Former Notre Dame captain current San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey joins the guys on ITG to discuss his career in South Bend, the bond he shared with fellow Notre Dame offensive line standout Quenton Nelson, their private conversations in 2016 after the Irish's disappointing 4-8 season, his transition to the NFL after being drafted 9th by the 49ers, and the 2019 season that resulted in a Super Bowl berth for his San Francisco team.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Welcome back to Inside the Garage podcast. I'm
Conradian along with k J. Wallace and Calm Hart. Today
we have a very special guest, Kyle. He is out
(00:21):
visiting UM doing the whole process. But today very special
guests Mike McGlinchey. Mike, how you doing. I'm doing great, guys,
thanks for having me on. And uh, yeah, if Kyle
was able to squeeze a podcast into the time he's
got going on right now, I'd be pretty impressed. He's Uh,
he's probably fine all over the country meeting with a
ton of Teefer teams and um, it's a very very
(00:43):
busy couple of weeks after Pro Day for sure. Definitely
are you at right now? Are you in suh? So,
I actually live in San Jose. So our facility is
uh in Santa Clara, California, where the San Francisco forty Niners.
That our stadium is about an hour south of San Francisco. So, um,
it used to be in San Francisco all those years ago,
(01:05):
and um, they moved to Santa Clara probably and that's
where the stadium's at now. And so I live in
the South Bay, Yeah, in San Jose. But I'm at
my Yeah, I'm in my house. How's the How's the
West Coast? I know you were born in Pennsylvania, born
and raised there. How's the How's a difference in the
living situation? Whether I love it, man, I absolutely love
(01:28):
it out here. I uh. I love being able to
play golf as soon as the season's over in January.
I love sunshine all the time. I love living in California. Uh.
They may they make you pay for it out here,
but at least at least it's at least it's worth it,
you know. So I love California. I've I've met you know,
I met my girlfriend out here. We lived together now,
and that's probably where we're gonna set up home. That's
(01:52):
a big decision. You You think you're gonna retire there
and stay there forever. Well, I that's not in my control.
And I don't know. Um, I don't know what my
future is with the forty Niners. I obviously hope to
be here for my career. I love our organization, I
love our team, I love our coaches, and I would
want to play my whole career here. But at the
(02:13):
end of the day, business gets in the way of
a lot of stuff with football, so I'll just I'll
just play as best as I can and let the
chips fall as they meant. So you can't definitely, but
but in the off seasons, I'll be here no matter
where I'm playing. So Mike obviously played Notre Dame seventeen.
(02:35):
Let's start from the beginning, like your recruiting process, like
what were the other schools that you're interested in, and
why did you choose football or basketball? Actually, because I
know you're quite the basketball player as well. In high
school that might be a little gas. I was okay,
I was definitely. I was definitely good. But it was
not it was not a decision that needed to be
made because the schools that were coming after me for
(02:56):
football were a little bit different, I'll tell are you.
In high school, I graduated eighth grade at like six
five and then and then yeah, I was tall, dude,
probably my sort dumb like compared to your friends. I
always did. And then, uh, by the end of my
(03:19):
freshman year, I was probably like six six six seven,
and probably sophomore year I was as tall as I am.
Now that's good, So yeah, I was. I was tall
in my whole life. Man, It's just it was always
the way it was. But recruiting, I was, I was.
You know, basketball was probably my my favorite sport in
high school. Um, I thought I loved playing basketball. I
(03:41):
still I still wish I could do this day. Um.
Some of my favorite memories at Nerd name or playing
pick up hoops at Rolfs. And I guess Ross is
at Ross anymore. That's the basketball facility now, so uh
what is that? Yeah, soccer and so um so we
played both places there and then. Um, but yeah, I was.
(04:04):
I was probably like a mid major basketball player IVY
League if I was good enough in school, but who
knows if that would have been the case. Um. But
so for football, man, I just started getting recruited pretty early.
I I uh, I was obviously, like I said, I
was a huge kid. By the time I was a sophomore,
I had started kind of getting recruited, and um, I
(04:24):
got offered to play. My first offer was Boston College,
um in the summer summer after my freshman year. Um,
which I guess isn't all that crazy anymore. But when
I was in high school, that was pretty that was
a pretty big deal. So I was pretty hyped about that,
and then that's kind of when I was like, Okay, well,
if this is the kind of school that's gonna come
(04:44):
ask me to play football for them, then I should
probably started thinking about football is my career. And were
you where you have a question where you filling out
at this point? Like, I know you got the six
five very quick, So like what what did you kind
of look like as I'm trying to mat Yeah, so
I was. I was a tall, lanky dude. I was
a tight end most of my high school career. Um.
(05:07):
So I I came into school at Notre Dame my
freshman year, I think summer I weighed like two fifty
five or two sixty, So I was I was super
Well that's a big number for a lot of people,
but when you're six day, right, and so I was
really light. I was super small. Um, and I read
shirted my freshman year and probably put on like forty
(05:29):
pounds my first year at school. Who was your strength coach?
We were with Paul Longo at the time, so Bayliss
took over my fifth year. So going into my fifth year,
Bayless was our strength coach um and has blessed all
of us with some some real ball busting workouts. U. Yeah.
(05:51):
Once I. Once I started getting recruited pretty heavily, I
kind of knew offensive line was kind of where I
was going to be recruited. Every coach that came in
they said, hey, man, you know, we loved watching you
play at a tight end, but you're not gonna play
tight end for us, right, They're gonna you're gonna play
off of the line. I was like, Okay, that's fine.
You know, as long as I played high level football,
I didn't really care. UM. And then the turning point
(06:13):
for me was I always wanted to go to another name.
I never I never really thought about going anywhere else.
Boston College was the place that I was gonna go
if I didn't go to Notre Dame. But I was
always waiting for Notre Dame. And then coaching stand who
you guys have now known because he's on his second
tour of duty with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish But Um,
he got the job winter of my junior year of
(06:36):
high school. UM. And then that like three weeks later
after he got the job, I got called with an
offer and then UM, I went out probably a month
later on my spring break two months later, on my
spring break, I took off of my sports that I
was playing and I took a week off. My dad
and I were gonna go to a bunch of Midwest schools.
(06:56):
So I had been offered by a couple of Big
ten schools. So I was gonna go see wisconsinin or
was wisconscin Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State. Notre Dame was
my first stop, and uh, fortunately for me and my
dad's gas money, I picked. I picked Notre Dame that
weekend and I fell in love with the place. It
(07:17):
was everything that I always dreamed it would be. Um
what you know, I grew up in Irish Catholic kid
in Philadelphia, and that's the only really team you root for.
So I watched I watched NBC every Saturday growing up.
I watched those Golden Helmets on shineing in South Bend
and it's all I ever wanted to do. And when
they offered me, I wanted to take at least I
(07:39):
wanted to at least take a visit to make sure
I'm crossing my teas and dot my eyes. But I
was ready to commit on the spot, and in my
five years there proved to be ah, the best decision
I ever made. So you spoke about red shooting, and
we talked about that a bunch because all three of
us has red shoot it. How did you translation from
(07:59):
a red shirt to a fifth year to a fifth
year captain and then what was it? Ninth draft pick? Like?
What was what was that process like? Because I mean,
I know for office alignment, at least for the ones
that was in my class twenty nineteen, they all red shirted,
and it seems to be like most of us do. Yeah. Well,
like I said, I was like two d and sixty
pounds and like stefan to it was our starting defensive
(08:23):
end at the time. And I like, I might come
to Jesus moment when I was playing college football is
I made it to the too deep my freshman year.
But I so I was traveling, but I was still
a red shirt. They were holding my red shirt unless
something tragic happened. Right, Thankfully it didn't. You know, I
lucked out and got the fifth year after the year,
but we did Ones versus Two is the week we're
(08:46):
playing Oklahoma at our place, and for whatever reason, coach
Kelly wanted to do Ones Versus Two's and so to
offense went against one defense and they played back then.
Um Bob Diaco was our defensive coordinator, and we did
like a three four two gaps. So Stefan was just
lined up right over my face the entire thrill, and
(09:10):
this man like tossed me side to side like no,
like crazy, like I couldn't have to stay on my feet,
like I was face planning every I was space planning
every play. And I remember walking over to coaching stand
and trying to like recover from what just happened. It's
just like that was that was embarrassing, right, He's like,
(09:32):
what did he say? Are we allowed to cuss on this?
You know? He's like, you know, that was fucking embarrassing.
You know, you better figure it the funk out before
you know, I try to play you somewhere or else.
You're not going to be playing for me everyone, right,
And this is like five weeks into my freshman year,
and I'm like, ship man, this is this, right. I
(09:55):
was like, ship this is so tough. Um. But it
wound up being funny because I had that same line up.
My second year in the league. We played Pittsburgh and
UH and Stefan is playing the three three four two
gap defense and he's lined up over my face all
day long and I was trying all week. I was
(10:16):
joking around with all my teammates at the Niners. I
was like, man, I might have PTSD college. Dude, like
this guy ate my lunch all day long, and I
was like, They're like, dude, well that was six years ago,
like you know, so it was funny that game full circle.
Yeah we won. So yeah, yeah, not to bring it up,
(10:39):
but you were a part of the the four and
eight season, but I want to ask that the following season,
you were uh named a captain in the office line
won the Joe Moore Award, which is the best line
in the country. And I believe we beat L C
in the in the Music City Bowl that year. So
how the Citrus gotcha? Yeah? Yeah, we beat We beat
(11:01):
l s U in the Music City my sophomore year,
but we did. We won the Citrus Bowl. Was the
ball we played in my fifth year? Yeah, so how
was how was that being a captain getting everyone like
on the same page following a year where obviously had
notre dame. The standard is is a lot higher than that.
How was that transitioning into like your captain season. Well,
(11:22):
so I was a captain of the sixteen team too.
So I was captain's sixteen and felt like an absolute
failure because we went four and eight under my leadership. Right,
you know, it's like that was as bad of a
feeling as it gets. But I remember that off season
because we didn't even make a bowl game. We weren't
even being qualified. And so I remember calling q Quentin Nelson.
(11:44):
Obviously you guys know who that is, but I called
him when we were sitting at home watching bowl games
over Christmas time, and I'm like, dude, like what were
we doing? And he's like he's like this, He's like,
this is the worst I've ever felt like sitting watching
television before in my life. I don't I don't understand it.
I don't understand how we let this happen. And I
was like, all right, well, when we get back there,
(12:06):
we are we have to be the guys that changed this,
and um, we both decided to come back for our
our He wasn't a fifth year. He was a year
younger than me, but q Q was an animal that
didn't need all five So um, so he graduated and
then left the SAT We left the same year. We
were in the same draft class, but we were co
captains together up my fifth year and that what a
(12:28):
what a treat that was, and what a pleasure that
was because the two of us just pushed each other
all year long, and he was as good of a
teammate and competitor, and because, you know, part of us
part of it was like we bothered each other, you
know what I mean, like you and I were. We
we did not like losing to the other person. And
whether it's in workouts, whether it's in you know, coaching stands,
(12:49):
praise in the old line room, it's all it's like, oh, yeah,
he did that today, I'm gonna do that better. And
so that was kind of mentality we had individually as
we went into our fifth year, because we're like, we
can't let this happen again. We're not going back to
school to go four and eight again. You know, we
could so um and we got some great help with
(13:10):
the hires that coach Kelly made that offseason, especially as
you guys know, that's Bayless. So that was the number
one higher that I think coach Kelly ever made a
Notre Dame and I'm very fortunate, very thankful that coach
stayed with Coach Freeman because because he is uh, he's
a vital to the Notre Dames football program as anybody
(13:31):
out there. And can you kind of speak on like
what Baylor's brought specifically in that year and that transition
from the year total that was well, that's what I was.
It's the same answer as the previous question. It's this
guy changed the face of our program. He made us winners,
he made us compete, he made us tough, he made
(13:52):
us work like all that stuff, all those details that
we were skipping over was it was one of the
hardest for three or four months I've ever had physically
um in football like those that those workouts, because it
was a complete shift from what we did previously, and
(14:12):
we carried that energy into spring ball and we were
returning a lot of guys. You know, that was a
good thing about And I think that's what kind of
got us to four and eight is that in fifteen
we were we had like twelve draft picks that year.
