John Cominsky talks d-line and hometown football camp | Off the Record with Dannie Rogers Episode 22
June 14, 2023 • 14 mins
On the latest episode of Off the Record, Dannie Rogers sits down with Lions defensive lineman John Cominsky to discuss his upcoming football camp in his hometown of Barberton, Ohio.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into another episode of All the Record with Damie Rodgers,
a first time guest. Let's hear it for defensive lineman
John Kaminsky, We're gonna get you fired up. Okay, I
want to start with where Detroit is in the off
season right now. OTAs in the thick of mini camp.
Now that you're here in Detroit and you were one
(00:20):
of the fan favorites to bring back in the off season,
they're like, bring John Kaminsky back. Resign him. Now that
you have a clear vision of where you're at, what
you're supposed to be doing in this defense, how are
you approaching this offseason in these workouts right now?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, it's it's definitely different. This is the first time
going into a contract like this for me. I've been
kind of earning my keep my first four years, and
so I'm definitely in a different position, more confident and
more team oriented thinking because I've got my spot here,
I know my role here. So now it's about pouring
into the younger players, pouring into my teammates and just
(00:55):
making sure we build that chemistry, make sure we don't
waste what we got going on here. So it's just
it's a bigger and broader mindset for me.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So last year was your first year in Detroit, so
it was on your mind that you kind of need
to keep you first to make sure you had a spot.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, that's kind of it's more selfish thinking. You know,
you try to keep the team, but I'm kind of
on the fence. I'm trying to earn my keeping Detroit,
and so yeah, it's a lot more me what can
I do better? What can I get better? Which is
still here this year, but you know I can I
can relax on that a bit and start thinking team
and how we're going to win games, and how we're
going to be the best defense we.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Can be and hopefully not thinking about how to wear
a club right in a game. And one more club
this is this is club guy playing awfully well against
along the interior line with a dang club on your
hand last season. But you're here and you're also under
a new defensive line coach in John Scott. Junior Todd
wash went to Carolina this past off season. How does
(01:49):
it work when you get a new position coach? Do
they just sub in and out or does it take
them some learning too about how this defense wants to
run itself.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, Coach Scott has been learning. A lot of guys
are still here. You know, we have Romeo, Julian, Charles, Harris,
Hutches back. I mean, all the guys are back, and
so we have a pretty good understand on the defense,
and you know, there's some few new things. But we've
been able to help out coach and bring him along.
But he's starting starting to click for him. I took
(02:18):
a couple of practices, but I think we're all on
the second page now. But yeah, he just come in
day one. I'm John Scott, I'm your new coach. We
all introduce ourselves and then get right into it, so
don't skip a beat.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, how is his personality out there?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, he's like a high energy guy. I was really surprised.
I think he's he's got a kid in high school,
and I was really surprised. I thought he was a
lot younger than that, just because based on how much
energy he has. Like with the defensive line, we're supposed
to like run out of the stack, so after the
balls thrown, we're supposed to put our foot on the
ground and run down the field just in case the
tackle breaks or whatever. We need to be down the
(02:54):
field and at practice he'll like sprint behind us and
be on her. He was like get out the stuck
out the stack, Like he's running running behind us. So
he's like a high energy guy. I really like him
a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So he just came from the college ranks at Penn State.
Do you feel like that maybe why?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, he's definitely got that college energy, but he also
has experience. I think he was with the Jets as
an assistant coach, so he knows, he knows the ropes
of the NFL. But yeah, he brought He kind of
brings that young energy and we need that. We have
a young room, so we love him. We're embracing him
right now.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
It's a young room, but with experience in there. So
what are the expectations for that defensive line this year?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah? Hi, I think I think we're expected to make
plays and be the ring leaders for this defense. I
think it all starts with us. You know, any defense,
it starts with that defensive line, and I think we
understand that. And young guys you know, Aiden Hutchison's year two,
Josh Pascals years two, James Houston's years too. It's like
you might be a second year player, but we need
(03:50):
you to start acting like a vet because that's this
is what we got and this is this is our future.
So yeah, I think I think we're embracing it and
embracing that this defense needs us.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So very soon, players coaches will get a break that'll
be able to head home to wherever they're from, get
together with family, and you'll be heading to Barberton, Ohio,
which is in the Akron area of Barbington High School.
