, her
little brain hadn't fully understood at all. But what stood

(15:23):
out to her was there wasn't a lot of context
about who her dad was, why he was important, what
made him ah do the air shows. And that's why
she sees it as such a privilege to be a reporter. Now,
when you understand the why about somebody and you see
them doing things, whether it be on the football fielder
as a journalist, the why tells you so much about

(15:43):
how serious they take the job, how much care and
thought they give to it. So the why do you
love football is a question you'll hear in some of
our interviews with our players, and I've been impressed with
some of the answers quite frankly. Body, Yeah, and I know,
I remember that was a criticism I saw on Twitter.
And again, I think this is an important distinction because
I don't I don't think scouts get enough credit for

(16:04):
how difficult their job is. I think there's a little
bit you probably experienced this as a reporter. There's a
little bit of a sense on social media I could
do that, and everybody thinks they could do your job
or whatever, And I think scouts deal with that a lot.
In the age of social media where everybody thinks they're
a scout now. And and one of the things that
I remember seeing on Twitter a couple years ago that
somebody was kind of mocking was, Oh, they probably don't

(16:27):
think this guy loves football enough because he likes something
else and and that's gonna you know, that'll somehow make
him a bad player. Well, you know what you get
when you don't love football, You get David Irving. That's
what you get when you don't love football, and and
and loved acting more than he loved football. Admittedly, yes,
no he would. We're not putting words in David Irving's mouth.
This is something he told us. Even studied and watch

(16:48):
a lot of football growing up. David Irving has said
that football was a means to an end, that that
there wasn't a love of football. Now there's a little
bit of a revision in that. And we can talk
out how David Irvine is probably the biggest fraud I've
ever run into in in football history. But you know,
I think I've said enough of that. Um, But to

(17:09):
your point, look at a guy like Dez Brian again,
you know the unofficial does Bryant fan come over Here
is why right now for putting out the videos and
coming back when I've literally had an agent tell me
quit hyping. Does Briant He's never going to play another
game in his life. Does is why is where he
came from? Does is why is he feels a calling

(17:30):
to football? Does is? Why is he wants to be
impactful in the locker round. If I know the why
about what's motivating does it's not money for Dez. I
don't know what's in does his bank account. But when
I talked to Doz, his why has never been I
need to make money or the bank accounts running low.
The why is the love for football. And all you

(17:51):
have to do is follow him on Twitter. The guy
can't stay away from talking about football, whether it be
a college game and a NFL game. He's become a
quasi Twitter and list of stories. Yeah or I mean
just even when we talked to him back in February,
he had this to say when he was talking about
why he wants to continue his career. You know, my
daughter asked me, Dad, are You're gonna play football again?

(18:13):
That was one that's what really click, you know, like
you know what, Yeah, I'm gonna play I'm gonna play ball, alright. So,
without further ado, we are jam packed, as we have
been for the last two weeks. Body credit to you
for getting a lot of these set up. First up,
let's look at a possible Travis Frederick replacement in Caesar
Reuise joining us now is Michigan Center Caesar Louise. You

(18:36):
can follow him on Twitter at Underscore Overseas c E
E S. I like that. That's clever, as Caesar. How
you doing doing good? Great now? It's I love that.
You know, we we've talked to all these guys and
we keep hearing these crazy stories about how they're all
training during the you know, these COVID restrictions, and how

(18:56):
things have gotten so different for them, and some of
them are getting really creative with the stuff. And so
I'm curious that how has things how have things changed
for you during the free draft process once all these
restrictions came into place, And I know you're actually near
one of the hotspots, You're there in New Jersey right now,
and so just I guess talked a little bit about
how things are in your community, but also how you
know you things have changed for you in the free

(19:17):
draft process. Yeah, around here, things are like really really quiet. Um,
nobody comes outside. Um, I'm really the only guy outside
when U when it's time to work out. In the
majority of the day, everybody's just sitting inside. Nobody really
wants to come out. Um. But this whole pre draft
process has changed, um, from what my expectations were. I
really thought I was going to be, you know, on

(19:38):
planes every week, Uh, living out of my suitcase. I
thought it was gonna be one of those. And now
I've been sitting in New Jersey for about a month now,
so it's definitely different from what I thought. But I
mean I'm getting the most out of it. I'm able
to stay in shape and spend a lot more time
in my family than I thought I would. What stands
out the most cas are about this virtual chat process.

(19:59):
You Know, we talk to some guys that say they
they get a lot out of being in the room.
You can read their personalities and store a feed off
of that. How do you do that in a virtual
chat setting? Um, it definitely is a little different than
me and somebody in person, but then uh, than doing
the zoom calls. But I think they think they give
off the same you know, the same information that you

(20:22):
kind of need. Uh, you can tell kind of person
somebody is from talking to him on the phone or
through you know, a video chat. So for me, it
is different not having that face to face interaction because
you can give off a better vibe or you know,
just to get a better sense of how somebody is.
So that's just how I think the video chat and
the face to face things. Who change things? Now? The

(20:43):
I love that the pen tweet on your Twitter profile.
I'm looking at it right now from two thousand seventeen.
It says I want to be the best center to
ever play the game of football. So would you say
that you're you're pretty heavily like goals oriented and what
you do with football that you you know, your guy
who likes to set markers and milestones and you know,
really kind of pursue that. Yes, that was I said

(21:04):
there when I first step on campus at college. Um,
and ever since I made that tweet, I knew it
was a strictly business from there. So, um, yeah, I'm
really really go oriented and uh that's just something I
live by. What do you get out of having a
head coach like John Hardball? Uh, I mean Coach Hardball
is really he's really just a great like personalities, there's

(21:25):
so many like different vibes. You different Coach Hardball in
different situations. You know, you got the intense version when
it comes to games. You got to the fund, the
fund version of coach Hardball when you know we're going
out there and we're going on different trips. Uh. So,
I mean there's great having a coach like that. I mean,
especially when he had so much Coro experience. He knows
so many people and he's able to teach you a

(21:45):
whole lot of different things. So definitely having a coach
like Coach Hardball is definitely amazing. Have have you ever
seen him wear anything other than brown khakis? Uh? Yeah,
I never No, I've never seen him wear anything other
than brown. Has those you have those tan khakis with
the tucked in polo that's you know, that's that's kind
of his style. Uh. Now. I know at Michigan you

(22:08):
as a freshman you did play some guard. We talked
about how you wanted to be the best center, but
you did play some guard. Have NFL teams talked to
you all about the idea of you know, maybe they
want to see you play a guard at the next
level or is everybody pretty much focused on you playing center? No?
For um really right now, I'm just all around interior
guy for you know a lot of people. Some people
look at me as a pure center. A lot of

(22:29):
people are looking at me as you know, there's anything
across the interior um. And that's why I think I
thrive it. You know, my versatility, um, you know, I
had to experience it everything. So a lot of teams
who just want to know if I can play guard
and center. So that's really been my feedback from teams.
You know, we are a cowboys centric show here, and
the Cowboys do have an eat at center. With the

(22:49):
retirement of Travis Frederick, have you talked to the Cowboys
at all? Yes? I have. I talked to the cowboys before. Yes,
I talked the cowboys in what capacity of virtual chats
at the combine would have been some of your touch
points with them? Yeah, virtual chat. I wasn't able to
do it to comment because everything was so busy, but
I was able to do it virtually. What stood out

(23:11):
about a virtual chat with the cowboys? Who was in
the room, what was sort of the feeling, the mood
of that conversation. Yeah, it wasn't. Um, it wasn't really
anybody in the room because everybody's at home. So it
was just me and the office ave line coach, and
we were just going through things on the board. He
had a white board in the room. He were just
teaching me things and I was teaching things back to

(23:32):
him on the board, and uh, you know, we were
just looking at different stuff, getting to know me and
just basically just testing my football and knowledge. Travis Frederick,
one of the smarter guys on that offensive line. Is
it intimidating at all that if the Cowboys give you
the call at seventeen or or in later rounds? God forbid? Uh,
that you would find yourself a little bit uh overwhelmed

(23:57):
with replacing a guy like him at all? And how
much tape do you watch the try Frederick? Oh? Now
I would. I wouldn't be around, I wouldn't be nervous
or anything like that. You know what, what's my name
is called? Wherever I go? Um, I gotta make my
own mark, you know, I gotta handle my own business.
Of course, there people that there before me, and it's
gonna be big shoes to feel. But you know it's
my job to you know, fill them shoes and make

(24:18):
it even bigger when I get there. So, I mean
I watched a lot of Traffick Frederick film. Um, I
watched a lot of film on guys in the NFL.
And uh, you know, basically, I just I just get
my game from different guys in the NFL. So that's
really why I do. I just study a lot, and
I'm really confident in myself from my my name is
gonna be cause I I know. A popular question with