We had we were stacked. We were so good. We
want eleven games lost in the Fiesta. Bowlt o'house stayed
(14:33):
unfortunately who was who had fifteen draft picks that year,
But so we lost a ship ton of people to
play for our team, and so we had to replace,
you know, twelve fifteen starters the next year. And I
don't think guys were necessarily ready for that, and I
think that part of that was because of the development
that they lacked while they were young at school. Um. Fortunately,
(14:54):
I you know, when Paul was there to start, it
was a little bit different than when he was eventually
let go. And on top of Paul being better, we
had Harry and so I never lacked in development because
it was it was sink or swim every day with
coaching stand you either you either proved what you got
(15:14):
or you're gonna go home, probably crying. And that was
that was the way that it went. And so Bayliss
just amplified that even more and it and it drove
a fire for competition, for wanting to do better, wanting
to provide, to not provide, but to be a better
teammate to the guy next to you, that everybody's counting
(15:36):
on you, like there's nobody was slipping through the cracks anymore.
It was gonna take all three phases, all twenty two
guys that are playing captains two freshmen. It didn't matter.
We were going to compete as hard as we could.
And then we turned around, uh and one, you know,
eleven games that year too. So I think a lot
of that has to do with with with what Bayliss
did to us, not to us before us um. I
(15:58):
guess it could go either way, but we definitely what um,
but what he did all those six months and then
in that summer, because the summer, the summer was almost
harder than the winner, but at least in the summertime,
we knew what to expect now because it was a
shell shock those first two or three weeks of winter
(16:19):
training that year. I was thankful because I was going
into my fifth year, so I only had like one
one class that spring because we'd go in and work
out and I was at least able to go home
and nap or whatever because he would wear he was
wearing us out man. And it was so so cool
to be a part of that transition from being a
captain of that you know, garbage team for an eight
(16:42):
to learning lessons and getting a lot of growth through
the failure that we had and then using that to
you know, not to toot our own horn in seventeam,
but propel us to what notre name is now, which
is the top five perennial top five program that wins
ten that wins at least ten games a year, and
if it's anything, if it's not, if it's ten, it's
a bummer. If it's eleven, if it's all twelve, then
(17:05):
we're that's when that's what we expect. And so that
that started, UM, I think that offseason, and UM I
was very very happy to be a part of that
and very happy to see the successes of the guys
that were younger than me. UM that got to reap
the rewards of all that hard work later on with
you know, two playoff runs in the last three or
(17:26):
four years. Definitely, that's kind of wild because we always
hear from guys like UM because we played with like
Sean Crawford and Avery Davis, and we hear from those
guys like Bayliss. He like kind of let off the
pedal a little bit. And you literally got Bayliss day
one from when he got to know names. I can
only imagine. Yeah, I don't I don't think. I don't
(17:47):
think anybody was ready for what Matt Bayless was gonna do,
and I don't think Coach Kelly even knew at the time,
but he kind of unleashed on his program and it
was at the time it was the best thing for us. Now,
once that culture is set right, you don't need to continually,
you know, crush people, which is why I don't know.
(18:09):
I haven't been a part of your workout, so I
don't know. But letting you put off the gas or
whatever you just said, it's because it's because the culture
is already there, you know what I mean, like it
it's it's it's there, so he doesn't have to reinforce
because the guys that are the old guys now well
actually I think there was, Like I think Avery Davis
and Josh log were the only guys on your team
(18:29):
now that we're there, when I was there, which makes
me feel all this ship. But those guys knew from
what we what we did, and the it's now it's
just a cycle because the young guys learned fast because
of what they have to do to compete and stay
and keep up every day. I just gotta ask Willis,
(18:50):
coach he stands reaction to you guys get them Joe
More Award, how does it was cool? That was cool
because Aaron Taylor. I don't know if you guys know
Aaron Taylor or at all, but Aaron Taylor it's a
Notre Dame Brad I think, unanimous all American, but at
least a consensus all American, like twice like one of
the best officers linement that's ever played in our rain.
(19:11):
And so his coach was Joe Moore and um so
Aaron has gotten to know Harry very well because Harry
is a direct disciple of Joe. Joe was Harry's mentor.
He taught him everything that he knew. Once that award
was invented, which was in my junior year. It was
when it was the first year of the War Award.
It was his goal every single year to win that thing,
(19:34):
and to win it on Q and I's last year.
We were very very close to coach, still are, but
to win it on our last year what turned out
to be his last year at school before you guys
are fortunate enough to have him now, but to have
Aaron presented to him in front of the whole team,
that was the first time I saw Harry in front
(19:57):
of everybody that's not me, r Q kind of be
human and it was it was really he didn't know
what to say and I had never seen him so
choked up. And that was a really special moment for
all of us because it was all we ever worked for.
There was none of us care like Q and I.
Q and I competed, We were fine. We were both
(20:19):
finalists or semifinalists for the Outline that year, and we
were competing to try and get that. Q eventually should
have he got robbed. Q did of not winning that award,
but neither one of us really gave a shit about
that one. We cared about the one that all five
of us were gonna win together. And that's what makes
that awards so cool. It's like, oh, yeah, you can't
be driven by awards. That's individual athletes, not that fucking trophy.
(20:42):
That's a different that's a different one, and that's what's
really cool about it. Yeah, it was Q and you.
We were on the road, but Q was a year
younger than me uh in school, so when we were
all going through the housing stuff, we were always a
year before. So actually, Hunter Bibbon was my roommate for
five years. Yeah, so so he's he's Hunter is my
(21:02):
best friend in the whole world. But when when we
went on the road, Q and I were roommates for
I want to say, two year at least two years,
if not three. She that's to say, you know, that's
completely different now and there's a freshman that's living off
campus now. Yeah, yeah, that's that's such bullshit. I have
no idea, no idea. How good you have? You guys
(21:22):
have turned this COVID tragedy into a strong advantage of
living of the life. You guys live on campus now,
and I stuff, Now, you guys didn't have that either,
that too, I mean, I don't even know what the
hell to think of that stuff, Like, I don't know
what I would have done back then because we didn't
think about it like that to us then, I led
(21:43):
to me is kind of crazy, which I agree, Like
you should be able to go to dinner and somebody
recognize you and say, hey, you're I'll pick up your
tab as a college kid, or hey, here's a free
drink at c JS, or I guess CJS do isn't
even the bar anymore. You love hearing that, but like
(22:07):
you should be able to do those things and not
have to worry about the n C double A coming
down and crack on it. Now, whether or not I
think sixteen year old should be getting a million and
a half to sign with the school or signed with
this program and he hasn't even done anything yet, I
don't know if that's right. I mean, that's what the market,
that's what the market is saying. But for us, you know,
the motivation was the league, like that was the end goal.
(22:30):
It was that's how you got paid. It's by being
the best you could be every single day in college
and then the league takes care of all that. And
so I do agree that there's some given take that.
You know, you shouldn't be not allowed to get paid
for doing something because you show up somewhere or whatever.
But I don't know about these multimillion dollar contract in
high school recruits. I don't I don't know if that's
(22:52):
I don't know if that's good for the game or not.
So speaking on but the draft coming up, you obviously
and I have to pick to the Niners. In the
second Indie linement that was taking the top ten. Yeah,
it sucks, it was too I told you be me
and you competed with each other and everything, and I
know he had a little bit of a smile on
(23:14):
his face. Here his name first? What was that text? Like?
I mean, it wasn't there was no bad blood that
night because it was like all both of our dreams
were completely realized and we were two picks apart. So
it's not like it was that big of a deal.
But we both locked out into the organizations that we're with,
so um, that's true. Yeah, but it was funny. It
(23:37):
was always It's always funny looking back because I know,
I know he has a little bit of that. Yeah,
well I was picked first. I was speaking speaking on YouTube. Obviously,
you guys are some of the most I guess recognizable
players in recent history here I or Dame. If you
could describe in one or two words, what do you
think set you guys apart from any average offensive linemen
(23:59):
or even a really good one, but not on you
guys level. There's one or two words is hard, um,
because it's a lot of different things. But obviously Q
and I were gifted physically. You know, for me, I was,
I was a really good athlete. I was I came
in light and I knew how to move and be
an athlete. I was a really good basketball player, so
(24:20):
I had that kind of going and then when I
added the weight, it all kind of clicked. And Q
is just I mean, he's just as he was. He
was put on this earth to play guard, you know
what I mean, That's that's what he should be doing.
Like God ever chose you to do something, that's what
he's supposed to be doing. Um. So physically we had
all that stuff. But the thing that separated us, man,
(24:41):
is that we pushed each other. It was so competitive,
it was so much hard work, and it was and
it was it was pride about and Harry, I'm sure
if you guys walk past his room at six thirty
in the morning during spring ball, you hear the word
pride thrown out a lot um and it's a yeah,
it's a it's a pride to your group, it's a
pride in your play, and it's a pride for the
(25:03):
school that you play for. And Q and I took
it to heart every single day that if our best
wasn't on film, we weren't good enough. Like we didn't play,
we didn't play to beat, you know. I think on
our fifth year we had Miami Ohio, right, We didn't.
We didn't play for that game. We played for you
(25:24):
know what, I'm gonna be the best in the country
at what I do. And every single day we chased
that and we continue to chase it. And and it's
it's that self accountability, It's that self determination. It's that
pride in your technique. It's the pride and the work
habits that you have that you take and you try
and put it into everything that you do, and then
(25:45):
good things start happening for you. And it was that.
And then we had a great teacher. He taught us
how to be pros. He taught us how to be
how to think about the game, how to study the game,
how to grow and develop every single day, and and
the motivation it takes to get up and compete as
hard as you can every day. And you know, as
simple as it is, Q and I just love football,
(26:08):
and that in and of itself. I think a lot
of people lose that they like the stuff that comes
with football, but they don't. When you're in between the
right lines, it's different. You strap your helmet on, you
strap your chin strap on, you give your guy next
to you, like we did every play a knuckle touch
that Hey, I'm with you and we're gonna go play
as hard as we fucking can all day no matter what,
(26:28):
and do our job and and um, it continued in
those days, just kept stacking and stacking and stacking. And
that's why, you know, I think we separated ourselves because
you know, and all those bailiffs workouts, it was either
me or and him coming in first. Like it. It
bothered me when I lost to him, and that gas
er it bothered him when he would lose to me
(26:50):
in one. It would bother me when I lost to him,
even though he was three times stronger than me in
the weight room, he benched more weight than me, and
it would piss me off. And I would just try
and do more, more and more until I was on
at least the same level playing field. But with all
that competition, just grew such great friendship too. And you know,
I think that's what the bond that we had together
and the way that we pushed each other and how
(27:12):
much we just loved doing it. Um, it's probably what
separated us at a moment. Yeah, that's I think that's crazy,
Like I think that's a really because I feel like
a lot of people overlooked at like that level of competition,
like that's like a brother that's like I wouldn't even
say a little brother, big brother type type of bond.
That's like like twins, Like yeah, it's best on best.
(27:35):
And when we would go up against those tire or
the tug of wars or something, it was I wasn't
getting paired against some freshman. There was quent Nelson on
the other side of that rope, and it was like
either I nut up or this guy's gonna throw me
into next week. So it's it's that kind of stuff
that just continually stacks upon itself, but it never that
was what it was is that we never lost sight
(27:57):
of what we were supposed to be doing. We never
lost sight of the ship, no matter how many people
told us, so, you guys are gonna be first round picks,
Like what do you wait? We didn't. We didn't worry
about that. We said, all right, today is what we
got in front of us, and we got to figure
out how to get better. And that's all we did
for five for me, five years and four years, and
we do it. You know. That's and that was ingrained
(28:18):
in us then, and it's what carries us now. I
kind of feel like being a part of a team,
especially a college team, you kind of understand everybody, kind
of understand everyone's mindset towards the game, Like at what
moment did you understand like, all right, I got I
got this kind of competitor and this guy or possibly
like both ways you see him saying in terms of
(28:39):
like when when did I find out that I can
do this? Or like that not necessarily you, but you
talk about you, how you and Q had such a
bond like that, and like y'all really competed like that
every day, Like what what at what moment do you
feel like you looked across the room, whether it was
obviously had to be a sophomore year and you realize, like,
this dude is a real competitor like that as soon
as we stepped on campus. Um, it's just something you have.