Magic Alum Go Magics. What's your favorite part about being
able to go home to Ohio.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I have a lot of friends that are still kind
of plugged into Barbaraden, families still plugged in the area
or surrounding town. So biggest thing is going home, getting refreshed,
hanging out with friends and family, and then you know,
it's just it's time away from work, you know, unplugging
from the city where you put all the work in.
Just go home and just allows you to relax and
you're with your people. So it's just a good way
(04:42):
to just relax and let go and get your mind
off of it and get ready for the season.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
If there's a need detraiers that are going to Barberton
or even from the surrounding Ohio area when they when
they pull up to Barberton, Ohio, what should they expect when.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They come to Barbarada and Ohio. We have good, really
good friends chicken. We have a couple of good fried
chicken joints. People travel to get the fried chicken.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Is it like a Cane's fried chicken or is.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It it's no, It's like it's like a bone and deep.
It's like a chicken dinner. Like you go, you'll get
your little rice, hot sauce, and okay, some good greasy fries.
So it's more of like that, like you're gonna smell
like chicken when you lose, Like it's like a chicken joint.
We have we have really awesome like parks a lot
of people. We have like five or six different parks,
(05:27):
so really good like community setting. We have a lake
right in the middle of the city, Lake Anna. People
go down there and do jogs around the lake, and
then there's a bunch of businesses and like all the
old houses maybe from like the early nineteen hundreds, they
keep them. A lot of people like renovate them. So
it's like a really cool feel down there a little
mix of like the old tradition and then it's been
modernized a little bit too, So it's just a cool,
(05:49):
little unique town.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
You'll be hosting your John Kaminski Youth football camp. So
this is the what fourth annual you've been doing, So
this will be the fourth season you'll be going into
this first you're as a Detroit Lion though, and a dad. Correct,
it's gonna be a little bit of different dynamics. So
you're excited that baby girl gets to watch a coach
at in your hometown.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Believe it
or not. I think she actually was a month old
last year. Yeah, okay, but now she's now she's one,
so she might be able to actually understand a little
bit more. She's gonna have fun watching the kids run around.
But yeah, my wife's gonna have to take care take
care of the baby. Well we're running the camp. So
but yeah, it's it's fun, and you know, the dynamic
(06:32):
is different because I understand having a kid, it just
kind of changes your world. So now, like working with
these kids, I already enjoyed working with kids and being
a role model mentor for these kids. But after becoming
a parent, you really do understand like how much how
important it is. It might be just a couple of
hours on a Saturday, but those things, like I grew up,
I went to a couple of camps. I'll never forget those.
So it just it just means a lot, and it
(06:54):
just makes it extra special that way.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I'm glad you mentioned camps you went, you grew up
going to? What were they? Who are they hosted by?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I went to. I went to Ohio State camp that
was seventy five bucks. I paid seventy five bucks. I
have State camp. They weren't interested though. Really yeah, I
think like a Bowling Green camp. So not necessarily when
I was a young young kid, but even high school,
you know, even the college players that would be around
help running the drills and stuff, it was just memorable.
You're looking up to those guys like those are the
(07:22):
college stars, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So yeah, So the John Comminski football camp is June tenth.
It's free, which stuck out to me. Why is it
important that this camp is free?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, I would There's just different situations in life, and
I would never want a twenty five dollars fee to
be anything that deters a parent from like, yeah, we
need those twenty five bucks. So it's like we can
afford it, we can help, we can do fundraisers and stuff.
So we would like to make it free and more
kids show up because of it.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So yeah, and if parents are worried about contact, it's
no contact for the summer. They can take a little
bit of a break. Second through seventh graders will be
welcome to join it. What what are you trying to
teach them? What's something you're looking the most forward to
teaching them?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, so we definitely want to teach them the game
of football, but really it's just broader than that. It's
how to interact with your teammates, how to celebrate somebody
else when they do something good, you know, give them
high fives when they're coming back in the line. You know.
We try to emphasize like sportsmanship, you know, like I
think this year we're doing something fun with like stickers,
(08:26):
Like we have like group leaders will have two or
three different stickers and they all represent something like a hustle,
sportsmanship or something like that. And then when they think
that they earned it, they have another sticker that they'll
stick it to on their shirt, and so they'll be
motivated to be a good sport and to celebrate their teammates.