(24:39):
NFL front offices and and scouting departments and things like
that during the pre draft process is always something along
lines of why do you love football? You know, what
is it? Why do you love football? Why do you
want the NFL? So I'm sure you you've gotten the
chance to answer this question a few times, But what
is your answer. Why is it that you love football?
Why is this what you wanted to pursue? Man? I
just let of feeling the when you out to of

(25:00):
playing a game of football, you know, a little one. Um,
you know, I just love being out there, just you know,
imposing your will against different people. You just feel feel
superior against everybody else. You know, it's really no better
feeling in line up across somebody and just lett them know,
like I run this, you know what I'm saying. So
that's just, uh, that's really what I get from football, man.
It's just it's a whole lot of joy and it's

(25:21):
a lot of fun. When was that singular moment where
you said I want to be a football player? Uh?
Probably when I first my first day I've ever playing
a little league football. My mom signed me up and
I was like, yeah, I think We'll played this for
a long time, my little football. Now. I know you've
been pretty open um talked a lot throughout your career

(25:44):
about losing your dad when you were eight. Um, how
did that impact you? I mean, of course it's part
of everything that you are better. How do you think
that shaped you on and off the field. Yeah, definitely
on the field. It gives me something to play for,
you know, give me a motivation. It's Uh, I had
that little voice, you know on the back of my head,

(26:05):
you know, do it for your dad, you know, different
things like that, and um, you know it's definitely a
part of my motivation. Um, you know, do it for
my family because of that situation. And I mean really
off the field is really shaping because it allowed me
to look at life, you know, a lot differently in value,
a lot more. Um. You know, you just see things.
You see things that can cause a negative reaction, um,

(26:27):
and you don't let it affect you. That's really how
I am. I see a lot of things that most
people react negative to, but for me, I just see
light in all situations and just realized life is precious.
You know. Now, I know when you look at the
Cowboys and the potential that you could end up there.
We did mention you're in the New Jersey area, so

(26:48):
I know that is heavy Giants country. Would there be
any issues in the family if you ended up or
in a star? Is that? Is that a family of
Giants fans? There no my mom, my mom, watch student
watch for they don't want sports. So I mean for
my family, it really doesn't matter. I don't even think
my little brother has a favorite team, honestly, um. But
I'm surrounded by you know, from my friends and you know,

(27:10):
high school coaches. I'm surrounded by a bunch of fans
from everywhere. You know, Cowboys fans, Giants fans, and Eagles
fans rest everywhere. So that is how it is overre.
Who are some of the teams besides the Cowboys that
you've had virtual chats with so far? Seaser cool? Would
you be mad aning if I told you I can't
remember all that's a lot. Who are some of the

(27:32):
ones that stand out a lot? Uh? I'm thinking something
off the top of my head. Um, I've had them.
I had with the Cardinals, Uh, Cardinals is really good,
the Eagle is really good. Um, the Giants. Uh, those

(28:00):
the ones I could say, uh stood out to me
the most, and that dad just coming in my head
right away. But there was I want to like leave
anybody out, but there was like how interviewed with like
twelve team so far? Like the versa said, I just
can't remember all of them right now. What's the average
length of some of these virtual chats? Um? I said
about thirty minutes, thirty to forty five minutes. Some sometimes

(28:22):
take a less about an hour, but um, the average
talking about thirty and forty five minutes. Now, we always
like to close up talking to guys kind of with
the get to know you questions that are a little
more you know, less football. So you're you're ready for those, yeah,
I'm ready for those. Okay, cool? So what is on
your pregame high list? Like what what's gonna be pounding
through your headphones? Either particular song or particular artists as

(28:44):
you're trying to get ready to play. Are we like
talking like get Rich or die Try and Fitty or like, uh,
you know more recent fitty? Yeah we're talking to alright? Cool? Cool?
Just for a moment pause, can we just I'd love
to hear Bobby say it's fitty. That's what it is.
It's fitty. It's not fifty, it's fitty. It's fitty cent. No,

(29:07):
and uh yeah, yeah, the fitty is great. I still
to this day if if I'm trying to get like
amped up, or if I'm doing a walk around the track,
I will almost always have if I can't buy fitty
cent playing. That's what I'm here for. Now. What what
everybody's been kind of locked down? Quarantine you talked about
You've been in there for a month. It's like your
best Netflix quarantine recommendation right now. Yeah. I hope I

(29:30):
don't get judge for this, but I've been watching grayze
Anatomy a lot. Wow. Really it is thinking with doctor
now man I got too. I'm watching grays Anatomy a lot.
I might see my guilty pleasure viewing, and uh I,
I don't talk about this often because I get the
same sort of reaction we just gave you for Gray's Anatomy,
which is Bring it On. I still to the steak

(29:52):
and watch Bring It On about ten times in a
row with Kirsten Dunn's Gay. Here's what I'll tell you
that it's a rabbit hole spen on for like seventeen seasons,
so you can just go on and on and on
and on. Yeah, I wanted to pick something to what
I could just keep watching it and hopefully when I'm
done watching this old quarantine thing is over. I think

(30:12):
you picked a good one with Gray. Now, now you
are you a guy who plays Madden at all? Yes? Okay,
So let's say that you're playing Madden next year, and
of course you're gonna be in the game. Somebody happens
to grab your team that you ended up on, so
you have to play against the digital version of yourself.
And it's you know, last play inside the red zone
and there's fumble and Digital Caesar picks up the ball

(30:35):
and has rumbled into the end zone. Are you gonna
tackle yourself or you're gonna let your digital self score
the game winning touchdown? Na, I'm I'm tackling myself. Really,
you're not gonna get You're not You're not gonna get many.
I might just strip the ball from myself, like I
gotta win the game. Now, I think I know the

(30:57):
answer to this, given what you just said about Grays
Grayson anatomy. But which would you rather consume? Would you
rather have to watch like a marathon of of chick
flicks or would you rather, like, you know, get your
pregame hype song is nothing, but you know boy band
pop love songs. Great questions. Definitely not listening. So it's

(31:18):
the rom coms, that's That's the chick flick rom coms. Okay,
that that that makes sense? Not now if you had
to to revisit some of instincts of vintage stuff, man,
it might change your mind. I I love Backstreet Boys.
I I don't. I don't have any problems saying that
I love Backstreet Boys. Like first two albums, I think

(31:39):
they're great. I can listen to if I can't buy
Fitty and then I can go to I'll Never break
your Heart by the Backstreet Boys. This is a revealing
interview even for myself. So yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm I'm
dropping lots of stuff. Now, if you had to pick
like one person to run like a Kevin Durant style
burner account for you that like they pick off, they
pick off all your social media trolls for you can
be somebody real or you know, fake or dead or alive.

(32:01):
Who are you gonna pick? Uh? Somebody run all my
brunner accounts? Yeah? Yeah, so so like I always I
always pick Eric Cartman from South Park. That would be
who I would have to do that for me. Uh definitely,
uh definitely, Uh, Riley from a boom Dog That is
Sadiq Charles from l s U picked Riley, So that

(32:23):
that's uh, that's that's two votes for Riley. Now. My
one of my favorite answers ever was Ryan Switzer. When
I asked him that question, he told me like it
was zero hesitation. It's the fastest answer I've ever gotten
from anybody. It was fellow Michigan alum Jordan Lewis. He
immediately just said yeah, He said he didn't think about it.
He said, yeah, Jordan Lewis would run it. For me. Yeah,

(32:44):
j D j D would run that. Now. Uh, this
is something that a little more I guess serious, but
it's always a good wrap up. How do you want
people to remember you? What impression do you want to
leave with people outside of just football? Man, that I
should remember somebody that which just as a good person. Really, um,
you know, somebody helped out selfless. I remember there's a

(33:06):
great person off the field, not in terms of just
in terms of the building relationships with people and just
doing good things to people and give them back. You know,
somebody was very wholesome. Just when people to remember me
as a really good person, We're gonna remember you as
a smart, fun guy. This was a fun interview. We've
done this. I know you guys have done it over
and over and over, but you brought us a lot
of energy and we really appreciate it. Thank you for

(33:28):
having me to joining us Now is Michigan State defensive
end and uh viral sensation Kenny Wilikas. You can follow
him on Twitter at Kenny w ninety seven. Kenny, how
you doing doing good? I'm great and uh, yeah, I
guess we gotta first talk about that viral video that
you shared you you had that series of quotes of

(33:48):
you know, uh, you know, I got it right here.
Actually not athletic, below average athleticism for edge rusher, physical
tools don't jump off the page. And then you do
these acrobatic flips and you know wouldn't say splits and
and other you know gymnast moves. Uh. I guess first,
what what led you to post that? What what made
you feel like you wanted to post that? And then also, uh,