(29:03):
I think I think that that stuff is really just
something you have, and you can obviously train it and
you can turn it on. But the problem is that
too many guys turn it off, right And and when
we came in there was you know, Zack Martin, Ronnie Stanley,
Nick Martin, Chris Watt, who's now on your staff too.
Those guys were the fifth that Ronnie was, and Ronnie
(29:25):
was a year older than me. But Nick was a
captain when I was a junior, His brother Zach was
a captain when I was a freshman, Watt was a
captain whatever, And those are the guys that we wanted
to be right and and we saw, yeah, we saw
them do it to the best of their ability every day,
and we knew that all right, well, Watton Zach are
(29:46):
on their last year of eligibility, Ronnie's gonna Ronnie's gonna
be here. There's two spots coming open, and if it's
not me, it's gonna be a fucking issue. And so
we made sure that that we we didn't let something
slip through the clacks, and Q and I just jumped in.
I cracked the starting lineup at the last two games
(30:08):
of my red shirt year. UM and Q finished that
red shirt season, and then that spring it was probably
the time that we were like, all right, this is
our now, it's gonna be our team, you know. And
Nick was still there. So Nick, Nick and Ronnie were
the ones that kind of they took over from Zach
and Watt and then we kind of got elevated and
then the futures roll right, It's like, all right, now
(30:30):
we're going to tell you guys how to do this.
It's like, okay, you guys are in the starting lineup.
Now you're the future of this program. And so we
just everybody just kept teaching each other and teaching each other.
And I think that was the coolest thing about what
we did at our school with O Line especially, is
that we just had dudes that really cared about the group,
cared about the guys that were younger than them, and
(30:51):
they paid it forward. And we wanted to be those guys.
I wanted to be Zack Martin as bad as I
wanted to breathe man, And like see I picked a
good guy to emulate. Now that he's an eight time
first team All Pro, Right, but so you know, those
that's who I learned from, and that was the only
way we did it. It was the blue that was
(31:11):
the blueprint, and we just kind of kept trying to
beat it and that was all we could do. And
you can definitely still see that in the line now. Yeah,
the old guys. Actually it's only it's only gonna it's
only gonna get better now that Harry's back. Like it's funny,
it's the same as what you're saying. But even with
like Joe and Blake, who are both young guys, they're
still leading from like there, you know, starting respect. Yeah,
(31:34):
and I don't I don't even think I could distinguish
one guy on the office a linement that's like the
head of him. I think they're just all abandoned. Brother,
we had a really good unit right now, really good. Yeah,
And I love hearing that. Um, I hope it's Patterson
that he's been around and played the most. Yeah, yeah,
but I think he's their guy. But at the same time,
(31:56):
he's not. He's not playing right now, right he got
hurt or something. So but yeah, I think they've done
a great job. You know. I think you guys were
all teammates with Hanzi and Kramer, all those guys, so
those were those were my freshman and Hanzi and Kramer
broke the starting line up my fifth year. They were
they cope, they co partnered right tackle and we want
(32:20):
That was the year we won the Joe Moore Award,
So both of them got a taste of how to
play on an elite line and then Eikenberg and Banks,
who's now my teammate again, which is awesome. They just
they just they just they just followed in. So those
guys made us proud by the way that they treated
the younger guys, because it's not right to treat young
(32:42):
guys like nothing in college. I mean whatever, and when
you're a rookie in the pros, but you know, it's
a big deal to be a freshman college and you
need as much help as you can. So I'm proud.
I'm proud of that standard for our groups for sure, definitely.
And is that I wouldn't say standard. Is that brotherhood
and um together and this different in the league, you
think very different. So when I was a rookie, I
(33:06):
was a start. I was our starter from day one. Um,
obviously when you picked that high, you better performer. You're
gonna be shamed, right, But I was the only guy
on my starting offensive line that wasn't married with kids.
And that stuff is what's the weirdest part about the
NFL from college, right. And then everybody's gonna say the
(33:28):
speed of the game. Yeah, yeah, that's true, right, everybody
can make decisions faster they're a little bit faster there,
but they can all they all study it like pros
and so there's no hesitation. But the weirdest thing is socially,
like I didn't go home and live with my five
other offensive line teammates when I was a rookie. I
had my own place. I was sitting on the couch
after practice for the first time and didn't have ten
(33:50):
guys around me. So that was the weirdest thing. Obviously,
you still do things together. You go on trips, you
do dinners, you do all that stuff. But it's hard
because my left tackle when I was a rookie was
thirty four year old with two kids and I was
twenty three. It's like, all right, you know, you find
time to be able to connect and be friends and
all that stuff. But at the end of the day,
that's hard. A very different lifespot, you know what I mean.
(34:12):
And so that makes it hard for the brotherhood of
stuff and with the league, you know, as as much
as they say, if not for a long league, right,
but you see you see you see a revolving door
of people. So it's a little harder in that regard,
but it's still it's still there. Because O line is
is that's the way you have to play it, in
my opinion, to be good at it. But uh, it's
(34:34):
you gotta pick and choose your spots. It's not all
the time like college. I know you've been fortunate enough
to be on the same team since you've got into
the league. But would you say, like the better teams
find ways to kind of navigate like the teams that
we that the organizations that we kind of associate with
being the better organizations in the league. Do you think
they find ways to navigate socially in that kind of
(34:57):
spills onto the field and that's what makes them become
a team that they are. I think so. I think
that football is a people game, right. It always has
been and it always will be, no matter how much
BS you want to put in it and how much
social media you want to put in it. It's really
tough to be good at football if you don't like
the guys in the locker room. And I think that's
a part of the in the league. It's John, it's
(35:19):
the g ms and the head coaches problem to make
sure that every guy that they bring into the building
fits the mold of what they want to be and
what they want to do. And so I've been very
fortunate that that's been a priority of my organization. Um,
you know, our ownership or Notre Dame people too, So
obviously we're doing things right. Um, but John and John
(35:39):
Lynch who's our GM, and Kyle Shanahan a head coach,
they take a lot of pride and making sure everybody
kind of follows the same template. Right. It's no matter
where you come from, what school, do you love football?
Are you a good dude? And are you going to
give everything you got? And those three qualities make you
make it a lot easier to go to work with people.
For sure, you can't talk about a little bit. But
(36:00):
obviously you came Notre Dame. You uh, like I had
a red shirt. You didn't play right away, but then
you went to four nine as you were expected to play.
You're expected to play you if you, like you said,
if you didn't perform like you would be shame quote unquote,
as you said, if you did change your mindset, what
was your mindset like knowing that you know instantly I
have to play like I know that I'm good enough
(36:22):
to play, but I have to play, not like I
can't you know I'm not going to learn from these
guys then play? Like, what was your mindset any different?
Or you're like, no, I know I have to do
this that than third to play and all that. No,
I it wasn't any different because I was very comfortable
and very ready to do it. And um, that's why
I went back for a fifth year at Notre Dame.
It is because I knew, no matter I got a
(36:43):
first round grade to leave after my fourth year, but
after four and eight, in the way that I evaluated
myself on film, I knew if I was gonna be
a first round pick, I was going to be projected
to put in as a starter. And I didn't think
that I was ready for that. I didn't think you
felt like he was ready for that. And we knew
that if we stayed one more year, we were going
(37:04):
to learn from the best guy in the business, and
he he treated us like professionals that whole year, and
so I was always I was very, very comfortable and
very ready to go into the NFL from a football standpoint. Obviously,
when you start making new money and your families all
over the place where I'm living on the West Coast
and I've never lived in California before in my life.
(37:25):
Like that stuff. That stuff was harder than the football stuff,
you know what I mean. So I was very ready
to play. And I think that's that's because of the
way that I was coached. And I knew that when
I was going into the league if I would be
I was gonna be pissed if they didn't put me
as the starter because I showed up for I showed
up for uh, you know, O T S or whatever
(37:46):
the first couple of weeks and we were starting to
play you know, individual and stuff like that before you
get into the team stuff, and I'm like, if I'm
not the fucking starting right tackle his team, they're stupid, right,
you know what I mean. So that once you get ready,
you know, you do that work in college, prepare yourself
to be ready to play, and that's where I was at.
(38:06):
I think that's that shows a different level maturity, Like
from your stabooks. I know, it's hard to look at
that grid and be like, oh, yeah, let me stay
in college off season of you know what I'm saying.
But Banyance wasn't there. We didn't know any better yet.
I might maybe I won't maybe that decision. That's right,
(38:26):
that's right. But you spoke about the lifestyle of living
in California. You obviously come from Philly, which and I
and a lot a lot different. Then you came to
self Bend, which is as we all know with self
Ben inn tell Us, and then you went to San France.
How is that lifestyle difference? Fun prose cons for a
(38:50):
guy that's twenty three, find up with the guy that's
thirty five or whatever. I was, the younger guys take
advantage of up sand friend and whatever. Yeah. Yeah, so
it's interesting. Um, well that guy, that old guy that
I was talking about, he's still one of my best friends. Um,
I just had dinner with him last night actually as
a matter of fact. But he But that's what football does.
(39:14):
It's like, no matter what shape, size, age, color, you know,
whatever you are, if you have this common language that
you can speak in, the common work and the common goals,
it brings people together. And there's no sport, there's no
sport that brings friendships like football does. And so that
was the easy part, always making friends with your teammates.
(39:34):
The hardest parts for me, you know, my family's miles
away from me. My mom and dad. I got five
younger siblings, I got like thousands of cousins and people
that I depended on my whole life. And fortunately I
went away to college to Notre Dame, which wasn't so far.
It's not as far as it was now, but it
was still a ten hour drive from home, and so
(39:54):
I had a little bit of practice of being away
from my family. The hardest part was trying to navigate
the new team mates life and new social life and
you didn't really have one, or were trying to get
the lay of the land, trying to figure out what
to do for fun. And so unfortunately for me, we
have the best sports staff in the in the game,
uh in the NFL at the Niners are equipment managers,
(40:16):
are travel guys, are our video guys, are just like
the best people you could ever imagine. And they were
all my age when I came here, and so they
became they've become my best friends over the last five
years because there's not there's not a ton of guys
that live here full time, because the Bay Area is
crazy expensive. It's as expensive as anywhere in the world
(40:38):
to live. But I've made it my home. I I
really the pros sunshine all the time. I don't. I
don't even own a winner jacket anymore, which is fucking awesome. Yeah,
some of the best golf courses in the world are
out here. I love that. Uh yeah, I I love
(41:02):
everything about California except for the fact that my family
is not here. So but I've gotten a new family
out here, which has been cool. You know, my girlfriend
and I have a ton of friends out here, and um,
but yeah, so I miss home every day, but I
don't think I'm I missed it enough to go back
and did snowy weather. So was it your rookie year?
(41:24):
You guys went to the Super Bowl second year? Second year?
So could you kind of like that's you know, praying
nuts to get there at all, but let alone your
second year. Could you kind of walk us through that
season like like what was what do you guys think
going in like halfway through and then towards jam and
you're like, you know, we can like do this. I
mean obviously, um and the Chiefs did end win the game,
(41:47):
but how was the But now you know what, dude,
that that was a special year. We started eight now
and we we knew from the very beginning, we were
the best team in football, and we're like, nobody can
touch our stuff, man, if we're on. And that's a
really really unique feeling. And I haven't I haven't had
(42:09):
it much. But by the end of the year it
was like, all right, how do you want to take it?
How do you want to lose today? You know what
I mean? It was we want We won thirteen games.
We slipped up towards the end of the year against Atlanta,
lost the Baltimore in a rain game that if it
wasn't raining, we probably blow them out. Um, and we lost,
(42:30):
And we lost the Seattle and a heartbreaker on Monday night,
like you just randomly. But then we went through the
playoffs and we won both playoff games by thirty points,
and like, the weird the wildest feeling in the world
was looking in the third quarter in our teammates, so
we're up thirty three on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers
and being like, holy sh it, man, we're going to
(42:52):
the super Bowl, you know, and even and even in
that Super Bowl, we were six minutes away from winning
the whole fucking thing. And you know, we had a
couple of flute plays here and there. We didn't convert
the change, we didn't move the chains when we needed to.