And so that's that's really the broad like really what
(08:47):
we're trying to do, and you know, give parents a
break for a Saturday, you know, just to give their
kids something to do.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So exactly what are some of the drills that they'll
be going through.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So we'll start with like combine kind of spec it's
kind of fun, like the group leaders will all have
a sheet and they'll do like they'll have a forty
yard dash, they'll have like the l cone, they'll have
like a little shuttle. I think there's a fun one
where we do we'll do like a touchdown celebration, you know,
like who has the best touchdown celebration? Run, run the ball,
break through some pads, and then we'll have some music
(09:19):
down there. So we'll do that and then we'll take
a little break and then we'll do football specific and
then by the end of the camp, those group leaders
will take those cards with all those times and we
try to hand them to all the kids. That the
way they have something to look at when they come
back the next year. Yeah, they really appreciate the little
little parting gift with their number and their name on it,
and it's it's gonna be a Honolulu blue color. So
they're gonna they're gonna enjoy that.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah. How far is the drive from here to Barberton.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Above three hours?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay, so Detroit. It's not that far from Detroit. Like
detroiters can still bring their kids.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Out too, all right, yeah, like come on, they could,
but we're filled up.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Oh my gosh, you're ready for Yeah. I thought it
was capped at ninety that's what.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I was ninety initially, but we turned it to one twenty. Yeah.
It is free, so you can anticipate some not coming,
you know.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Okay, okay, well maybe.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Ninety ninety to one hundred. I'd love to have one
hundred twenty even more.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
My gosh, what if kids come and do you have
to turn them away?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
No?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, well for squeeze them in there.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
We'll squeeze them until it gets to like two hundred
or something.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
We'll have space.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, I love it. What's the most important thing you've
learned as a football player, especially right now in your career,
that you would want to teach these young youth football.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Players yeah, I think the biggest thing I've learned is
like confidence and having confidence in yourself. And so often
we look around, there's always going to be a player
that's better than you in some way, some capacity, and
so just being confident in your ability and working on
those abilities. If you're really fast, and then you're really
fast and maybe you're not so good at changing direction,
some other guys can jump around, and so it's just
(10:49):
having confidence in who you are as a player and
always just comparing yourself to yourself and not looking around.
So that's really been the biggest thing, because I get
to the league as a rookie and you're looking around.
I was in Atlanta with some awesome veterans that have
earned their keep eight and nine years in the league,
and I'm comparing myself and it's just it's unfair to
do to myself. So I'm really just having confidence in
(11:11):
yourself where you are in your process and just stay
focused on yourself. You know, celebrate your teammates, but don't
compare yourself to your teammates.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
When did that mindset kick came for you?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
That was really between the end of my third year
in Atlanta and then coming here in the spring, and
when I got to Detroit, I really just had a cut,
loose attitude and kind of adopted that mindset just just
embrace who I am as a player. And the staff
did that here and they helped me a lot to
just celebrate who I was and not focused on what
(11:45):
I wasn't. So when I got on the field, I
was everything I could be And so it's just it
was awesome. This this organization helped a lot with that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Okay, so no Ohio College recruited you, Did you have
the option to stay in state?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
No? Really? Yeah? No, yeah, No. Charleston was like a
real last minute right at the end of my senior year.
We had a teacher, Brian Stats, who was in there,
and he said he'd make a phone call and then
Charleston called me off round like four thousand dollars. But
it was like the only scholarship, and I just wanted
to be able to say I got a scholarship to
(12:20):
go play college football. So I was like, Charles said,
them all went on.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Charles, Wait, so it was only a four thousand other scholarship.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, I had some academic and I did. I did
a couple of little different essays to get a couple
other little ones that helped me take care of the
rest of the thirty some thousand that was left over.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
But yeah, my gosh, I didn't realize college football did that.
They did it in increments of like four thousand.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Well Division two, Division one is pretty much all or
Division two. They can cut it up and give you
four or ten whatever, seventy five. Yeah, so by the
end I was on a full ride, but it took
me a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
To earn that. Do they have like a whole announcement
when they like shock you and come and you're on
scholarship ride.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
No, it's not like that.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
It's more of a blue collar field, like, hey, pay
for your schooling now, Oh my gosh, take it. Ohio
State they missed out?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, for sure, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Are you a Buckeye fan or is it all Charles?