(34:11):
you got a gymnast background or something that we don't
know about. Yeah, I did. Actually I actually did gymnast
a little bit growing up. Me and my siblings did
gymnasts gymnastics growing up. My older brother actually stuck with it.
You know, he's in the qualifying for the Olympics of
twenty so he's been doing it over through and you know,
we didn't get a pro day unfortunately. Um, you know,
I'm still able to go to combine, so I was

(34:32):
great for that opportunity, but I didn't get the pro day.
And I still feel like I had some athleticism in
the show teams. You know, you see the quotes there. Uh,
some people still thought that I see it a lot
that I'm not athletic enough to play at the next level.
I don't have the right I'm not athletic enough all
that stuff. So you know, I just want to put
that video out there. I think I had some unique
athletic ability. Obviously it doesn't all carry over to football,

(34:53):
but you know I could do a couple of weird
tricks that I learned growing up with my brothers. I
was like, I had four three brothers, was four of
us total, and I was the last one to learn
how to backflip. Even like the ten year oldnew how
to backfliip for me. So you know, I had to
learn how to backflip to keep up with them. And
you know, I thought I'd just showed the world what
I could do well, and we we well, I have
to ask him, I mean, where where could you see

(35:14):
yourself applying the splits in some of those parkour moves
within the context of I can see it slide a
gap with the splits gets a small pad level. Yeah
uh yeah. Obviously it doesn't completely translate the football, but
you know, just the ability to bend the edge, you know,
the flexibility. I have actually been folded completely in half
or stuck at the bottom of a pile where if

(35:34):
I wasn't flexible enough, I probably would have snapped in
half during the game. But you know, just the ability
to have body control, core strength, and you know, flexibility
bending the edge and uh that hand fighting at the
D line. You know, I think that's where some of
those things can come into play. Now are our buddy
Ian Rappaport over at the NFL network. I saw he
had quote tweeted it and he said, of all the

(35:54):
internet videos Virtual Pro Days, this by Michigan State Defensive
and Kenny Willikas was ought up to me by a
GM as being the most effective. And so have you
heard from many teams about your video and has anybody
mentioned it to you in any of your chats with them? Yeah,
I've had a lot of FaceTime and you know, phone
calls with teams over the last couple of weeks. And
you know, a few teams I've mentioned how they liked it.

(36:15):
Allow you know when the coaches told me showed his son. Uh,
you know, a lot of teams just said they were
surprised that I can move like that at the size.
Now you were you were a guy at Michigan State
who you know, you look at your asma, you won
the Burlsworth Trophy last year as as the you know,
the the nation's top walk on UM. You had a
highly productive career, you know you you were named first

(36:36):
team All Big Ten the last two years. But then
you talk about there's this criticism of, oh, he doesn't
have the athleticism to do, you know, things at the
next level. He's not that type of player. Do you
think people are too quick to label you as as
the effort guy, as oh, the high motor guy, and
you know, oh, it's nice and we love the work ethic,
but that's really just that's effort sacks, that's effort production.

(36:59):
This isn't a guy who translates very well. What would
you say back to that? Yeah, I know, I think
it's pretty easy for people to do that, you know,
label me as the high effort guy. It's kind of
funny when the draft time comes around, it's almost like
having high effort and working hard as a negative, like,
oh he works hard, he's he's always working hard, he's
always showing effort. Let's not draft him till later. But
you know, I think it's just uh what people say

(37:22):
label me. UM. I feel like as an athlete. I'm
a dominant competitor, and that's something you know, you can't coach.
You can't build that in the weight room. That effort,
that dominant competitor. You know, it's what my dad is
stilled in me growing up. It's what we coach, what
they coach to us at Michigan State. You know, that
run into the ball, that consistent effort and um, you know,
there's a lot of things you can measure, but that's
something you can't. And I think that's something you can't coach,

(37:43):
that dominant competitor, being a dominant competitor each and every snap.
And you know, that's something I think that should benefit you.
You know I'm hearing you because I've always been one
of those high effort people that I feel gets punished
from that even in my career. I'm telling you, at
some point it's going to pay off for you. We
saw it payoff for you in college. You were a
walk on at Michigan State. We saw you put out

(38:04):
the video sort of addressing your critics about your athleticism
and your ability to, you know, even just play at
this level in that space, would you say it's fair
to describe that You've got a little bit of a
chip on your shoulder. And is there anyone like say
Tom Brady that you look up to as another guy
that people have just counted ahead of the draft. Yeah,
you know, I look at all those walk on stories.
You see Jack Conklin that came before me at Michigan State.

(38:26):
You know, Baker Mayfield, Tom Brady getting drafted low. And
you know, obviously it doesn't matter where you get drafted.
You know, I'm gonna come in. I'm gonna give you
a thing I got, whether I'm a second rounder, where
whether I'm undrafted. Now, when you when you look at
this pre draft process, it radically shifted for everybody. Of
course when the COVID nineteen restrictions kind of set in. UM,

(38:48):
talk to us a little bit about how it changed
for you and what you've been doing to adapt and
and still get your workouts in and and things like
that during this time. Yeah, it's obviously been a little different.
Like I said, We've got a lot of FaceTime, lot
of video calls with teams. Um. You know, I was
fortunate enough I have a mentor in the area. I've
been back home training here for the combine. You know,
pretty much the whole time. And I've been able to

(39:09):
still get in the gym, uh private gym here back
here at home six days a week. I'm still working consistent. Um,
I'm trying to stay busy. I'm trying to see family
a lot. Definitely want to see family a lot before
I go lot of towns. I've been making sure to
spend a lot of extra time with family, and you know,
still just training and trying to stay ready. What is
that like because we've heard, you know, of course, we've
seen Dez and Dak working out in the gym. They're

(39:30):
getting killed for it. We've heard, you know, from James
Morgan he and his family are in the park and
the cops are getting called on him. How do you
find that balance of I've got to find ways to
work out. But I understand that there was social distancing
and this lockdown, it does feel like a little bit
of a delicate balance. Yeah, most definitely. Obviously there's a
lot of bigger things in football and work it out
right now. You know, we need to stay safe, Uh,

(39:51):
stay in quarantine. Uh, you know, Michigan's on a very
harsh lockdown right now. But you know, I've been able
to get it in. You know, it's important to stay ready.
You don't know is gonna happen over these next couple
of weeks. Uh. So you know, I've just been training
privately with my mentor one on one session is trying
to keep it, you know, low key and still social distance,
but still make sure I'm getting my working. We know
that you you've talked to several teams and and I'm

(40:15):
sure you're used to this question by now because it's
a favorite of NFL front offices and personnel departments, and that's,
you know what, why do you love football? They always
want guys who you know, a common theme. One of
the worst things you can hear from a scout is
I don't know if he loves ball. When they say that,
that's that's you know, that can be a killer for
a guy. It's hard to come back from that from
a personnel department. So I'm sure you've heard frequently, why

(40:37):
do you love ball? Why do you love football? Why
do you want this? And what's been your answer to
teams for that? Yeah, it's just uh, you know, I've
always loved football growing up. I'm a football guy. Uh.
Like I said, we try to do gymnastics, but I
was way too rough and roddy for that, so my
parents put me in football. And you know, I love competing. Uh.
You know, I'm battling against another man the trench every day.
You know, we're we're in their throwing fists, uh, throwing it,

(41:00):
taking each other down, that type of stuff. You're just
in there competing every day, and you know I love
that part of the game. Um, it's a team game,
you know. I love being with your teammates, working each
and every day. And those are probably two many reasons
I love just going out there and playing with my teammates,
competing and having some fun playing both. I hate to
come back to this, but I think what's gonna be
interesting about you, Kenny, is the fact that you do
have this thing that separates you. You know, it's like

(41:21):
you're running. We're running through all of these interviews and
I'm gonna remember this gymnastic guy and this guy with
a chip on his shoulder. I just have to know
that you've got what you said. Four siblings, three of
them and seven siblings. There's eight of us total. Eight
of you guys got him beat by one nine nine.

(41:41):
He was homeschool nine and his family, so you've got
eight total. Why gymnastics for half of you? I think
it's a few of us did gymnasts growing up, but
we're actually homeschooled for a little bit too. But my mom,
my mom wanted some put us in while we're growing up.
You know, was pretty wild, that a lot of energy.

(42:01):
So my mom couldn't have me around the house all
the time, so she put us in gymnastics. We tried swimming,
but you know, those just weren't for me. I need
to go out there and hit somebody now and now
we like, this is going to be one of the
most memorable interviews that we've done. Bobby Kenny, I love it.
Like I said, the chip on the shoulder all, I
think you're gonna stand out to some of these gms.
I just want to let you know that when they're

(42:22):
going through the virtual chats, I think people have this
tendency to sort of zone out because all the guys
I feel like it's a Miss American pageant a little
bit now that I've seeing what some of these gms,
it's a lot of canned answers. What I like about
Kenny is I'm gonna remember pretty much everything he is
said exactly. Yeah, there you go. See you want to
be memorable. Now. That is another thing that I know

(42:43):
teams like to know is is they like to ask you,
you know, speaking of memorable, like, what's the impression you
want us to walk away with about you? Like, what's
the one thing that you want us to remember about
you when we're done having this conversation? And so for you,
what is that? What is it that you want teams
to come away with when they're done talking to you?
What do you want them to remember about you? Yeah?