You know, a flute hailm Mary on third and fifteen happened.
That never would have happened nine times out of ten,
(43:15):
but it did that day, and and we lost. And
that was the hardest moment. That goes from the highest
highs to as low as you feel like it's way
easier to go four and twelve than it is to
go lose second to the second place. That was a
wild year we've had. We had some amazing football games
in that year. Um I don't know if you guys remember,
but we played in New Orleans in the regular season
(43:37):
that year and we won six on like a George
kid converted, he converted forth in two, got a face
mask penalty, and put us right in the field goal
range to end it. And you know, the plane, the
plane ride home from that was like the biggest party
you could ever imagine. We're likely ship. This season is
(43:58):
as good as it gets, right, and then the next
year we go six and ten and it's like what
the fuck? You know, it's it's wild. Football is like
the wildest thing. But that that year, going and playing
in the Super Bowls the coolest thing I've ever done.
So um, I don't think there's not many things that
you can say that can top that, which is a
(44:19):
cool thing to be able to hold in your back pocket.
You know, just curious because you know very talented guys
in the league. Who would you say has been the
toughest guy you've had a block? Well, Aaron Donald, Yeah,
fortunate Fortunately for me, I played tackle, so I don't
see him a ton um But you know, funny enough, dude,
(44:41):
it's the guy on our team, Nick Bosa. He's the
best in the game. I think. I don't think there's
anybody that plays running past as hard as he does
every single snap, as coordinated as he is, as strong
as he is. He can beat you anyway he wants um,
and I think I think going up against him every days,
maybe a lot better a player. I think he's him
and probably his brother. I mean I would say, uh yeah,
(45:05):
same family dog. Well, Kalil Matt. I mean, Khalil Mack
is really good. He's kind of the same way. I think.
I think the post of brothers are a little bit
better with their hands, um and their movement, but Khalil
is as good as it gets, Um, did you play
when he was at a high state? So the Fiesta Bowl. Yeah,
(45:25):
so I played Joey. I didn't play Nick. So Joe
and he actually I don't know if you remember that,
you guys, that was a long time ago. So he
actually got thrown out of the game with like twelve
plays in. Remember that, because he got he got a
targeting penalty on de Shawn and it was my block, right,
so we were doing sprint out right. It was like
trying to move it. It was like third and three
(45:46):
were trying to get a quick pass. So we roll
out on the on the I set the attack and
I come off and I hit him good, and he
and he falls and he falls, and so I'm like, fuck,
I got Joey bos on the ground. I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go finish his ass, right, But this is
how the good going on. It's like I take I
take the next two steps and he's back on his
(46:08):
feet and he's got me extended, and I'm now like running, running, running,
running and trying to hold him off. And of course,
of course the Shawan decided to hold the ball the
whole way through to the sideline and so he lets
go to the ball and just gets like tattooed in
the chest and Joey gets tossed out of the game,
and I was like part of me was like, okay,
(46:29):
thank god. Right, it was like the competitor and me
was like, man, like, if I could have just bawled
out against this guy, I don't have to stay five years.
So that it was like, it's like catch twenty two.
But yeah, I played Joey at Ohio State when they
beat us or something in the Festa Bowl. I think, alright,
(46:50):
so we're gonna move on to outside the garage today.
The question comes from holding Perelli. His question is if
you'd eat from one chain restaurant for the rest of
your life, what would it be. Oh, it's a good question.
There's a great question. You don't have to go first.
If you're still thinking we can do I need? Do
I need? Like, am I still a professional athlete or
(47:13):
like to wait at this point in your life, Yeah,
let's do that. I probably say Chipotle then, because it's
not like terrible for you, but it's still really good
and it's good food. But it was if health was
not a concern, then I'd probably just do like five
guys and just smack cheeseburgers all day. The answer answer
(47:34):
it both ways. Okay, so if I didn't play football,
I'll be a lot skinnier. I'll probably eat Wendy's every
day is good? Probably even Yeah that you can do
a grilled grilled chicken there, right, so you could. I
could do Chick fil like. The problem is that there's
(47:57):
a milkshake and fries that come with it. That's rides
will get you. Um, I would say, now I'm riding.
I'm riding the Mission Barbecue wave recently. I've been there
three times in the last is not a plug? This
is not a plug. But this is not That's not
a plug. Funny enough to online them, right, even though
(48:20):
they'd be looking out because I did see that. Are
you looking up? I guess that is a perk of
the n I l the online sponsored by Mission Barbecue.
That's a good deal. Yeah, we would have. We would
have loved Rockos pizza if I was she's you'll have
like Rockos Fridays or Thursdays something like that. Yeah, Pizza
nights on Thursdays was always in our house. Yeah, awesome,
(48:44):
Who would you do? I would say, currently. I was
gonna good to pull as well, these guys not. I
love to put the other, that one, that one, that
one on Eddie Street has to make a billion dollars
much time, much time, crazy on. Yeah, and then I mean,
(49:04):
chick play is not bad for you, But that would
be what I would do if I wasn't. You know,
I wasn't playing, for sure, you can't. But like y'all know,
y'all know, I love me some healthy food. You know
I'm saying I love him. I care about what I
put in my body. Um, Okay, since I can't go
to Pole, I'm gonna say there is no other like
(49:26):
healthy fast food. I think about it, core core life.
That's not changed, all right, my healthy winter pot with that.
And then I wasn't playing, and nothing mattered ZAC because
I could eat that every day, Yeah, very day. I
don't know who you had. I didn't grow up in
(49:46):
the South, so I don't I didn't have any zaties
grown up. Windy's answer to you this zaxbies are canes. Yeah. Yeah,
you want to do the second question too, Yeah you
can do that, sure, money I might. I might go
(50:10):
to Ken's, got it. The second question comes from Carrie Nelson.
If you could space Jam Steele and athletes talent, who's
talent would you take? I can't answer this, Bro, I
mean like Lebron James right, like it has to be him,
Tiger Woods. I take Tiger, actually know what to take back?
I take Tiger too. I didn't even understand what space
(50:32):
jams steel man. I think. I think if you take
if you take a look, you've never seen space. They
put their fingers on the ball and they absorb the power,
the powers. I know it's bad. It's probably a bad
fact on me. You can't believe. It's not even that
we're young. It's just that I've never actually watched space. Then,
like y'all seen it, right, Yeah, I just seen it.
(50:56):
I guess I'm flagging. I don't know. Yeah, I take
I take Tiger, probably just because I love being like
the best golfer ever. But Lebron. You gotta say Lebron
because you could probably play like seventeen different pro sports
by being Lebron. Yeah. See, I was gonna say Tiger
because I was gonna slave you can also play football
(51:18):
well being a good golfer it, but you have. But
I would end up playing Okay, I'm gonna go with
um Dean Sanders m okay, bad. Yeah, I'm gonna go
with a lot of money in baseball, So I might
go with like Clayton Kershaw, you know, like an ace picture. Yeah,
(51:41):
to be yeah, put it a hundred off. The bumb
will be sick. Just deal out there. Yeah, I'd rather
be the closer though not the starter. Yeah, that's true,
just not nine just nine pitches a night. Yeah, I'd
probably go with John Morant if I could, if I could,
still that's new talent. Yeah, crazy like in game, in game,
(52:05):
bounced crazy and yeah, yeah, you want to just do
rapid questions, Yeah, we can go. Let's make a rapid
this time. Alright, So Mike, we have a little we
have another section, a little segment going on, um with
our guests. We'd like to ask rapid questions. We call
it questions that during minute, and we're actually this time,
(52:25):
we're actually gonna we're gonna push you a little bit
fast since you had to compete obviously, all right, we're
gonna push you and you actually have to answer this
kind of fast. Lately, a lot of the guests just
been kind of taking the time with it. But we're
gonna push. I will not do that. I will go
right off the top. Alright, right to do it as
fast you can. We'll give you five second threshold here.
(52:46):
All right, sounds good? All right? You ready? Yep? Alright?
First question, would you rather be seven, two or five? One?
East Coast or West Coast? West? I'll take West Skittles
and skittles are Eminem's skittles. It's not even close, it is.
(53:07):
But okays, Oh, that's that's the stupidest question of all time. JS. Wow,
that's all that. That's actually a new a new uh
that would probably be not be the answer. How old?
How old are the guys? How old are the guys
coming onto your show? I think I was like the
like we were the last group of dudes that C
(53:28):
James was our bar. No, I'm not saying like this show.
I'm saying on campus now campus yeah yeah, oh no,
but yeah, nobody would say that on camp. Yeah, I
would say, C say news. C JAS is still my
favorite bar America. South benk got the best bars in America.
(53:48):
That's Callie. That's Callie verified. Yeah, yeah, no doubt. NFL
team captain and Notre Dame team captain Notre Dame. All right,
five guys in and out? Five guys? Would you rather
be just for the just for the complete package that
like in Outnce Burger is really really good, but their
(54:09):
fries are trash and so is there shakes. Would you
rather be a gamer or a YouTuber? I think YouTuber.
I think YouTuber is probably had more fun. Yea basketball
and golf golf score twenty points in a high school
basketball game or scoop and score in a high school
football game. I've done vote on offense or defense. Defense
(54:36):
actually was kind of it was kind of cool. My brother,
My brother was our linebacker and we set him on
a blitz and he stripped the quarterback and I was
the one that picked it up around But my brother Franks,
my brother Frank's a lot smaller than me, and I like,
especially when I was in high school. I was a
senior and he was a sophomore. I like headbutted him
so bad. He was like, But I still say, there's
(54:59):
nothing like putting twenty on a high school basketball game light,
especially like on Friday night in front of your home crown.
You're just feeling it in high school basketball, that's the
Betty all right, what's your favorite meal to eat? I'm
big in Mexican food now that I'm out here, so yeah,
like a like a Cali burrito, like a Cali burrito,
(55:20):
or like the French fries in It's pretty good. Favorite
meal to cook breakfast sandwiches. That's all I can cook.
Cook He's and cream or ice cream man, chocolate chip
all day, chicken nuggets or Tinders tenders. Your favorite cheese
stick spot in Philly Fella Sandro's nice. If you can
(55:42):
describe your personality as a song, what would it be?
Off the dump? Mr bright Side, play with a pocket
passer or a runner, pocket pastor. I know where he's
setting up fishing or hun I said that kind of
country hunt too, what I'd probably I'd probably go fish. Yeah,
(56:03):
first place you're traveling to in Europe Ireland? Madness U
k okay pass blocking or run blocking? Run blocking? Yeah,
that's way better. Best show of all time, best show
like TV show. I still think Game of Thrones is
(56:25):
even though people like the leading scots, I didn't. I
didn't think to be let me explain, so, Graham of
Thrones is the best show ever made. I do think.
I do like the way that everything ended. I just
wish it was over three more seasons or two more seasons,
because I think I think the problem that it was
(56:46):
just rushed. I think that's all it was. Uh damo
like a pie pizza probably Yeah, Uh, you prefer a
phone call at FaceTime FaceTime? Well depends on who's I'm calling,
like your girlfriend, your girlfriend face FaceTime. Yeah, Okay, I
(57:07):
feel like that's the easy question. That was last thing?
What's the last thing you cooked? The last thing that
I cooked was like chicken, broccoli and potatoes. It was
like stupid, like just healthy, launching the air fryor I think,
in your opinion, who's the most underrated player right now
in the NFL? Yeah, five for my cousin Matt Ryan. Okay,
(57:34):
that's all right. That's other questions. I mean it was rapid, Yeah,
that I think we've got. I don't think I took
more than five seconds on any of the answers. Like,
I think I was pretty rapid. I think you're pretty good. Yeah,
there were a couple of explanations there, but on the average,
I would say on the answer, I was fine. Maybe
(57:55):
on the explanation right, well, I think you wanna wrap
it up, Paul, you to hit it a little class money.
Thanks you coming on, Mike. Thanks appreciate I'm like, yeah,
thanks for having me. Guys, appreciate it. It's fun. Appreciate that.
So look, we just want to say thanks Mike for
coming on the show. I appreciate you all. Look what's
(58:16):
happing in obviously a couple of shows coming in every week.
Stay tuned and we appreciate you all. And Kyle should
be back next episode by the way. It's just a
little busy right now. Yeah, good luck to you guys.