I was okay it.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Was and then yeah, soon's Virginia.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Anything else you want people to know about your camp? Barberton.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah, so we do our camp every year. It's funded
by our foundation, Kaminski Family Foundation, and we do a
cornhole tournament the same day. So we'll do the camp
in the morning and then we do like a cornhole
tournament in the evening and do some raffle baskets and
stuff to raise money that usually is more than enough
to pay for the camp and to allow it to
be free. So we're trying to get that foundation up
(13:49):
and running. But yeah, just kind of we're still just
figuring out the ropes on how we can give back,
and a foundation has a lot of work. We learned,
like we had all these plans of what we wanted
to do, but you need like a lot of volunteers
and a lot of help, and you have to be
put some hours to it every week. So but yeah,
this camp in this cornerwall tournament's just the start of it.
(14:12):
So we have plans to do some other cool things,
you know, some different outings and fundraisers and then different
events to be able to allow kids to come to
a camp or whatever.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
So okay, so when did the Commensity Family Foundations start.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That was twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, and so we've
had a couple of years to kind of learn the ropes.
There's a lot to it, but like the biggest thing
we've learned is that we need more time, and so
the big work is going to be after my career,
you know, where we can plug some real hours into it.
But yeah, we're just learning a couple of years. In
(14:47):
maybe six or seven years, that thing will be really
wrong and we'll be able to do a lot of
cool events and a lot of volunteer fund raiser activities
Welcome into another episode of All the Record with Damie Rodgers,
a first time guest. Let's hear it for defensive lineman
John Kaminsky, We're gonna get you fired up. Okay, I
want to start with where Detroit is in the off
season right now. OTAs in the thick of mini camp.
Now that you're here in Detroit and you were one
(00:20):
of the fan favorites to bring back in the off season,
they're like, bring John Kaminsky back. Resign him. Now that
you have a clear vision of where you're at, what
you're supposed to be doing in this defense, how are
you approaching this offseason in these workouts right now?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, it's it's definitely different. This is the first time
going into a contract like this for me. I've been
kind of earning my keep my first four years, and
so I'm definitely in a different position, more confident and
more team oriented thinking because I've got my spot here,
I know my role here. So now it's about pouring
into the younger players, pouring into my teammates and just
(00:55):
making sure we build that chemistry, make sure we don't
waste what we got going on here. So it's just
it's a bigger and broader mindset for me.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So last year was your first year in Detroit, so
it was on your mind that you kind of need
to keep you first to make sure you had a spot.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, that's kind of it's more selfish thinking. You know,
you try to keep the team, but I'm kind of
on the fence. I'm trying to earn my keeping Detroit,
and so yeah, it's a lot more me what can
I do better? What can I get better? Which is
still here this year, but you know I can I
can relax on that a bit and start thinking team
and how we're going to win games, and how we're
going to be the best defense we.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Can be and hopefully not thinking about how to wear
a club right in a game. And one more club
this is this is club guy playing awfully well against
along the interior line with a dang club on your
hand last season. But you're here and you're also under
a new defensive line coach in John Scott. Junior Todd
wash went to Carolina this past off season. How does
(01:49):
it work when you get a new position coach? Do
they just sub in and out or does it take
them some learning too about how this defense wants to
run itself.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, Coach Scott has been learning. A lot of guys
are still here. You know, we have Romeo, Julian, Charles, Harris,
Hutches back. I mean, all the guys are back, and
so we have a pretty good understand on the defense,
and you know, there's some few new things. But we've
been able to help out coach and bring him along.
But he's starting starting to click for him. I took
(02:18):
a couple of practices, but I think we're all on
the second page now. But yeah, he just come in
day one. I'm John Scott, I'm your new coach. We
all introduce ourselves and then get right into it, so
don't skip a beat.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, how is his personality out there?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, he's like a high energy guy. I was really surprised.
I think he's he's got a kid in high school,
and I was really surprised. I thought he was a
lot younger than that, just because based on how much
energy he has. Like with the defensive line, we're supposed
to like run out of the stack, so after the
balls thrown, we're supposed to put our foot on the
ground and run down the field just in case the
tackle breaks or whatever. We need to be down the
(02:54):
field and at practice he'll like sprint behind us and
be on her. He was like get out the stuck
out the stack, Like he's running running behind us. So
he's like a high energy guy. I really like him
a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So he just came from the college ranks at Penn State.