(43:04):
I just try to to, you know, give them point
that I'm a dominant competitor, you know, relentless. That's something
we talked about in Michigan State. Every day I'm not
gonna take plays off. You know, I'm gonna be something
that's gonna give you everything I got each and every day,
um in the weight room, in the film room, on
the field, and uh, you know, it doesn't matter how
much talent you have. I'm gonna continue to keep working
until I am the best at what I do. Who

(43:25):
who's the best offensive lineman you faced while you're at
Michigan State? Do you think I thought. Rashawn Slater from
Northwestern number seventy. You know, he's always giving me fits.
He's a really good player. I like him a lot.
Great last name, Yeah, it's it's a perfect last name, Slater. Yeah. Now,
now we are a a Cowboys focused show. That that's
our main thing. We we like talking to prospects more generally,

(43:46):
but we are a Cowboys focused show. So have you
gotten a chance to talk to the Cowboys at all
during this process? And and what have they said to you? What?
What's kind of the feedback you got from them? Yeah?
I love that you're a Cowboys focused So I actually
grew up a Cowboys fan. There we go. Didn't have
a TV in my house, so when I would go
to my grandparents, the Cowboys were always playing and they've
always been my favorite team growing up. But I had

(44:06):
I did have the ability to talk to the Cowboys
at the combine. Uh, talk to Leon Lett and the
defensive line coach. You know, I was able to learn
actually a lot from both when we sat there and
just talked ball for a while. You know, I really
enjoyed that. And Uh, one of our scouts are one
of the scouts for the Cowboys. Actually coached and wasn't
the recruiting personnel Michigan State for Uh oh man, shout

(44:29):
out my man both Man. So you know I've had
some contact with the Cowboys and go Cowboys. All right,
So tell me a little bit about that. You didn't
have a TV growing up in your house. You'd watch
the Cowboys at your grandparents house. Two questions. Why the
Cowboys then if you didn't have exposure to them with
the TV in your home and you were able to

(44:51):
pick up pick up enough of a love about football
by going over their house periodically and watching TV. Because
we are so much about these kids that that's all
they do when they grow up. Yeah, we didn't have
a TV. You know. It was a lot about going outside.
Lived on ten acres and write seven siblings, we're always
outside doing something. Um. Yeah, I grew up Cowboys fan
because the first like three or four times I went

(45:11):
over to the Cowboys with the team playing, you know.
So I grew up a big fan of Marianne Barber,
Terrell Owen's Tony Romo. Uh. You know my favorite player,
my favorite players ever, DeMarcus Ware and Dez Bryant. You know,
I've watched a lot of DeMarcus Ware's tape growing up
just at defensive end, and I don't know, it just
seemed like a sport for me. We played outside in
the yard a lot. I started watching videos on YouTube,

(45:33):
reading books about it and you know, trying to figure
out about it myself, and I just fell in love
with it at a young age. Dank Bobby, I feel
old that his genre of Cowboys. I mean, it's it's
it's yet it's it's amazing how fast time flies, because
I mean it does feel like that was just you know,

(45:54):
you talk about the romo and teo Cowboys. This actually
came up on on Cowboys Twitter the other day that
they were all kind of talking about who's the greatest team?
Uh that the greatest Cowboys team ever to not win
a Super Bowl, And one of the teams that was
frequently getting mentioned was oh seven with that that team
that went thirteen and three and lost to the Giants
in the playoffs. And uh, it still feels in a
lot of ways like that was just like three or

(46:16):
four years ago. And then I think it so back,
and I go, now that was thirteen years ago. Now
that was you know, almost half my life ago. So
it is a little insane. Now we do talk about
how much of a chip you have on your shoulder,
but overall, what would you say is your motivating factor?
What drives you on the football field. Yeah, I said
the two biggest things is, you know, first, making my
family proud, making my mom my dad proud for the

(46:39):
way they raised me. You know, they taught me to
use my talents uh to help others out, help those
that are less fortunate than me, which kind of leaves
me in my second one, you know, looking out for others.
I've been blessed with all this talent and you know
it would be kind of a waste and to be
selfish in me not to use it, to be selfish
with me, not to go hard every day, and you know,
try to use my talent and my ability to help others.
You know, I feel like I've been giving a platform

(47:00):
m uh at college football and in the NFL, and
so you know that's what my mother taught me, always
to look out for others and care for those less
fortunate NB, and I think I have the ability to
do that here. We know you're a Cowboys fan, Kenny Um,
and I would imagine that be a place that you
love to to land. What are some of the other
teams that you feel like you've had some really meaningful
discussions with via virtual chat that if, in other words,

(47:21):
shown what you consider pretty good interest so far, I'd
say I've talked a lot to the Falcons. Uh. You know,
I like the Falcons a lot of like to fit
on their defense. Uh. You know, they pretty much turned
their defensive ends loose to let him attack. You know,
I've like, I've had great conversations with the Falcons, the Eagles,
the Giants. You know, I've had a pretty good conversations
with a lot of teams, the Ravens as well. Um,

(47:42):
don't don't really care where I land, to be honest. Uh,
you know, I just want to get drafted and I'm
ready to get to work. But now, are you gonna
have how many guest rooms are you gonna have once
you get that big page pay check for all of
your family? I might just live in a little apartment
and blow up bear matchresses for him. They've they've all

(48:04):
got the you know, one of them is gonna qualify
for the Olympics. They you know, pass it up. They
can take care of it. Yeah, yeah, I can go.
They'll get before I let you go, because, like I said,
I find you so interesting. What is your brother gonna
do as he's training for the Olympics. I mean that
had to be I mean it's one thing not to
get the draft interviews in the pro day. What kind
of setback has that been for him? And how have
you helped him manage his emotions through all of this?

(48:27):
Hasn't been too bad for him? Um, he had I
think he pretty much owns like a gym with trampolines,
so he's been able to go in there and practice. Still,
that's amazing. Well, you have been absolutely memorable. I wish
you the best of luck. I always cheer for the underdogs,
So I'm looking to see where you end up and uh,
I'll definitely be in touch with you when you end
up in the league. Sounds good. I appreciate you guys

(48:48):
having me on this morning. Joining us now is Notre
Dame cornerback Troy Pride. You can follow him on Twitter
at Troy Pride eighteen. Troy, how you doing. I'm doing well? Um,
you know, get my quarantine vibes on and and the
zoom interviews. So what does your day look like with
these zoom interviews. We know, we talked to another prospect,

(49:10):
you know before you, Caesar Ruiz, and he talked about,
you know, he had anticipated these months leading up to
the draft that you'd be living out of his suitcase
and he'd be on planes. Do you have a to
do list where you're just writing down, here's my interviews
throughout the day, and then around those interviews, how do
you get the workouts in? So? UM, you know, first

(49:30):
my day is like predicated on my workout. So I
start off at nine thirty, I'll get up in UM.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are arms for me, and then Mondays
and Wednesdays and legs. So I'll like probably do a
stretch for my UM just in the early morning for
my leg days, and then just like today, like I
got an arm workout in earlier and then in the afternoon.
I usually set it up to where you know, I'm

(49:50):
either on the field or I'm doing some sort of
cardio you know for arms and legs. So I basically
scheduled my interviews around that. UM. I wanted to, you know,
make make sure I have a structure throughout these crazy
times and make sure that you know, I'm still getting
you know, the most possible work that I can and
so after that, you know, I can you know, tell culture, Okay,
I'm free at one day, Well I'm free at five,

(50:12):
you know, stuff like that, so we can get calls
in and make it easy. I talked to one of
my Cowboys sources and he told me the one thing.
You know, a lot of people are talking about the
disadvantages of these virtual chats, they actually thought it was
a positive because they're forced to rely on the tape.
Do you want teams to rely on the tape or
do you think that it's important for them to get
to know you a little bit more. There are things

(50:32):
that perhaps you didn't put on tape that you wish
that they would have more of a feel for during
your pro days or at the combine. Oh no, absolutely,
I would love to rely on my table me And
that's your resume. That's you know, you work each and
every moment that you're on the field to create a
good resume. So absolutely they can rely on my tape. Now.
The one thing that I wish, you know, that I
could show forth is my personable like character. Um, seeing

(50:56):
who I am as like as a person getting a
firm handshake as soon as you meet me, and um,
you know, just laughing throughout you know the time that
I was with each and every team. Um, but you
know the thing is is, you know these are crazy times.
Nobody expected this, and um, you know you just gotta
adapt and you gotta get over it and do the
best you can to get the best You get the