Man kick ask. They're finishing up spring Ball and um,
good luck next season. If I don't see you guys,
all right, all right, boys, so irish
The volume. Welcome back to Inside the Garage podcast. I'm
Conradian along with k J. Wallace and Calm Hart. Today
we have a very special guest, Kyle. He is out
(00:21):
visiting UM doing the whole process. But today very special
guests Mike McGlinchey. Mike, how you doing. I'm doing great, guys,
thanks for having me on. And uh, yeah, if Kyle
was able to squeeze a podcast into the time he's
got going on right now, I'd be pretty impressed. He's Uh,
he's probably fine all over the country meeting with a
ton of Teefer teams and um, it's a very very
(00:43):
busy couple of weeks after Pro Day for sure. Definitely
are you at right now? Are you in suh? So,
I actually live in San Jose. So our facility is
uh in Santa Clara, California, where the San Francisco forty Niners.
That our stadium is about an hour south of San Francisco. So, um,
it used to be in San Francisco all those years ago,
(01:05):
and um, they moved to Santa Clara probably and that's
where the stadium's at now. And so I live in
the South Bay, Yeah, in San Jose. But I'm at
my Yeah, I'm in my house. How's the How's the
West Coast? I know you were born in Pennsylvania, born
and raised there. How's the How's a difference in the
living situation? Whether I love it, man, I absolutely love
(01:28):
it out here. I uh. I love being able to
play golf as soon as the season's over in January.
I love sunshine all the time. I love living in California. Uh.
They may they make you pay for it out here,
but at least at least it's at least it's worth it,
you know. So I love California. I've I've met you know,
I met my girlfriend out here. We lived together now,
and that's probably where we're gonna set up home. That's
(01:52):
a big decision. You You think you're gonna retire there
and stay there forever. Well, I that's not in my control.
And I don't know. Um, I don't know what my
future is with the forty Niners. I obviously hope to
be here for my career. I love our organization, I
love our team, I love our coaches, and I would
want to play my whole career here. But at the
(02:13):
end of the day, business gets in the way of
a lot of stuff with football, so I'll just I'll
just play as best as I can and let the
chips fall as they meant. So you can't definitely, but
but in the off seasons, I'll be here no matter
where I'm playing. So Mike obviously played Notre Dame seventeen.
(02:35):
Let's start from the beginning, like your recruiting process, like
what were the other schools that you're interested in, and
why did you choose football or basketball? Actually, because I
know you're quite the basketball player as well. In high
school that might be a little gas. I was okay,
I was definitely. I was definitely good. But it was
not it was not a decision that needed to be
made because the schools that were coming after me for
(02:56):
football were a little bit different, I'll tell are you.
In high school, I graduated eighth grade at like six
five and then and then yeah, I was tall, dude,
probably my sort dumb like compared to your friends. I
always did. And then, uh, by the end of my
(03:19):
freshman year, I was probably like six six six seven,
and probably sophomore year I was as tall as I am.
Now that's good, So yeah, I was. I was tall
in my whole life. Man, It's just it was always
the way it was. But recruiting, I was, I was.
You know, basketball was probably my my favorite sport in
high school. Um, I thought I loved playing basketball. I
(03:41):
still I still wish I could do this day. Um.
Some of my favorite memories at Nerd name or playing
pick up hoops at Rolfs. And I guess Ross is
at Ross anymore. That's the basketball facility now, so uh
what is that? Yeah, soccer and so um so we
played both places there and then. Um, but yeah, I was.
(04:04):
I was probably like a mid major basketball player IVY
League if I was good enough in school, but who
knows if that would have been the case. Um. But
so for football, man, I just started getting recruited pretty early.
I I uh, I was obviously, like I said, I
was a huge kid. By the time I was a sophomore,
I had started kind of getting recruited, and um, I
(04:24):
got offered to play. My first offer was Boston College,
um in the summer summer after my freshman year. Um,
which I guess isn't all that crazy anymore. But when
I was in high school, that was pretty that was
a pretty big deal. So I was pretty hyped about that,
and then that's kind of when I was like, Okay, well,
if this is the kind of school that's gonna come
(04:44):
ask me to play football for them, then I should
probably started thinking about football is my career. And were
you where you have a question where you filling out
at this point? Like, I know you got the six
five very quick, So like what what did you kind
of look like as I'm trying to mat Yeah, so
I was. I was a tall, lanky dude. I was
a tight end most of my high school career. Um.
(05:07):
So I I came into school at Notre Dame my
freshman year, I think summer I weighed like two fifty
five or two sixty, So I was I was super
Well that's a big number for a lot of people,
but when you're six day, right, and so I was
really light. I was super small. Um, and I read
shirted my freshman year and probably put on like forty
(05:29):
pounds my first year at school. Who was your strength coach?
We were with Paul Longo at the time, so Bayliss
took over my fifth year. So going into my fifth year,
Bayless was our strength coach um and has blessed all
of us with some some real ball busting workouts. U. Yeah.
(05:51):
Once I. Once I started getting recruited pretty heavily, I
kind of knew offensive line was kind of where I
was going to be recruited. Every coach that came in
they said, hey, man, you know, we loved watching you
play at a tight end, but you're not gonna play
tight end for us, right, They're gonna you're gonna play
off of the line. I was like, Okay, that's fine.
You know, as long as I played high level football,
I didn't really care. UM. And then the turning point
(06:13):
for me was I always wanted to go to another name.
I never I never really thought about going anywhere else.
Boston College was the place that I was gonna go
if I didn't go to Notre Dame. But I was
always waiting for Notre Dame. And then coaching stand who
you guys have now known because he's on his second
tour of duty with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish But Um,
he got the job winter of my junior year of
(06:36):
high school. UM. And then that like three weeks later
after he got the job, I got called with an
offer and then UM, I went out probably a month
later on my spring break two months later, on my
spring break, I took off of my sports that I
was playing and I took a week off. My dad
and I were gonna go to a bunch of Midwest schools.
(06:56):
So I had been offered by a couple of Big
ten schools. So I was gonna go see wisconsinin or
was wisconscin Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State. Notre Dame was
my first stop, and uh, fortunately for me and my
dad's gas money, I picked. I picked Notre Dame that
weekend and I fell in love with the place. It
(07:17):
was everything that I always dreamed it would be. Um
what you know, I grew up in Irish Catholic kid
in Philadelphia, and that's the only really team you root for.
So I watched I watched NBC every Saturday growing up.
I watched those Golden Helmets on shineing in South Bend
and it's all I ever wanted to do. And when
they offered me, I wanted to take at least I
(07:39):
wanted to at least take a visit to make sure
I'm crossing my teas and dot my eyes. But I
was ready to commit on the spot, and in my
five years there proved to be ah, the best decision
I ever made. So you spoke about red shooting, and
we talked about that a bunch because all three of
us has red shoot it. How did you translation from
(07:59):
a red shirt to a fifth year to a fifth
year captain and then what was it? Ninth draft pick? Like?
What was what was that process like? Because I mean,
I know for office alignment, at least for the ones
that was in my class twenty nineteen, they all red shirted,
and it seems to be like most of us do. Yeah. Well,
like I said, I was like two d and sixty
pounds and like stefan to it was our starting defensive
(08:23):
end at the time. And I like, I might come
to Jesus moment when I was playing college football is
I made it to the too deep my freshman year.
But I so I was traveling, but I was still
a red shirt. They were holding my red shirt unless
something tragic happened. Right, Thankfully it didn't. You know, I
lucked out and got the fifth year after the year,
but we did Ones versus Two is the week we're
(08:46):
playing Oklahoma at our place, and for whatever reason, coach
Kelly wanted to do Ones Versus Two's and so to
offense went against one defense and they played back then.
Um Bob Diaco was our defensive coordinator, and we did
like a three four two gaps. So Stefan was just
lined up right over my face the entire thrill, and
(09:10):
this man like tossed me side to side like no,
like crazy, like I couldn't have to stay on my feet,
like I was face planning every I was space planning
every play. And I remember walking over to coaching stand
and trying to like recover from what just happened. It's
just like that was that was embarrassing, right, He's like,
(09:32):
what did he say? Are we allowed to cuss on this?
You know? He's like, you know, that was fucking embarrassing.
You know, you better figure it the funk out before
you know, I try to play you somewhere or else.
You're not going to be playing for me everyone, right,
And this is like five weeks into my freshman year,
and I'm like, ship man, this is this, right. I
(09:55):
was like, ship this is so tough. Um. But it
wound up being funny because I had that same line up.
My second year in the league. We played Pittsburgh and
UH and Stefan is playing the three three four two
gap defense and he's lined up over my face all
day long and I was trying all week. I was
(10:16):
joking around with all my teammates at the Niners. I
was like, man, I might have PTSD college. Dude, like
this guy ate my lunch all day long, and I
was like, They're like, dude, well that was six years ago,
like you know, so it was funny that game full circle.
Yeah we won. So yeah, yeah, not to bring it up,
(10:39):
but you were a part of the the four and
eight season, but I want to ask that the following season,
you were uh named a captain in the office line
won the Joe Moore Award, which is the best line
in the country. And I believe we beat L C
in the in the Music City Bowl that year. So
how the Citrus gotcha? Yeah? Yeah, we beat We beat
(11:01):
l s U in the Music City my sophomore year,
but we did. We won the Citrus Bowl. Was the
ball we played in my fifth year? Yeah, so how
was how was that being a captain getting everyone like
on the same page following a year where obviously had
notre dame. The standard is is a lot higher than that.
How was that transitioning into like your captain season. Well,
(11:22):
so I was a captain of the sixteen team too.
So I was captain's sixteen and felt like an absolute
failure because we went four and eight under my leadership. Right,
you know, it's like that was as bad of a
feeling as it gets. But I remember that off season
because we didn't even make a bowl game. We weren't
even being qualified. And so I remember calling q Quentin Nelson.
(11:44):
Obviously you guys know who that is, but I called
him when we were sitting at home watching bowl games
over Christmas time, and I'm like, dude, like what were
we doing? And he's like he's like this, He's like,
this is the worst I've ever felt like sitting watching
television before in my life. I don't I don't understand it.
I don't understand how we let this happen. And I
was like, all right, well, when we get back there,
(12:06):
we are we have to be the guys that changed this,
and um, we both decided to come back for our
our He wasn't a fifth year. He was a year
younger than me, but q Q was an animal that
didn't need all five So um, so he graduated and
then left the SAT We left the same year. We
were in the same draft class, but we were co
captains together up my fifth year and that what a
(12:28):
what a treat that was, and what a pleasure that
was because the two of us just pushed each other
all year long, and he was as good of a
teammate and competitor, and because, you know, part of us
part of it was like we bothered each other, you
know what I mean, like you and I were. We
we did not like losing to the other person. And
whether it's in workouts, whether it's in you know, coaching stands,
(12:49):
praise in the old line room, it's all it's like, oh, yeah,
he did that today, I'm gonna do that better. And
so that was kind of mentality we had individually as
we went into our fifth year, because we're like, we
can't let this happen again. We're not going back to
school to go four and eight again. You know, we
could so um and we got some great help with
(13:10):
the hires that coach Kelly made that offseason, especially as
you guys know, that's Bayless. So that was the number
one higher that I think coach Kelly ever made a
Notre Dame and I'm very fortunate, very thankful that coach
stayed with Coach Freeman because because he is uh, he's
a vital to the Notre Dames football program as anybody
(13:31):
out there. And can you kind of speak on like
what Baylor's brought specifically in that year and that transition
from the year total that was well, that's what I was.
It's the same answer as the previous question. It's this
guy changed the face of our program. He made us winners,
he made us compete, he made us tough, he made
(13:52):
us work like all that stuff, all those details that
we were skipping over was it was one of the
hardest for three or four months I've ever had physically
um in football like those that those workouts, because it
was a complete shift from what we did previously, and
(14:12):
we carried that energy into spring ball and we were
returning a lot of guys. You know, that was a
good thing about And I think that's what kind of
got us to four and eight is that in fifteen
we were we had like twelve draft picks that year.