Do you feel like that maybe why?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, he's definitely got that college energy, but he also
has experience. I think he was with the Jets as
an assistant coach, so he knows, he knows the ropes
of the NFL. But yeah, he brought He kind of
brings that young energy and we need that. We have
a young room, so we love him. We're embracing him
right now.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
It's a young room, but with experience in there. So
what are the expectations for that defensive line this year?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah? Hi, I think I think we're expected to make
plays and be the ring leaders for this defense. I
think it all starts with us. You know, any defense,
it starts with that defensive line, and I think we
understand that. And young guys you know, Aiden Hutchison's year two,
Josh Pascals years two, James Houston's years too. It's like
you might be a second year player, but we need
(03:50):
you to start acting like a vet because that's this
is what we got and this is this is our future.
So yeah, I think I think we're embracing it and
embracing that this defense needs us.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So very soon, players coaches will get a break that'll
be able to head home to wherever they're from, get
together with family, and you'll be heading to Barberton, Ohio,
which is in the Akron area of Barbington High School.
Magic Alum Go Magics. What's your favorite part about being
able to go home to Ohio.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I have a lot of friends that are still kind
of plugged into Barbaraden, families still plugged in the area
or surrounding town. So biggest thing is going home, getting refreshed,
hanging out with friends and family, and then you know,
it's just it's time away from work, you know, unplugging
from the city where you put all the work in.
Just go home and just allows you to relax and
you're with your people. So it's just a good way
(04:42):
to just relax and let go and get your mind
off of it and get ready for the season.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
If there's a need detraiers that are going to Barberton
or even from the surrounding Ohio area when they when
they pull up to Barberton, Ohio, what should they expect when.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They come to Barbarada and Ohio. We have good, really
good friends chicken. We have a couple of good fried
chicken joints. People travel to get the fried chicken.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Is it like a Cane's fried chicken or is.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It it's no, It's like it's like a bone and deep.
It's like a chicken dinner. Like you go, you'll get
your little rice, hot sauce, and okay, some good greasy fries.
So it's more of like that, like you're gonna smell
like chicken when you lose, Like it's like a chicken joint.
We have we have really awesome like parks a lot
of people. We have like five or six different parks,
(05:27):
so really good like community setting. We have a lake
right in the middle of the city, Lake Anna. People
go down there and do jogs around the lake, and
then there's a bunch of businesses and like all the
old houses maybe from like the early nineteen hundreds, they
keep them. A lot of people like renovate them. So
it's like a really cool feel down there a little
mix of like the old tradition and then it's been
modernized a little bit too, So it's just a cool,
(05:49):
little unique town.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
You'll be hosting your John Kaminski Youth football camp. So
this is the what fourth annual you've been doing, So
this will be the fourth season you'll be going into
this first you're as a Detroit Lion though, and a dad. Correct,
it's gonna be a little bit of different dynamics. So
you're excited that baby girl gets to watch a coach
at in your hometown.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Believe it
or not. I think she actually was a month old
last year. Yeah, okay, but now she's now she's one,
so she might be able to actually understand a little
bit more. She's gonna have fun watching the kids run around.
But yeah, my wife's gonna have to take care take
care of the baby. Well we're running the camp. So
but yeah, it's it's fun, and you know, the dynamic
(06:32):
is different because I understand having a kid, it just
kind of changes your world. So now, like working with
these kids, I already enjoyed working with kids and being
a role model mentor for these kids. But after becoming
a parent, you really do understand like how much how
important it is. It might be just a couple of
hours on a Saturday, but those things, like I grew up,
I went to a couple of camps. I'll never forget those.
So it just it just means a lot, and it
(06:54):
just makes it extra special that way.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I'm glad you mentioned camps you went, you grew up
going to? What were they? Who are they hosted by?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I went to. I went to Ohio State camp that
was seventy five bucks. I paid seventy five bucks. I
have State camp. They weren't interested though. Really yeah, I
think like a Bowling Green camp. So not necessarily when
I was a young young kid, but even high school,
you know, even the college players that would be around
help running the drills and stuff, it was just memorable.
You're looking up to those guys like those are the
(07:22):
college stars, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So yeah, So the John Comminski football camp is June tenth.
It's free, which stuck out to me. Why is it
important that this camp is free?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, I would There's just different situations in life, and
I would never want a twenty five dollars fee to
be anything that deters a parent from like, yeah, we
need those twenty five bucks. So it's like we can
afford it, we can help, we can do fundraisers and stuff.