(51:17):
best work you can. Now, you didn't get a pro day,
but you did get to go to the Combine. I
know you gained a lot of fans at the Senior
Bowl and so so well, you didn't get the prode,
you did have the benefit of getting in the Senior
Bowl and getting in some good reps there and and
getting to talk with teams there. Um, how important do
you think, especially now that you didn't get the protect
how important do you think it was for you to
go to Mobile and participate there. I think I was

(51:39):
blessed to go to Mobile and Indianapolis, to to have
both of those opportunities to be evaluated, to talk to teams,
to talk to coaches, to you know, show my skill
set as best I can. And I wanted to run
better at the Combine. I wanted to do just a
little bit better. But for the most part, I mean
to have two opportunities to show, you know, my talents
as a blessing and um, you know, a lot of

(51:59):
guys can't say that. A lot of guys, um, you know,
lost a lot from not having a pro day, and
you know, just to just to have an opportunity to
prove myself and compete was, you know, the best opportunity possible.
You've had the opportunity obviously going to Notre Dame to
have I would imagine a relationship with someone like Jalen Smith,
he was currently on the Cowboys roster. What is Jalen

(52:22):
said to you about the league and things that you
need to prepare yourself for that you weren't necessarily thinking
you need to be prepared for. So I remember actually
talking to Jalen Um as he came back to get
his degree. He was in the locker room one day.
It was just me and him. You know, I was
just picking his brain, like, I mean, obviously he's he's
an all pro talent, he's you know, one of the

(52:42):
catalysts for the Cowboys defense. So I just was kind
of talking to him like, yeah, you know what I mean,
I'm always working to be the best. You know. Um,
at the time, my counterpart Julian Love was ready to
enter the draft, and I was like, yeah, I mean
I'm trying to, you know, do my best to you know,
step into that role at Julian had he would always
like like he he just the first thing he said
that was not you're trying to be better than him.
You're trying to be you know, you're trying to go

(53:03):
a step above. And I was like, man, like this
dude like kind of barely knows me, and it's already
like pushing me to be better than my own goals.
And it's and that's just what the kind of person
he was. That's what he did for the Notre Dame programmers,
was doing for the Dallas Cowboys organization, and um, you
know those are the type of guy's Notre Dame producers, um,
and you know, competitors, guys that want to win and

(53:25):
phenomenal athletes. What would it mean to you to be
on the defensive side of the ball with Jalen Smith
on this Cowboys roster? Geez? So, Like watching his Notre
Dame film was crazy because he was all around the field,
so to be with a guy like that, it's just
gonna propel my game because you know, he's he's attacking,
he's gonna he's like trying to get the ball every
single play, and um, you know too for me to

(53:48):
try to you know, combat with him and go together
with him, then it'll just be, you know, a dominant
force of attacking the football, playing the football, and doing
our job to make the defense better. Now. I know
that you are a track star. People look at the
trades and go man, a lot of athletic ability, Um,
you know, a rare, you know, set of skills for

(54:11):
the position. Um, But if a team were to look
at you, or or an evaluator look at you and
go man, Yeah, we love the traits, but we don't
know if he's the technician we want, or we don't
know if he's he's the type of craftsman at the
position that he needs to be at. I I know
that you trained at Michael Johnson Performance. I got a
chance to talk to you out there at media Day,
and I know you said it was important to you
to go there and work with Clay Mac because you

(54:33):
know you'd be able to really work on your technique
and that was something that was important to you. Um,
how would you respond to that if teams were to
ask you about that, if they would say, look what
we just we don't know if technique wise, you're where
we want you to be yet. And that's the best
part about it, because I'm not where I want to
be and I'm continuing to press towards the mark, to

(54:53):
hone in my technique, to have better press technique and
be stronger at the catch point. And the thing is
is my my best football is light years ahead of me.
So to just see the film that I have now
in the the things that I've done now is just
you know, a stepping stone to what I can truly do.
And you know, I'm working each and every day to

(55:14):
get there. You know, if it's one percent better each
and every day, that's when I'm working towards and you
know I'm going to get there. I mean, I'm I
strive to be great. I strive to be the best
competitor and athlete I can. So you know I'm not
gonna stop and everything placing. I'm not one of the
hype guys. So shoot, I'm gonna put my hard hat on,
go to work and get better. That's that's what I do. Like, wife,

(55:39):
why do you want to do this? And what motivates
you to do this? So my first thing is I
love the game. Um, I love everything about it. You know,
football gives you an opportunity to do so many special things,
giving me a platform to affect lives and and to
be you know, a person in the spotlight and just
so many other things. But as well as like my

(56:01):
love and football is you know that my supporters, you know,
my support system has gotten me here. They've you know,
been through long nights, they've been through long camps, They've
you know, seen the tears, they've heard the complaints everything like,
so to prove them right, to make sure that, you know,
I set them up, you know, with a with a
better life is something I've always dreamed of and I

(56:23):
how can we have you even dreamed that I would
be in this position I am now? So you know
that they talk a lot during draft season about level
of competition, like that's something like a D two player
or you know in FCS level players always fighting against
is you know? Okay, well what was your competition level?
Like your your film looks nice, but who were you
doing it against Um. You obviously get that benefit being

(56:46):
you know, a a at a bigger school and and
a more prestigious school. But there's another aspect of that
I think for teams sometimes, which is the guys who
played at the Notre Dames or or Clemson, which I
know recruited you as well, and in Ohio State and
in Miami and Texas and places like that. Teams a
lot of times feel like they're more prepared off the

(57:06):
field too, that they're more prepared for what the attention
is like and what the spotlight is like than than
somebody who's playing it multidirectional Montana State, you know the
type of school. Um, how much of a benefit do
you think that is for somebody like you? Do you
think you're better prepared to step in because you have
played you know, prime time games on NBC against Georgia

(57:27):
and you know things like that. Do you do you
think you're better prepared for the the pressure that comes
with being an NFL player because you played at such
a prestigious school. Um. So, I mean, truly, I would
say in my mindset absolutely. Now you know, when you
get on the food that's competing with anybody, you know,
whatever level it is. So I wouldn't knock a detO
god for their level of competition ever, you know, because

(57:48):
if they're a competitive, they're competitive. Now just for me specifically,
I mean, I've seen t Higgins, I played them in
the College football UM playoffs. I've seen Michael Pittman, these
are these are highly ton of guys. I saw Austin
matt at the Senior Bowl. I saw Colin Johnson. So
you're talking about procedure schools and procedious individuals. I've seen,
you know, the majority of them played Georgia in the

(58:08):
prime time, played on NBC Night game. So yeah, I
absolutely know that I'm prepared. I know that, you know,
adversity hits in those moments and a lot of people
may not be used to him, but I've seen it.
I know how to battle back from it. Um, I've
done it all. I've been in for the long haul,
you know, four years and the other Dame will prepare
you just about for anything. So I'm absolutely ready to go.

(58:31):
Who who's the best receiver in this year's class that
you've gone up against? UM? So, you know, Michael Pittman
had a lot like he was he was very good
you know, just the numbers that he had, how he
worked in the offense, their spread system was was built
on him, you know, producing, And I think when he
came to South Bend, when we did a fantastic job

(58:51):
of you know, creating a game plan that allowed us
to to very much yield him and hold him down.
So I think he's probably one of the best I've
to see us. I mentioned te Higgins earlier, another you know,
highly rated guy that um that we faced, and I
think I feel well against both of those guys on
our matchups. I was gonna say, uh, we've sort of
been talking to you, just sort of getting to know

(59:12):
you guys that I think we can read a lot
about you guys. If we google you, Troy, there's a
lot of information, especially if Notre Dame that cranks out
all sorts of media. What has been your guilty pleasure?
And I know you guys are trying to stay disciplined
and make sure you've got a regiment at home in
the absence of these performance trainers and nutritionists, what are
you reaching for in those moments late at night in

(59:35):
your cupboard that maybe you shouldn't be eating in preparation
for the draft. I'll go ahead and I'll call out
Carter Coughlin. He told us he's watching his movies with
his family recently and he went to go grab Lucky
Charms and his brother made sure that it was a
healthy milkshake. What have you found yourself sort of gravitating towards,
especially because we're all sort of in quarantine and eating
stuff we wouldn't normally eat. So for me, it's on

(59:59):
the ved straws, Like my kids love those, listen to
zesty ranch ones. I can't, I honestly can't eat a
whole bag. And it's not like my best and that's
that's my that's my most honest truth. I shouldn't. But
man like, when I get to eat those things, it's
like like I can't put them down, and I definitely
can't put them up. So that's for me, that's to