We had we were stacked. We were so good. We
want eleven games lost in the Fiesta. Bowlt o'house stayed
(14:33):
unfortunately who was who had fifteen draft picks that year,
But so we lost a ship ton of people to
play for our team, and so we had to replace,
you know, twelve fifteen starters the next year. And I
don't think guys were necessarily ready for that, and I
think that part of that was because of the development
that they lacked while they were young at school. Um. Fortunately,
(14:54):
I you know, when Paul was there to start, it
was a little bit different than when he was eventually
let go. And on top of Paul being better, we
had Harry and so I never lacked in development because
it was it was sink or swim every day with
coaching stand you either you either proved what you got
(15:14):
or you're gonna go home, probably crying. And that was
that was the way that it went. And so Bayliss
just amplified that even more and it and it drove
a fire for competition, for wanting to do better, wanting
to provide, to not provide, but to be a better
teammate to the guy next to you, that everybody's counting
(15:36):
on you, like there's nobody was slipping through the cracks anymore.
It was gonna take all three phases, all twenty two
guys that are playing captains two freshmen. It didn't matter.
We were going to compete as hard as we could.
And then we turned around, uh and one, you know,
eleven games that year too. So I think a lot
of that has to do with with with what Bayliss
did to us, not to us before us um. I
(15:58):
guess it could go either way, but we definitely what um,
but what he did all those six months and then
in that summer, because the summer, the summer was almost
harder than the winner, but at least in the summertime,
we knew what to expect now because it was a
shell shock those first two or three weeks of winter
(16:19):
training that year. I was thankful because I was going
into my fifth year, so I only had like one
one class that spring because we'd go in and work
out and I was at least able to go home
and nap or whatever because he would wear he was
wearing us out man. And it was so so cool
to be a part of that transition from being a
captain of that you know, garbage team for an eight
(16:42):
to learning lessons and getting a lot of growth through
the failure that we had and then using that to
you know, not to toot our own horn in seventeam,
but propel us to what notre name is now, which
is the top five perennial top five program that wins
ten that wins at least ten games a year, and
if it's anything, if it's not, if it's ten, it's
a bummer. If it's eleven, if it's all twelve, then
(17:05):
we're that's when that's what we expect. And so that
that started, UM, I think that offseason, and UM I
was very very happy to be a part of that
and very happy to see the successes of the guys
that were younger than me. UM that got to reap
the rewards of all that hard work later on with
you know, two playoff runs in the last three or
(17:26):
four years. Definitely, that's kind of wild because we always
hear from guys like UM because we played with like
Sean Crawford and Avery Davis, and we hear from those
guys like Bayliss. He like kind of let off the
pedal a little bit. And you literally got Bayliss day
one from when he got to know names. I can
only imagine. Yeah, I don't I don't think. I don't
(17:47):
think anybody was ready for what Matt Bayless was gonna do,
and I don't think Coach Kelly even knew at the time,
but he kind of unleashed on his program and it
was at the time it was the best thing for us. Now,
once that culture is set right, you don't need to continually,
you know, crush people, which is why I don't know.
(18:09):
I haven't been a part of your workout, so I
don't know. But letting you put off the gas or
whatever you just said, it's because it's because the culture
is already there, you know what I mean, like it
it's it's it's there, so he doesn't have to reinforce
because the guys that are the old guys now well
actually I think there was, Like I think Avery Davis
and Josh log were the only guys on your team
(18:29):
now that we're there, when I was there, which makes
me feel all this ship. But those guys knew from
what we what we did, and the it's now it's
just a cycle because the young guys learned fast because
of what they have to do to compete and stay
and keep up every day. I just gotta ask Willis,
(18:50):
coach he stands reaction to you guys get them Joe
More Award, how does it was cool? That was cool
because Aaron Taylor. I don't know if you guys know
Aaron Taylor or at all, but Aaron Taylor it's a
Notre Dame Brad I think, unanimous all American, but at
least a consensus all American, like twice like one of
the best officers linement that's ever played in our rain.
(19:11):
And so his coach was Joe Moore and um so
Aaron has gotten to know Harry very well because Harry
is a direct disciple of Joe. Joe was Harry's mentor.
He taught him everything that he knew. Once that award
was invented, which was in my junior year. It was
when it was the first year of the War Award.
It was his goal every single year to win that thing,
(19:34):
and to win it on Q and I's last year.
We were very very close to coach, still are, but
to win it on our last year what turned out
to be his last year at school before you guys
are fortunate enough to have him now, but to have
Aaron presented to him in front of the whole team,
that was the first time I saw Harry in front
(19:57):
of everybody that's not me, r Q kind of be
human and it was it was really he didn't know
what to say and I had never seen him so
choked up. And that was a really special moment for
all of us because it was all we ever worked for.
There was none of us care like Q and I.
Q and I competed, We were fine. We were both
(20:19):
finalists or semifinalists for the Outline that year, and we
were competing to try and get that. Q eventually should
have he got robbed. Q did of not winning that award,
but neither one of us really gave a shit about
that one. We cared about the one that all five
of us were gonna win together. And that's what makes
that awards so cool. It's like, oh, yeah, you can't
be driven by awards. That's individual athletes, not that fucking trophy.
(20:42):
That's a different that's a different one, and that's what's
really cool about it. Yeah, it was Q and you.
We were on the road, but Q was a year
younger than me uh in school, so when we were
all going through the housing stuff, we were always a
year before. So actually, Hunter Bibbon was my roommate for
five years. Yeah, so so he's he's Hunter is my
(21:02):
best friend in the whole world. But when when we
went on the road, Q and I were roommates for
I want to say, two year at least two years,
if not three. She that's to say, you know, that's
completely different now and there's a freshman that's living off
campus now. Yeah, yeah, that's that's such bullshit. I have
no idea, no idea. How good you have? You guys
(21:22):
have turned this COVID tragedy into a strong advantage of
living of the life. You guys live on campus now,
and I stuff, Now, you guys didn't have that either,
that too, I mean, I don't even know what the
hell to think of that stuff, Like, I don't know
what I would have done back then because we didn't
think about it like that to us then, I led
(21:43):
to me is kind of crazy, which I agree, Like
you should be able to go to dinner and somebody
recognize you and say, hey, you're I'll pick up your
tab as a college kid, or hey, here's a free
drink at c JS, or I guess CJS do isn't
even the bar anymore. You love hearing that, but like
(22:07):
you should be able to do those things and not
have to worry about the n C double A coming
down and crack on it. Now, whether or not I
think sixteen year old should be getting a million and
a half to sign with the school or signed with
this program and he hasn't even done anything yet, I
don't know if that's right. I mean, that's what the market,
that's what the market is saying. But for us, you know,
the motivation was the league, like that was the end goal.
(22:30):
It was that's how you got paid. It's by being
the best you could be every single day in college
and then the league takes care of all that. And
so I do agree that there's some given take that.
You know, you shouldn't be not allowed to get paid
for doing something because you show up somewhere or whatever.
But I don't know about these multimillion dollar contract in
high school recruits. I don't I don't know if that's
(22:52):
I don't know if that's good for the game or not.
So speaking on but the draft coming up, you obviously
and I have to pick to the Niners. In the
second Indie linement that was taking the top ten. Yeah,
it sucks, it was too I told you be me
and you competed with each other and everything, and I
know he had a little bit of a smile on
(23:14):
his face. Here his name first? What was that text? Like?
I mean, it wasn't there was no bad blood that
night because it was like all both of our dreams
were completely realized and we were two picks apart. So
it's not like it was that big of a deal.
But we both locked out into the organizations that we're with,
so um, that's true. Yeah, but it was funny. It
(23:37):
was always It's always funny looking back because I know,
I know he has a little bit of that. Yeah,
well I was picked first. I was speaking speaking on YouTube. Obviously,
you guys are some of the most I guess recognizable
players in recent history here I or Dame. If you
could describe in one or two words, what do you
think set you guys apart from any average offensive linemen
(23:59):
or even a really good one, but not on you
guys level. There's one or two words is hard, um,
because it's a lot of different things. But obviously Q
and I were gifted physically. You know, for me, I was,
I was a really good athlete. I was I came
in light and I knew how to move and be
an athlete. I was a really good basketball player, so
(24:20):
I had that kind of going and then when I
added the weight, it all kind of clicked. And Q
is just I mean, he's just as he was. He
was put on this earth to play guard, you know
what I mean, That's that's what he should be doing.
Like God ever chose you to do something, that's what
he's supposed to be doing. Um. So physically we had
all that stuff. But the thing that separated us, man,
(24:41):
is that we pushed each other. It was so competitive,
it was so much hard work, and it was and
it was it was pride about and Harry, I'm sure
if you guys walk past his room at six thirty
in the morning during spring ball, you hear the word
pride thrown out a lot um and it's a yeah,
it's a it's a pride to your group, it's a
pride in your play, and it's a pride for the
(25:03):
school that you play for. And Q and I took
it to heart every single day that if our best
wasn't on film, we weren't good enough. Like we didn't play,
we didn't play to beat, you know. I think on
our fifth year we had Miami Ohio, right, We didn't.
We didn't play for that game. We played for you
(25:24):
know what, I'm gonna be the best in the country
at what I do. And every single day we chased
that and we continue to chase it. And and it's
it's that self accountability, It's that self determination. It's that
pride in your technique. It's the pride and the work
habits that you have that you take and you try
and put it into everything that you do, and then
(25:45):
good things start happening for you. And it was that.
And then we had a great teacher. He taught us
how to be pros. He taught us how to be
how to think about the game, how to study the game,
how to grow and develop every single day, and and
the motivation it takes to get up and compete as
hard as you can every day. And you know, as
simple as it is, Q and I just love football,
(26:08):
and that in and of itself. I think a lot
of people lose that they like the stuff that comes
with football, but they don't. When you're in between the
right lines, it's different. You strap your helmet on, you
strap your chin strap on, you give your guy next
to you, like we did every play a knuckle touch
that Hey, I'm with you and we're gonna go play
as hard as we fucking can all day no matter what,
(26:28):
and do our job and and um, it continued in
those days, just kept stacking and stacking and stacking. And
that's why, you know, I think we separated ourselves because
you know, and all those bailiffs workouts, it was either
me or and him coming in first. Like it. It
bothered me when I lost to him, and that gas
er it bothered him when he would lose to me
(26:50):
in one. It would bother me when I lost to him,
even though he was three times stronger than me in
the weight room, he benched more weight than me, and
it would piss me off. And I would just try
and do more, more and more until I was on
at least the same level playing field. But with all
that competition, just grew such great friendship too. And you know,
I think that's what the bond that we had together
and the way that we pushed each other and how
(27:12):
much we just loved doing it. Um, it's probably what
separated us at a moment. Yeah, that's I think that's crazy,
Like I think that's a really because I feel like
a lot of people overlooked at like that level of competition,
like that's like a brother that's like I wouldn't even
say a little brother, big brother type type of bond.
That's like like twins, Like yeah, it's best on best.
(27:35):
And when we would go up against those tire or
the tug of wars or something, it was I wasn't
getting paired against some freshman. There was quent Nelson on
the other side of that rope, and it was like
either I nut up or this guy's gonna throw me
into next week. So it's it's that kind of stuff
that just continually stacks upon itself, but it never that
was what it was is that we never lost sight
(27:57):
of what we were supposed to be doing. We never
lost sight of the ship, no matter how many people
told us, so, you guys are gonna be first round picks,
Like what do you wait? We didn't. We didn't worry
about that. We said, all right, today is what we
got in front of us, and we got to figure
out how to get better. And that's all we did
for five for me, five years and four years, and
we do it. You know. That's and that was ingrained
(28:18):
in us then, and it's what carries us now. I
kind of feel like being a part of a team,
especially a college team, you kind of understand everybody, kind
of understand everyone's mindset towards the game, Like at what
moment did you understand like, all right, I got I
got this kind of competitor and this guy or possibly
like both ways you see him saying in terms of
(28:39):
like when when did I find out that I can
do this? Or like that not necessarily you, but you
talk about you, how you and Q had such a
bond like that, and like y'all really competed like that
every day, Like what what at what moment do you
feel like you looked across the room, whether it was
obviously had to be a sophomore year and you realize, like,
this dude is a real competitor like that as soon
as we stepped on campus. Um, it's just something you have.