(01:00:21):
Rita's for me. I mean, I feel like the veggie
straws are actually not as bad as a whole bag
of Notcho cheese doritos. But it's like once you start,
you can't stop. Now, true, we we did talk to
you a lot about Jalen and cowboys and things like,
have you got a chance to talk to them at
all during this process, either at the Combine or for
a video conference or anything like that. Yeah. So I've

(01:00:42):
talked to, you know, just some of the personnel. Chris
hall Um, we we had a we had a long,
you know, conversation just about character and stuff like that.
And you know, some of the coaches I saw obviously
some of the Senor Bowl and some of the Combine. So,
I mean, it's it hasn't been like a full sit
down interview with Jerry Jones, with Mike McCarthy, but the
most problem touched a lot of the presionnel. And I

(01:01:03):
hope that they understand me, and I hope the background
noises no, no, no, you're you're good now. Now. I
think everybody, uh is is pretty impressed with with how
you handle yourself. That's one of the things you hear
a lot when you talk to people, is is, uh,
you know that there is high character there with Troy Pride.
So uh, I'm sure everybody would like to get you

(01:01:23):
to know you a little bit better. So you are
you ready for some get to know your questions? Absolutely? Yeah,
let's listen. Al alright, alright, cool? So, um, what what's
the pregame hype song or pregame hype artist. What are
you listening to to get ready? Well, geez, I have
a whole So I've created like multiple playlists from multiple situations.
I've got like a loud playlist. But my hype, like

(01:01:44):
my hype rapper is probably gonna be like Gerebo. He's
from Chicago. Yeah yeah, that was Caleb and Jason's guy too.
Man he that duke. He I mean he could spit.
He can spick some bars and get the beats with
it and shoot it before a game. You're ready to go?
I promise you. That is title to a playlist. Um, okay,
I have like an R and B kind of like

(01:02:07):
bi playlist and it's called Maxing and Relaxing. That's that's
not bad. Uh so what what what? I have one
for quarantine and I call it the ISO Soundbath. So
I'm not I'm not coming down, I I'm I'm just
worried about it being an alphabetical order. So I always
just named my playlists like one to three because then

(01:02:29):
I know, because then I know I can get to
if it's because my kids have playlists on our Amazon
music and and so like I gotta I gotta be
able to have mine at the top. Uh. So if
it wasn't football that you'd be pursuing. I mean, you're
you're Notre Dame guy that that's a you know, really
good school. What would you be pursuing for a career. So, um,
I think I gotta stay around the sport or just

(01:02:49):
being the sports world and trying to be maybe a
sports broadcaster or journal journalism you know, have some you know,
regard because I mean I just love, you know, talking
about being around and have an opportunity to be around sports.
So I think I'll probably just go into broadcasting with journalism.
If you could pick, let's say you could go in
the first round and you'd have no ability to pick

(01:03:12):
where you go. Obviously, you just get picked where you're
picked in the first round or you go sometime on
day three, but you get to pick the team that
you go to. Which would you do? Um? So, I
mean it's truly I'm gonna be honest, it's been a
dream of mine and my families for me to go
to the Cowboys. So I mean, if if I can

(01:03:34):
pick that, I don't think that I would pass that up.
I mean, first rounds. First round is fine, but you
know once you get a year, three, year four, all
the money is the same. So yeah, yeah, there you go.
That that's go. So if you were to pick somebody,
this is always one that I know takes guys a
little second to to figure out who they pick. But
if you were to pick somebody to run like a

(01:03:55):
Kevin Durant style burner account for you, so they'd pick
off all your trolls who are coming out at you. Um,
it can be somebody real or fictional, debt or alive.
I always default to Eric Cartman from South Park is
my guy to run it. So so who would you
pick to run your burner account for you? Uh? Probably
um Rick from Rick and Morty. That's a good one.
I have not gotten that one yet. You usually, yeah,

(01:04:17):
we get we get the the Eric Cartman or or
lately we've been getting a lot of Riley Freeman from
the Boondocks. He'd be great, he'd be a great choice
to he would he he takes some people down. What
would you say is your best like quarantine Netflix recommendation
right now? Um So if you haven't seen money high,
you should absolutely jump on money. It's a great show.

(01:04:40):
Let me give you something a little, a little less common.
I've got a whole list truly on my phone. So
like movies walk, I will say, if you haven't, if
you haven't seen, would you rather you need to check
it out? Okay? Okay, we we we saw last night,
wife and I watched Sleeping with Other People, which is
about a five year old rom com with Jason Sadeikis

(01:05:02):
and Alison Bree. Really good. Ever, everybody should check it out,
I think. But now I just want to warn you,
would you rather a little scary? Like I'm good? I mean,
I get ready for it. Go ahead, I I think
I'll be good. Now. We have you gotten a chance
to watch Tiger King? Yet? Absolutely? Okay? So so Jane,
you know, Jane's always got asked the guys the question

(01:05:24):
if they've watched Tiger King. Did Carol Baskin feed her
husband to the tigers? Okay? Yes? Why? Because? Like I
think that he was ready to move on. I think
that she was gonna she was gonna see that he
was gonna leave her with nothing again. She had been
abused before, so she wasn't ready for that life again,

(01:05:46):
especially with no money. So I think that you know
it happened. It was a heated argument. She maybe hit
him or something. Yeah, passed out, she panicked and she
cut him over and threw him over. She really is
why you're going to be a a journalist when you
decide to to leave football. I heard you say journalism.
He's asking the who, what, when, where, why? And how? Yeah? Yeah,

(01:06:07):
this is this is a this is a cerebral notre
dame guy. He knows what he's doing. He's got it
all figured. And remember the sardine oil. She mentioned. If
I wanted to feed somebody to a tiger, you gotta
rub them up in sardina. It's like, okay, well, how
do you know that? Exactly? Like and then the fact
that she was like after the interviews and trying to redirect,
trying to direct the attention. He has dementia. All that

(01:06:28):
stuff is like pushing them off the trail. So yeah, yeah,
we're all Troy's coming for Carol Baskin when he becomes
an investigative journalist. So I've got one question for you
before we wrap you up. You said you've talked to
the cowboys. You know, Chris hall long convo about character
would have been some of the more meaningful conversations you've

(01:06:48):
had with teams, in other words, teams that you feel
have really bought in and you've talked to them multiple times.
Um you know, there's there's teams that I've talked to,
you know, via FaceTime that I've have you know, me
reiterate like a defensive scheme to them or a specific call,
which is probably one of the more meaningful things. Like
just for you to understand my football knowledge and see

(01:07:09):
how much that I truly know is interesting to see
and um, you know, it kind of creates like that
bond between like a coach and players, like, Okay, he
just told me all this information. How much of that
can I recite back to him and teach him? So
it just goes to you know, how much I can learn,
how much I know and um, you know, my intelligence
in the game and picking up a system you know quickly,

(01:07:30):
especially with you know the quarantine now, like if if
we can't go to O, T, A S. Or if
we can't um, you know, meet face to face, you know,
I'm gonna have to learn a whole system through face
time or iPads and stuff like that. So if you
know that if you have that then that's very meeting.
What are some of the organizations would you say you've
had conversations like that with So I've talked to the

(01:07:52):
Tennessee Titans, UM, the Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots. UM.
Let me see, I don't want to forget anybody, just
just I mean, for the most part, those teams, especially
the comment I sat down with Denver Broncos and had
a form meeting with them as well as the Vikings
and UM, it's been interesting, you know, just to see
everybody because of the Senior Bowl. I can't remember how

(01:08:14):
many teams I literally sat down with and just talk football.
Carolina Panthers, UM, all those teams a specifically. So I
would like to wrap up by asking guys, because you know,
football is a big part obviously, but uh, your person
outside of this. So, so what is it you want
people to remember about you? What's the impression you want

(01:08:34):
to leave with people outside of the game of football. Uh,
that I'm unique, that I'm you know, obviously not just
a football player. And now I love football and that's
what I do. But I'm a unique individual. UM. I
do a lot of different things. I've got a lot
of good different interests, um, and that you know, I'm
one of the I'm one of the most unique people

(01:08:55):
that you're probably met, just you know, from a wide
array of like reading books. You know I'm reading right now.
Obviously got my Netflix suggestions. I'm a very big psychological
thriller movie watcher. Um. And you know I'm a fun guy.
So not to take anything from Kauai, but I was
really I was waiting for the I was waiting for
the I was waiting for the Kauhi laugh. I didn't

(01:09:17):
get it. I was seeing recommendations the Troy Pride book Club. Okay,
so I've got I've got now this is my number
one recommendations. Actually right here Relentless. I haven't read Relentless
is it's the real deal. Now. I've been also reading
on this professional real estate development. Um. That's just like

(01:09:37):
something like a little like for later on maybe you know,
getting into real estate and then, um, you know, my
daily devotional uncommon actually as well, Tony Dungee, just kind
of going through you know, life and life with football,
life with religion, life with God, everything like that. So yeah,
this is kind of my workspace. So that's why having
like very accessible there there you got Troy that. That's

(01:10:00):
my book recommendation, the Challenger Sale. So so you'll, yeah,
you'll have to check that out, The Challenger Sale by
Matthew Dickinson or Dickson and Brent Adamson. And I know, yeah,
Jane's got her books and now Jane, Yeah, we've gotta
get the Jane Buck Club recommendation. All right. I'm all
about the secret, the magic your thoughts become reality. So
you want to read this. It helps you train your

(01:10:21):
brain every day when you wake up. So the magic,
big big fan, Rhonda Burn, Dad, Oh see, there you go.
Seeing Relentless is very similar to that. It's like training
your mind. The book says, uh, going from good, too
great to unstoppable, and it's basically training your mind in

(01:10:42):
competition to be the best and h after Like it's
like Kobe's story, Michael Jordan's story, Duane Wade story, all that,
like encompass through like the Trainer Tim Grover listen, speaking
of that. The other one that NFL coaches have made
me read and I love it is Obstacle is the
Way by Ryan Holiday. You are not gonna if you

(01:11:04):
like that stuff about people who have gone from good
to gree or used adversity to propel themselves to the
next stop. Ryan Holiday big fan. So yeah, so there
we go. So for book club recommendations, Netflix recommendations, football,
investigative journalism into crazy Lion Ladies in Florida, you can
get all of it at Troy Pride's Twitter at Troy

(01:11:26):
Pride eighteen Troy, we appreciate you, man, and good luck
joining us Now. Is Boise State defensive end Curtis Weaver,
one of the most prolific pass rushers in the country.
You can follow him on Twitter at Curtis Weaver ninety nine. Curtis,
How you doing, man? I'm doing great, doing great. You
know I just mentioned they're the uh you know you

(01:11:48):
kind of bursting onto the scene at Boise. You had
eleven sacks when you were a freshman. Um you put
up incredible numbers there for your three years, all time
Mountain West leader in sacks, second all time in Boise
State history. And it was done in just those three years.
You didn't even stay the full four. Uh. Do you
think the the national conversation about prospects in this year's

(01:12:09):
draft is giving your resume enough respected? Do? Do you
think you're enough part of the discussion of some of
the top ed rushers in the class. UM I always
feel that, Um, it would be bad if I didn't
feel that, generally speaking, but I feel like on the
top past natural pass rusher in the draft, UM, no
disrespect to everybody else, And UM, I feel like I'm

(01:12:32):
up there with everybody and people are talking about the
UM greatly. Some people don't have the same mindset and
that's why. UM, that's what everybody. Everybody has, those people
that they have to prove wrong when they get to
the next level. And I'm ready to do that. Now
you're a guy who, uh, like everybody else, it was
getting all, you know, like a lot of these other

(01:12:53):
prospects was getting a lot of attention. Was planning on
having a bunch of visits and meeting with teams, and
then the coronavirus obvious struck and all those restrictions came
into place. How has that changed for you in terms of,
you know, meeting with teams, and then also how's it
changed for you in terms of trying to get your
workouts in and stay prepared. Workouts haven't been an issue. UM,

(01:13:14):
I feel like that's all on us. Every day we
have to go back to the old days and find
your own place to work out and then But for
the teams, I just feel like, UM, the past players
who are in the NFL now, it gives you a
chance to show who you really are when you even
after like the film session, the visit, when you go
to dinner, you can really show who you are, and

(01:13:35):
they can see what kind of players they're really drafting.
And I feel like UM always got another plus from
after my first impression with UM was talking to them more.
I feel like, so when you look at Boise State,
you can't help but look at the fact that it's
been about a bit of a pipeline to the Cowboys.

(01:13:57):
What is it with the Boise State connection of the
cowboy is? And how often do you stay in touch
with guys like DeMarcus Lawrence, Orlando Scandrick. Uh yeah, yeah,
you're good to me a while first time too, but
later was he was there when I was still in school,
so UM with him was different. And then with the

(01:14:21):
Marcus it was like, UM, it wasn't there in the beginning,
but I did see him my first year. UM he
was there with UM supporting UM the like the senior
class but then he was he um talking to him more.
I saw him, UM come through the facility, picked his
rain a little, and then he was at my training
or the place I was training at and then I'll

(01:14:42):
go get like did some more info from him. But
then this whole coronavirus team came up and then um,
that was at the end of that. But I'm still
I have his contact. Um were still talking and it's
going good with that. What kind of advice is do
you want giving you about the league in the draft?
Because yeah, at about the draft is just like he says,

(01:15:07):
we know we're the underdogs coming out of state. Um,
they're gonna say we don't have a competition. So UM.
I always took that at a place, like the underdog mentality.
And then just like it's different when you get up there,
like you have to be on your a game all
the time, Like there's no days where you've been like
let me, let me have an average day today is
bringing a hundred every day and like you're really fighting.

(01:15:29):
It's your job now and you're fighting for more than that,
and you are you know Dallas, like Jane just kind
of mentioned there. It's kind of funny. Boise State is
like Dallas Cowboys Midwest. Uh, you know they they've had
Tyrone Crawford, Orlando Scandrick to Marcus Lawrence. That they've got
two of your teammates now they're in Cedric Wilson and
Layton vander Esh What is it you think about not

(01:15:52):
just that the Cowboys, but what do you think it
is about that the NFL has has grown to admire
about Boise as a program. It's it's not a Power
five school, but but it seems like the NFL really
does love the culture there and and and the type
of guys that are coming out of that school. What
do you think it is about the program that draws
the NFL to it. I feel like it's the winning
tradition and that Boise State UM with the success they

(01:16:14):
have in the NFL, they get us. They know that
they're doing the right team when we go through the
whole process of us three to four years there maybe
five UM, but also that winning tradition, Like when you
look at teams, the number one goals to get to
that Super Bowl and win UM and we won championships
in the past, so that like what like I tell
teams like was like UM, they asked, like, what is

(01:16:36):
the most memorable thing at Boise State? And I said,
when the championship helped lead UM over the past year.
Like when we lost the one in I was heartbreaking
because like we feel like when we're losing Boise like
one game even it's like the end of the world.
And um, it's way different from the NFL from losing
one game. But um, the winning tradition is a big

(01:16:57):
thing for UM. I feel like form Boise State, you
were mostly a obviously a stand up edge rusher at
Boise State. Um, how comfortable are you with with kind
of playing with your hand in the dirt and have
some of these four three teams talk to you about, uh,
you know, or express any reservations. I guess about, well,
we we don't know if you're the type of guy
that we can put in the in the ground, you know,

(01:17:18):
play down. What would you say to that? And and
you're comfortable your level of comfortability playing with your hand
in the ground? Um? Um it was after the season
to be a hundred percent, It wasn't there. Um never
played I probably played, uh, probably a couple of games
with my hands in the dirt. And I was in
the four eyes. I was in a UH forum with

(01:17:38):
two hands in it there instead of one. And then
but always coach Tuck over this, like the last three months,
Tam helping me with my three point stance, getting the
basis down, getting the basic tools down, so I can
I can be ready for it all times. UM, I
thinking for that, but also I'm ready for it if
that's what they need, that's what they need. Jasus told

(01:18:00):
me about it. But most teams talk to me about
the stand up then, UM, teams are converting to it.
I know you got a chance to UH you had
mentioned it at your Combine presser that you did get
to have a formal with the cowboys. UM, talk about
how that meeting went, and then also what did they
expressed to you that they they saw you as did
did they talk to you about they wanted you to

(01:18:20):
put your hand into the dirt or did they see
you as more of a stand up guy? Um? We did. Um.
The first thing that came up there was like, what
do you know about the UM Dallas Cowboys? And I
told them about the pipeline and that's that's like the
last that was the last of the day. And then
umu we we watched, we watched film. We really talked
about my position there. We talked about like what I

(01:18:42):
have to do better? Um, they helped me. Um constructive criticism.
I appreciate them for that and UM they we don't
really get into my position though. Do you think that
that is something though, at at the next level that
if you were to end up with a team like
Dallas that you know, you talked about how much you've
improved working with as you mentioned Tuck, who's Brandon Tucker,
the defensive line trainer out at Exos in Frisco. Um, Yeah,

(01:19:07):
do you feel like you're you're comfortable enough there and
that you've reached the level now that if you would
end up in Dallas that you you'd feel good about being,
you know, down and on the edge with them and
play an opposite of a DeMarcus Lawrence or something like that. Yeah,
I feel comfortable. Um. At the end of the day,
you gotta you gotta adjust your environment and if I
have to do it, I gotta do it. I'm trying
to play, I'm trying to play on Sundays, I'm trying