(29:03):
I think I think that that stuff is really just
something you have, and you can obviously train it and
you can turn it on. But the problem is that
too many guys turn it off, right And and when
we came in there was you know, Zack Martin, Ronnie Stanley,
Nick Martin, Chris Watt, who's now on your staff too.
Those guys were the fifth that Ronnie was, and Ronnie
(29:25):
was a year older than me. But Nick was a
captain when I was a junior, His brother Zach was
a captain when I was a freshman, Watt was a
captain whatever, And those are the guys that we wanted
to be right and and we saw, yeah, we saw
them do it to the best of their ability every day,
and we knew that all right, well, Watton Zach are
(29:46):
on their last year of eligibility, Ronnie's gonna Ronnie's gonna
be here. There's two spots coming open, and if it's
not me, it's gonna be a fucking issue. And so
we made sure that that we we didn't let something
slip through the clacks, and Q and I just jumped in.
I cracked the starting lineup at the last two games
(30:08):
of my red shirt year. UM and Q finished that
red shirt season, and then that spring it was probably
the time that we were like, all right, this is
our now, it's gonna be our team, you know. And
Nick was still there. So Nick, Nick and Ronnie were
the ones that kind of they took over from Zach
and Watt and then we kind of got elevated and
then the futures roll right, It's like, all right, now
(30:30):
we're going to tell you guys how to do this.
It's like, okay, you guys are in the starting lineup.
Now you're the future of this program. And so we
just everybody just kept teaching each other and teaching each other.
And I think that was the coolest thing about what
we did at our school with O Line especially, is
that we just had dudes that really cared about the group,
cared about the guys that were younger than them, and
(30:51):
they paid it forward. And we wanted to be those guys.
I wanted to be Zack Martin as bad as I
wanted to breathe man, And like see I picked a
good guy to emulate. Now that he's an eight time
first team All Pro, Right, but so you know, those
that's who I learned from, and that was the only
way we did it. It was the blue that was
(31:11):
the blueprint, and we just kind of kept trying to
beat it and that was all we could do. And
you can definitely still see that in the line now. Yeah,
the old guys. Actually it's only it's only gonna it's
only gonna get better now that Harry's back. Like it's funny,
it's the same as what you're saying. But even with
like Joe and Blake, who are both young guys, they're
still leading from like there, you know, starting respect. Yeah,
(31:34):
and I don't I don't even think I could distinguish
one guy on the office a linement that's like the
head of him. I think they're just all abandoned. Brother,
we had a really good unit right now, really good. Yeah,
And I love hearing that. Um, I hope it's Patterson
that he's been around and played the most. Yeah, yeah,
but I think he's their guy. But at the same time,
(31:56):
he's not. He's not playing right now, right he got
hurt or something. So but yeah, I think they've done
a great job. You know. I think you guys were
all teammates with Hanzi and Kramer, all those guys, so
those were those were my freshman and Hanzi and Kramer
broke the starting line up my fifth year. They were
they cope, they co partnered right tackle and we want
(32:20):
That was the year we won the Joe Moore Award,
So both of them got a taste of how to
play on an elite line and then Eikenberg and Banks,
who's now my teammate again, which is awesome. They just
they just they just they just followed in. So those
guys made us proud by the way that they treated
the younger guys, because it's not right to treat young
(32:42):
guys like nothing in college. I mean whatever, and when
you're a rookie in the pros, but you know, it's
a big deal to be a freshman college and you
need as much help as you can. So I'm proud.
I'm proud of that standard for our groups for sure, definitely.
And is that I wouldn't say standard. Is that brotherhood
and um together and this different in the league, you
think very different. So when I was a rookie, I
(33:06):
was a start. I was our starter from day one. Um,
obviously when you picked that high, you better performer. You're
gonna be shamed, right, But I was the only guy
on my starting offensive line that wasn't married with kids.
And that stuff is what's the weirdest part about the
NFL from college, right. And then everybody's gonna say the
(33:28):
speed of the game. Yeah, yeah, that's true, right, everybody
can make decisions faster they're a little bit faster there,
but they can all they all study it like pros
and so there's no hesitation. But the weirdest thing is socially,
like I didn't go home and live with my five
other offensive line teammates when I was a rookie. I
had my own place. I was sitting on the couch
after practice for the first time and didn't have ten
(33:50):
guys around me. So that was the weirdest thing. Obviously,
you still do things together. You go on trips, you
do dinners, you do all that stuff. But it's hard
because my left tackle when I was a rookie was
thirty four year old with two kids and I was
twenty three. It's like, all right, you know, you find
time to be able to connect and be friends and
all that stuff. But at the end of the day,
that's hard. A very different lifespot, you know what I mean.
(34:12):
And so that makes it hard for the brotherhood of
stuff and with the league, you know, as as much
as they say, if not for a long league, right,
but you see you see you see a revolving door
of people. So it's a little harder in that regard,
but it's still it's still there. Because O line is
is that's the way you have to play it, in
my opinion, to be good at it. But uh, it's
(34:34):
you gotta pick and choose your spots. It's not all
the time like college. I know you've been fortunate enough
to be on the same team since you've got into
the league. But would you say, like the better teams
find ways to kind of navigate like the teams that
we that the organizations that we kind of associate with
being the better organizations in the league. Do you think
they find ways to navigate socially in that kind of
(34:57):
spills onto the field and that's what makes them become
a team that they are. I think so. I think
that football is a people game, right. It always has
been and it always will be, no matter how much
BS you want to put in it and how much
social media you want to put in it. It's really
tough to be good at football if you don't like
the guys in the locker room. And I think that's
a part of the in the league. It's John, it's
(35:19):
the g ms and the head coaches problem to make
sure that every guy that they bring into the building
fits the mold of what they want to be and
what they want to do. And so I've been very
fortunate that that's been a priority of my organization. Um,
you know, our ownership or Notre Dame people too, So
obviously we're doing things right. Um, but John and John
(35:39):
Lynch who's our GM, and Kyle Shanahan a head coach,
they take a lot of pride and making sure everybody
kind of follows the same template. Right. It's no matter
where you come from, what school, do you love football?
Are you a good dude? And are you going to
give everything you got? And those three qualities make you
make it a lot easier to go to work with people.
For sure, you can't talk about a little bit. But
(36:00):
obviously you came Notre Dame. You uh, like I had
a red shirt. You didn't play right away, but then
you went to four nine as you were expected to play.
You're expected to play you if you, like you said,
if you didn't perform like you would be shame quote unquote,
as you said, if you did change your mindset, what
was your mindset like knowing that you know instantly I
have to play like I know that I'm good enough
(36:22):
to play, but I have to play, not like I
can't you know I'm not going to learn from these
guys then play? Like, what was your mindset any different?
Or you're like, no, I know I have to do
this that than third to play and all that. No,
I it wasn't any different because I was very comfortable
and very ready to do it. And um, that's why
I went back for a fifth year at Notre Dame.
It is because I knew, no matter I got a
(36:43):
first round grade to leave after my fourth year, but
after four and eight, in the way that I evaluated
myself on film, I knew if I was gonna be
a first round pick, I was going to be projected
to put in as a starter. And I didn't think
that I was ready for that. I didn't think you
felt like he was ready for that. And we knew
that if we stayed one more year, we were going
(37:04):
to learn from the best guy in the business, and
he he treated us like professionals that whole year, and
so I was always I was very, very comfortable and
very ready to go into the NFL from a football standpoint. Obviously,
when you start making new money and your families all
over the place where I'm living on the West Coast
and I've never lived in California before in my life.
(37:25):
Like that stuff. That stuff was harder than the football stuff,
you know what I mean. So I was very ready
to play. And I think that's that's because of the
way that I was coached. And I knew that when
I was going into the league if I would be
I was gonna be pissed if they didn't put me
as the starter because I showed up for I showed
up for uh, you know, O T S or whatever
(37:46):
the first couple of weeks and we were starting to
play you know, individual and stuff like that before you
get into the team stuff, and I'm like, if I'm
not the fucking starting right tackle his team, they're stupid, right,
you know what I mean. So that once you get ready,
you know, you do that work in college, prepare yourself
to be ready to play, and that's where I was at.
(38:06):
I think that's that shows a different level maturity, Like
from your stabooks. I know, it's hard to look at
that grid and be like, oh, yeah, let me stay
in college off season of you know what I'm saying.
But Banyance wasn't there. We didn't know any better yet.
I might maybe I won't maybe that decision. That's right,
(38:26):
that's right. But you spoke about the lifestyle of living
in California. You obviously come from Philly, which and I
and a lot a lot different. Then you came to
self Bend, which is as we all know with self
Ben inn tell Us, and then you went to San France.
How is that lifestyle difference? Fun prose cons for a
(38:50):
guy that's twenty three, find up with the guy that's
thirty five or whatever. I was, the younger guys take
advantage of up sand friend and whatever. Yeah. Yeah, so
it's interesting. Um, well that guy, that old guy that
I was talking about, he's still one of my best friends. Um,
I just had dinner with him last night actually as
a matter of fact. But he But that's what football does.
(39:14):
It's like, no matter what shape, size, age, color, you know,
whatever you are, if you have this common language that
you can speak in, the common work and the common goals,
it brings people together. And there's no sport, there's no
sport that brings friendships like football does. And so that
was the easy part, always making friends with your teammates.
(39:34):
The hardest parts for me, you know, my family's miles
away from me. My mom and dad. I got five
younger siblings, I got like thousands of cousins and people
that I depended on my whole life. And fortunately I
went away to college to Notre Dame, which wasn't so far.
It's not as far as it was now, but it
was still a ten hour drive from home, and so
(39:54):
I had a little bit of practice of being away
from my family. The hardest part was trying to navigate
the new team mates life and new social life and
you didn't really have one, or were trying to get
the lay of the land, trying to figure out what
to do for fun. And so unfortunately for me, we
have the best sports staff in the in the game,
uh in the NFL at the Niners are equipment managers,
(40:16):
are travel guys, are our video guys, are just like
the best people you could ever imagine. And they were
all my age when I came here, and so they
became they've become my best friends over the last five
years because there's not there's not a ton of guys
that live here full time, because the Bay Area is
crazy expensive. It's as expensive as anywhere in the world
(40:38):
to live. But I've made it my home. I I
really the pros sunshine all the time. I don't. I
don't even own a winner jacket anymore, which is fucking awesome. Yeah,
some of the best golf courses in the world are
out here. I love that. Uh yeah, I I love
(41:02):
everything about California except for the fact that my family
is not here. So but I've gotten a new family
out here, which has been cool. You know, my girlfriend
and I have a ton of friends out here, and um,
but yeah, so I miss home every day, but I
don't think I'm I missed it enough to go back
and did snowy weather. So was it your rookie year?
(41:24):
You guys went to the Super Bowl second year? Second year?
So could you kind of like that's you know, praying
nuts to get there at all, but let alone your
second year. Could you kind of walk us through that
season like like what was what do you guys think
going in like halfway through and then towards jam and
you're like, you know, we can like do this. I
mean obviously, um and the Chiefs did end win the game,
(41:47):
but how was the But now you know what, dude,
that that was a special year. We started eight now
and we we knew from the very beginning, we were
the best team in football, and we're like, nobody can
touch our stuff, man, if we're on. And that's a
really really unique feeling. And I haven't I haven't had
(42:09):
it much. But by the end of the year it
was like, all right, how do you want to take it?
How do you want to lose today? You know what
I mean? It was we want We won thirteen games.
We slipped up towards the end of the year against Atlanta,
lost the Baltimore in a rain game that if it
wasn't raining, we probably blow them out. Um, and we lost,
(42:30):
And we lost the Seattle and a heartbreaker on Monday night,
like you just randomly. But then we went through the
playoffs and we won both playoff games by thirty points,
and like, the weird the wildest feeling in the world
was looking in the third quarter in our teammates, so
we're up thirty three on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers
and being like, holy sh it, man, we're going to
(42:52):
the super Bowl, you know, and even and even in
that Super Bowl, we were six minutes away from winning
the whole fucking thing. And you know, we had a
couple of flute plays here and there. We didn't convert
the change, we didn't move the chains when we needed to.
You know, a flute hailm Mary on third and fifteen happened.