(01:19:28):
to get on the field. And is by any means,
we know one of the most popular questions guys get
from NFL front offices and and you know, personnel departments
is asking them why do you love football? And and
it allows guys to kind of explore, uh, their passion
for the game. So, so, what's been your answer when
teams have been asking you, you know, Curtis, why do

(01:19:48):
you love football? Why do you want to be in
the NFL? UM? I feel like, like, like you just
said the past, let everyone has that question or that answer.
I'm sorry, but I feel like for me, it's also take.
It brings me to like a different state of mind
like football, Like coming from back home, it took me
out of situations I didn't want to be in stuff

(01:20:09):
like that thing. Um. I talked to a couple of
players with the exact same like mindset. Um, it gives
us something else to look forward to in life. And
I when we're in football, between the lines, that's all
we had. We don't have to worry about that outside.
We don't gotta worry about by what's happening at home.
When you're in the moment, you're in the moment. You know, Uh,

(01:20:29):
defensive end is oftentimes or the add dresser in general,
is one of those positions that has one of the
steeper learning curves from college to the pros. Guys just
sometimes take a few years to develop. At the next level.
There's a lot more technique involved, and and you know,
some of the schematics of scheming up rushes with twists
and things like that are just different than what you
do at college. Sometimes. What part of your game, though,

(01:20:50):
do you think is the most polished and pro ready aspect?
I feel like, um, I wouldn't in the beginning, at
the end of the season, I probably would't. That football
tell it. But when you get to the NFL is
way higher than college and learning of course, but I
feel like just my natural pastors facility might get off
get me um like UM gets me good on the field,

(01:21:13):
and then um, just the natural field of the game.
I feel like, you know, you we've mentioned that you
talked to the Cowboys a little bit, but who are
some of the other teams that you've had conversations with
and and you felt like you had a good connection with,
you know, whether it be over these FaceTime chats or otherwise.
Oh yeah, I get that question a lot. I talked
to the most UM. I feel like almost all thirty

(01:21:33):
two teams. Probably mine is like four. I feel like, um,
everyone is coming back with good vibes. UM good. UM.
Everybody's talking good about it. They see Uh, they're just
giving me good constructive criticism at the end of meeting.
And then no one's like I didn't feel that's been
bad between people. I feel like, because that makes any sense. Absolutely,

(01:21:55):
what's the thing one thing you regret about your college career? Um?
Probably not eating right? UM. I learned that through excels UM.
They helped me eat right nutrition. This is great. No well, um,
working out um differently to train like a pro, but

(01:22:15):
really eating right like in college. We're here, we're quick
to get the um the fast teaching of fast food
meal and then but it's like taking care of your
bodies what I learned and we take care of your body.
I feel like that's it. Um, that's good. Listen. I'm
going to share a deep and dark secret with you.

(01:22:35):
When I'm at the start facility in in Frisco, which
I'm there a lot, and I have those emotionally taxing days,
there is a McDonald's on my dry home. I'll share
this with many people, but sometimes I ordered two cheeseburgers,
no onions, a large fry, and a large soda And
because of quarantine, I haven't been able to do such

(01:22:57):
an act in about four weeks. And it is wild.
What happens to your body? Would you feed it actually
nutrients within your home? Now, with that being said, I
have turned to a lunchable or a link cuisine microwave
dinner of sorts. But I'll get you man like if
I look back on times pre quarantine and in quarantine,

(01:23:18):
I too want to eat better. So I appreciate you
sharing out with us. Oh it's not yeah. McDonald's was
probably might go to place and not eating it for
three months. It was probably the most. But I've learned
how was a lot of self disciplined. So I was good.
But that for like two weeks passing it by going
to stores and stuff, I was like, Oh, this is different.

(01:23:41):
It's rough. It's like the golden bun or something. There's
just there's something too a McDonald's cheeseburger. I'm thinking about
it right now. I might break quarantine. God forbid, get
in my car, put on a mask and go get
a too cheeseburger. Mill thanks a lot. We were that's
what that's what favor and all the other things are
for fresh there is I actually I don't have the

(01:24:07):
package with me to show up to the camera right now,
but I did get Chick fil A delivered from grub
Hub this morning, so I was able to get access
to Chick fil A. Has that I guess for that
for quarantine? Has that maybe been the biggest challenge for
you is being able to eat the way that you
got used to when you were training at excess. O
don't know, um why, like I said, great agent, he

(01:24:30):
um he set us up to have toper meals still
out here employeze. So we just pick up like uh,
don't tell the police, but we leave our house and
then um was that we pick it up and the
company keeps in the back of the door at the
back of their store and like a little cooler, and

(01:24:53):
then we just pick it up and then we leave.
We don't make no contact with nobody. And then we're
going with a what is uh, what's the most important
thing when you when you talk to teams. What's the
most important thing that you want teams to come away
with when they speak with you? UM to be honest,
just no I'm a loyalty guy. Um, I'm all about

(01:25:15):
the team. That's how I was at Boisi State. Um,
I'm on the winning is like the number one thing
on my mind. Never really like, oh what's hey, I'm
not getting my stats this game, blah blah, things like that.
I'm here for the winning. For winning is um And
that's what I really wanted to take away from it. Well,
you will certainly hear Curtis Weaver's name called earlier in

(01:25:39):
the draft next week, and who knows, maybe he ends
up with a star on his helmet and continues that
balls high fline. Curt You can follow him on Twitter
at Curtis Weaver ninety nine. Curtis, we appreciate you so much, man,
good luck. I appreciate you guys. Thank you, And before
we let you go, a quick shout out to Kristen Belt,
your lovely wife Bobby who just celebrated birthday and God

(01:26:00):
bless her homeschooling, all your kids, putting up with you,
and uh you know everything that comes with That's that's enough.
As you've seen, I can be a handful. Jane loves me,
but Jane also knows I I can be a bit
much and and Kristen has to live with that. And
so yeah, happy nineteen birthday, honey, and uh smart man.

(01:26:23):
And before we let you go, I was impressed with
the creativity that came with your birthday present. Now full disclosure,
I have been approached by cameo. Man. This is a
humble rag up man a miss. I am rich all
these awesome places, right, but I have been approached from
can cameo. It's if you're not familiar that it's a

(01:26:43):
service which is super cool. You coured a personalized video
and you pay X amount of dollars based on who
the person is and they can use it for their
birthday whatever. And I had do this once for a
friend for his birthday and I swear to god, it
was like the best gift you ever got. So I
get it. I just felt like, it's nobody wants me
to do a hype video free, and I mean this
just at me. James s later, I'll fill you a

(01:27:04):
hype video. Yeah, yeah, I asked. Jane does daily hype
videos for Masker all the time. She's like, you did
a hype video for your wife? Who did you pay
on cameos? Just so I like, I mean, I we
have the three kids, and so I just got three
cameo shout outs. So so I got what. I got
the dad from Speechless, which is her current favorite show,

(01:27:26):
and then then her favorite teenage show, which was Drake
and Josh. I got Drake whatever his name is, like
at Drake bell is that it? I think? And then
her her favorite childhood show, which was Boy Meets World.
We got Mr Feeney. So yeah, we we got three
video shoutouts as from the three kids, and so it
was nice. She she was happy with it. And you know,

(01:27:50):
I didn't tell her it was cameo. I just thought
of like, hey, these are my friends, and you know
they did me a solid. I didn't say, all right,
your top three cameos? Who? Who? Who would you want
them from? Bobby? Um, I would want it from Tara
Owens because Tara Owens is one of my all time favorites.
I'd want it from Bill Hayter because Bill hayd is

(01:28:10):
hilarious and uh, one of my favorites. And then um,
I don't know, I probably want the last one from
Matt Healy, our our our lead singer from the Nine
wasn't as oppressed with him in person. When we went
and saw but then you still got the Then you
still got the photo with him, and you swooned a little,

(01:28:31):
even though you were bitter during the actual performance. That
is true. I want Morgan Freeman. I want him to
narrate the mini bio of my life. That's one camera
Slater is rich and famous and goes to Nott and
Sam's and claims her bourgeoisie uh Brad Pitt. Just because
you'd want to look at him, you'd want to hear

(01:28:52):
him saying your name. I wanted to talk about my
life like the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. So I
want to give me a cameo in reverse. That'd be cool. Yeah. See,
I've given it a lot of thoughts to this, um,
and I'm obsessed with Sarah Foster right now. I don't
know if you've watched her on Instagram with Twitter. Just
do yourself a fader all across. Oh no, no, wait,

(01:29:13):
I I want to adjust it instead of the first one.
T O who I love t O. But just because
I want i'd want um. Why am I blanket on it?
My Tiger King? I want the Tiger King. That's all
he is to me. He's the King You're amazing. You're
amazing to our fans who keep tuning in. Thank you.
Do it. Do us a favor, like us, Subscribe us

(01:29:34):
and we'll keep bringing you fire content in isolation. You're
so woke, Bobby. That's what I'm here for.

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