That never would have happened nine times out of ten,
(43:15):
but it did that day, and and we lost. And
that was the hardest moment. That goes from the highest
highs to as low as you feel like it's way
easier to go four and twelve than it is to
go lose second to the second place. That was a
wild year we've had. We had some amazing football games
in that year. Um I don't know if you guys remember,
but we played in New Orleans in the regular season
(43:37):
that year and we won six on like a George
kid converted, he converted forth in two, got a face
mask penalty, and put us right in the field goal
range to end it. And you know, the plane, the
plane ride home from that was like the biggest party
you could ever imagine. We're likely ship. This season is
(43:58):
as good as it gets, right, and then the next
year we go six and ten and it's like what
the fuck? You know, it's it's wild. Football is like
the wildest thing. But that that year, going and playing
in the Super Bowls the coolest thing I've ever done.
So um, I don't think there's not many things that
you can say that can top that, which is a
(44:19):
cool thing to be able to hold in your back pocket.
You know, just curious because you know very talented guys
in the league. Who would you say has been the
toughest guy you've had a block? Well, Aaron Donald, Yeah,
fortunate Fortunately for me, I played tackle, so I don't
see him a ton um But you know, funny enough, dude,
(44:41):
it's the guy on our team, Nick Bosa. He's the
best in the game. I think. I don't think there's
anybody that plays running past as hard as he does
every single snap, as coordinated as he is, as strong
as he is. He can beat you anyway he wants um,
and I think I think going up against him every days,
maybe a lot better a player. I think he's him
and probably his brother. I mean I would say, uh yeah,
(45:05):
same family dog. Well, Kalil Matt. I mean, Khalil Mack
is really good. He's kind of the same way. I think.
I think the post of brothers are a little bit
better with their hands, um and their movement, but Khalil
is as good as it gets, Um, did you play
when he was at a high state? So the Fiesta Bowl. Yeah,
(45:25):
so I played Joey. I didn't play Nick. So Joe
and he actually I don't know if you remember that,
you guys, that was a long time ago. So he
actually got thrown out of the game with like twelve
plays in. Remember that, because he got he got a
targeting penalty on de Shawn and it was my block, right,
so we were doing sprint out right. It was like
trying to move it. It was like third and three
(45:46):
were trying to get a quick pass. So we roll
out on the on the I set the attack and
I come off and I hit him good, and he
and he falls and he falls, and so I'm like, fuck,
I got Joey bos on the ground. I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go finish his ass, right, But this is
how the good going on. It's like I take I
take the next two steps and he's back on his
(46:08):
feet and he's got me extended, and I'm now like running, running, running,
running and trying to hold him off. And of course,
of course the Shawan decided to hold the ball the
whole way through to the sideline and so he lets
go to the ball and just gets like tattooed in
the chest and Joey gets tossed out of the game,
and I was like part of me was like, okay,
(46:29):
thank god. Right, it was like the competitor and me
was like, man, like, if I could have just bawled
out against this guy, I don't have to stay five years.
So that it was like, it's like catch twenty two.
But yeah, I played Joey at Ohio State when they
beat us or something in the Festa Bowl. I think, alright,
(46:50):
so we're gonna move on to outside the garage today.
The question comes from holding Perelli. His question is if
you'd eat from one chain restaurant for the rest of
your life, what would it be. Oh, it's a good question.
There's a great question. You don't have to go first.
If you're still thinking we can do I need? Do
I need? Like, am I still a professional athlete or
(47:13):
like to wait at this point in your life, Yeah,
let's do that. I probably say Chipotle then, because it's
not like terrible for you, but it's still really good
and it's good food. But it was if health was
not a concern, then I'd probably just do like five
guys and just smack cheeseburgers all day. The answer answer
(47:34):
it both ways. Okay, so if I didn't play football,
I'll be a lot skinnier. I'll probably eat Wendy's every
day is good? Probably even Yeah that you can do
a grilled grilled chicken there, right, so you could. I
could do Chick fil like. The problem is that there's
(47:57):
a milkshake and fries that come with it. That's rides
will get you. Um, I would say, now I'm riding.
I'm riding the Mission Barbecue wave recently. I've been there
three times in the last is not a plug? This
is not a plug. But this is not That's not
a plug. Funny enough to online them, right, even though
(48:20):
they'd be looking out because I did see that. Are
you looking up? I guess that is a perk of
the n I l the online sponsored by Mission Barbecue.
That's a good deal. Yeah, we would have. We would
have loved Rockos pizza if I was she's you'll have
like Rockos Fridays or Thursdays something like that. Yeah, Pizza
nights on Thursdays was always in our house. Yeah, awesome,
(48:44):
Who would you do? I would say, currently. I was
gonna good to pull as well, these guys not. I
love to put the other, that one, that one, that
one on Eddie Street has to make a billion dollars
much time, much time, crazy on. Yeah, and then I mean,
(49:04):
chick play is not bad for you, But that would
be what I would do if I wasn't. You know,
I wasn't playing, for sure, you can't. But like y'all know,
y'all know, I love me some healthy food. You know
I'm saying I love him. I care about what I
put in my body. Um, Okay, since I can't go
to Pole, I'm gonna say there is no other like
(49:26):
healthy fast food. I think about it, core core life.
That's not changed, all right, my healthy winter pot with that.
And then I wasn't playing, and nothing mattered ZAC because
I could eat that every day, Yeah, very day. I
don't know who you had. I didn't grow up in
(49:46):
the South, so I don't I didn't have any zaties
grown up. Windy's answer to you this zaxbies are canes. Yeah. Yeah,
you want to do the second question too, Yeah you
can do that, sure, money I might. I might go
(50:10):
to Ken's, got it. The second question comes from Carrie Nelson.
If you could space Jam Steele and athletes talent, who's
talent would you take? I can't answer this, Bro, I
mean like Lebron James right, like it has to be him,
Tiger Woods. I take Tiger, actually know what to take back?
I take Tiger too. I didn't even understand what space
(50:32):
jams steel man. I think. I think if you take
if you take a look, you've never seen space. They
put their fingers on the ball and they absorb the power,
the powers. I know it's bad. It's probably a bad
fact on me. You can't believe. It's not even that
we're young. It's just that I've never actually watched space. Then,
like y'all seen it, right, Yeah, I just seen it.
(50:56):
I guess I'm flagging. I don't know. Yeah, I take
I take Tiger, probably just because I love being like
the best golfer ever. But Lebron. You gotta say Lebron
because you could probably play like seventeen different pro sports
by being Lebron. Yeah. See, I was gonna say Tiger
because I was gonna slave you can also play football
(51:18):
well being a good golfer it, but you have. But
I would end up playing Okay, I'm gonna go with
um Dean Sanders m okay, bad. Yeah, I'm gonna go
with a lot of money in baseball, So I might
go with like Clayton Kershaw, you know, like an ace picture. Yeah,
(51:41):
to be yeah, put it a hundred off. The bumb
will be sick. Just deal out there. Yeah, I'd rather
be the closer though not the starter. Yeah, that's true,
just not nine just nine pitches a night. Yeah, I'd
probably go with John Morant if I could, if I could,
still that's new talent. Yeah, crazy like in game, in game,
(52:05):
bounced crazy and yeah, yeah, you want to just do
rapid questions, Yeah, we can go. Let's make a rapid
this time. Alright, So Mike, we have a little we
have another section, a little segment going on, um with
our guests. We'd like to ask rapid questions. We call
it questions that during minute, and we're actually this time,
(52:25):
we're actually gonna we're gonna push you a little bit
fast since you had to compete obviously, all right, we're
gonna push you and you actually have to answer this
kind of fast. Lately, a lot of the guests just
been kind of taking the time with it. But we're
gonna push. I will not do that. I will go
right off the top. Alright, right to do it as
fast you can. We'll give you five second threshold here.
(52:46):
All right, sounds good? All right? You ready? Yep? Alright?
First question, would you rather be seven, two or five? One?
East Coast or West Coast? West? I'll take West Skittles
and skittles are Eminem's skittles. It's not even close, it is.
(53:07):
But okays, Oh, that's that's the stupidest question of all time. JS. Wow,
that's all that. That's actually a new a new uh
that would probably be not be the answer. How old?
How old are the guys? How old are the guys
coming onto your show? I think I was like the
like we were the last group of dudes that C
(53:28):
James was our bar. No, I'm not saying like this show.
I'm saying on campus now campus yeah yeah, oh no,
but yeah, nobody would say that on camp. Yeah, I
would say, C say news. C JAS is still my
favorite bar America. South benk got the best bars in America.
(53:48):
That's Callie. That's Callie verified. Yeah, yeah, no doubt. NFL
team captain and Notre Dame team captain Notre Dame. All right,
five guys in and out? Five guys? Would you rather
be just for the just for the complete package that
like in Outnce Burger is really really good, but their
(54:09):
fries are trash and so is there shakes. Would you
rather be a gamer or a YouTuber? I think YouTuber.
I think YouTuber is probably had more fun. Yea basketball
and golf golf score twenty points in a high school
basketball game or scoop and score in a high school
football game. I've done vote on offense or defense. Defense
(54:36):
actually was kind of it was kind of cool. My brother,
My brother was our linebacker and we set him on
a blitz and he stripped the quarterback and I was
the one that picked it up around But my brother Franks,
my brother Frank's a lot smaller than me, and I like,
especially when I was in high school. I was a
senior and he was a sophomore. I like headbutted him
so bad. He was like, But I still say, there's
(54:59):
nothing like putting twenty on a high school basketball game light,
especially like on Friday night in front of your home crown.
You're just feeling it in high school basketball, that's the
Betty all right, what's your favorite meal to eat? I'm
big in Mexican food now that I'm out here, so yeah,
like a like a Cali burrito, like a Cali burrito,
(55:20):
or like the French fries in It's pretty good. Favorite
meal to cook breakfast sandwiches. That's all I can cook.
Cook He's and cream or ice cream man, chocolate chip
all day, chicken nuggets or Tinders tenders. Your favorite cheese
stick spot in Philly Fella Sandro's nice. If you can
(55:42):
describe your personality as a song, what would it be?
Off the dump? Mr bright Side, play with a pocket
passer or a runner, pocket pastor. I know where he's
setting up fishing or hun I said that kind of
country hunt too, what I'd probably I'd probably go fish. Yeah,
(56:03):
first place you're traveling to in Europe Ireland? Madness U
k okay pass blocking or run blocking? Run blocking? Yeah,
that's way better. Best show of all time, best show
like TV show. I still think Game of Thrones is
(56:25):
even though people like the leading scots, I didn't. I
didn't think to be let me explain, so, Graham of
Thrones is the best show ever made. I do think.
I do like the way that everything ended. I just
wish it was over three more seasons or two more seasons,
because I think I think the problem that it was
(56:46):
just rushed. I think that's all it was. Uh damo
like a pie pizza probably Yeah, Uh, you prefer a
phone call at FaceTime FaceTime? Well depends on who's I'm calling,
like your girlfriend, your girlfriend face FaceTime. Yeah, Okay, I
(57:07):
feel like that's the easy question. That was last thing?
What's the last thing you cooked? The last thing that
I cooked was like chicken, broccoli and potatoes. It was
like stupid, like just healthy, launching the air fryor I think,
in your opinion, who's the most underrated player right now
in the NFL? Yeah, five for my cousin Matt Ryan. Okay,
(57:34):
that's all right. That's other questions. I mean it was rapid, Yeah,
that I think we've got. I don't think I took
more than five seconds on any of the answers. Like,
I think I was pretty rapid. I think you're pretty good. Yeah,
there were a couple of explanations there, but on the average,
I would say on the answer, I was fine. Maybe
(57:55):
on the explanation right, well, I think you wanna wrap
it up, Paul, you to hit it a little class money.
Thanks you coming on, Mike. Thanks appreciate I'm like, yeah,
thanks for having me. Guys, appreciate it. It's fun. Appreciate that.
So look, we just want to say thanks Mike for
coming on the show. I appreciate you all. Look what's
(58:16):
happing in obviously a couple of shows coming in every week.
Stay tuned and we appreciate you all. And Kyle should
be back next episode by the way. It's just a
little busy right now. Yeah, good luck to you guys.
Man kick ask. They're finishing up spring Ball and um,
good luck next season. If I don't see you guys,
all right, all right, boys, so irish
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