So we would like to make it free and more
kids show up because of it.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So yeah, and if parents are worried about contact, it's
no contact for the summer. They can take a little
bit of a break. Second through seventh graders will be
welcome to join it. What what are you trying to
teach them? What's something you're looking the most forward to
teaching them?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, so we definitely want to teach them the game
of football, but really it's just broader than that. It's
how to interact with your teammates, how to celebrate somebody
else when they do something good, you know, give them
high fives when they're coming back in the line. You know.
We try to emphasize like sportsmanship, you know, like I
think this year we're doing something fun with like stickers,
(08:26):
Like we have like group leaders will have two or
three different stickers and they all represent something like a hustle,
sportsmanship or something like that. And then when they think
that they earned it, they have another sticker that they'll
stick it to on their shirt, and so they'll be
motivated to be a good sport and to celebrate their teammates.
And so that's that's really the broad like really what
(08:47):
we're trying to do, and you know, give parents a
break for a Saturday, you know, just to give their
kids something to do.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So exactly what are some of the drills that they'll
be going through.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So we'll start with like combine kind of spec it's
kind of fun, like the group leaders will all have
a sheet and they'll do like they'll have a forty
yard dash, they'll have like the l cone, they'll have
like a little shuttle. I think there's a fun one
where we do we'll do like a touchdown celebration, you know,
like who has the best touchdown celebration? Run, run the ball,
break through some pads, and then we'll have some music
(09:19):
down there. So we'll do that and then we'll take
a little break and then we'll do football specific and
then by the end of the camp, those group leaders
will take those cards with all those times and we
try to hand them to all the kids. That the
way they have something to look at when they come
back the next year. Yeah, they really appreciate the little
little parting gift with their number and their name on it,
and it's it's gonna be a Honolulu blue color. So
they're gonna they're gonna enjoy that.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah. How far is the drive from here to Barberton.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Above three hours?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay, so Detroit. It's not that far from Detroit. Like
detroiters can still bring their kids.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Out too, all right, yeah, like come on, they could,
but we're filled up.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Oh my gosh, you're ready for Yeah. I thought it
was capped at ninety that's what.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I was ninety initially, but we turned it to one twenty. Yeah.
It is free, so you can anticipate some not coming,
you know.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Okay, okay, well maybe.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Ninety ninety to one hundred. I'd love to have one
hundred twenty even more.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
My gosh, what if kids come and do you have
to turn them away?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
No?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, well for squeeze them in there.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
We'll squeeze them until it gets to like two hundred
or something.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
We'll have space.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, I love it. What's the most important thing you've
learned as a football player, especially right now in your career,
that you would want to teach these young youth football.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Players yeah, I think the biggest thing I've learned is
like confidence and having confidence in yourself. And so often
we look around, there's always going to be a player
that's better than you in some way, some capacity, and
so just being confident in your ability and working on
those abilities. If you're really fast, and then you're really
fast and maybe you're not so good at changing direction,
some other guys can jump around, and so it's just
(10:49):
having confidence in who you are as a player and
always just comparing yourself to yourself and not looking around.
So that's really been the biggest thing, because I get
to the league as a rookie and you're looking around.
I was in Atlanta with some awesome veterans that have
earned their keep eight and nine years in the league,
and I'm comparing myself and it's just it's unfair to
do to myself. So I'm really just having confidence in
(11:11):
yourself where you are in your process and just stay
focused on yourself. You know, celebrate your teammates, but don't
compare yourself to your teammates.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
When did that mindset kick came for you?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
That was really between the end of my third year
in Atlanta and then coming here in the spring, and
when I got to Detroit, I really just had a cut,
loose attitude and kind of adopted that mindset just just
embrace who I am as a player. And the staff
did that here and they helped me a lot to
just celebrate who I was and not focused on what
(11:45):
I wasn't. So when I got on the field, I
was everything I could be And so it's just it
was awesome. This this organization helped a lot with that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Okay, so no Ohio College recruited you, Did you have
the option to stay in state?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
No? Really? Yeah? No, yeah, No. Charleston was like a
real last minute right at the end of my senior year.
We had a teacher, Brian Stats, who was in there,
and he said he'd make a phone call and then
Charleston called me off round like four thousand dollars. But
it was like the only scholarship, and I just wanted
to be able to say I got a scholarship to
(12:20):
go play college football. So I was like, Charles said,
them all went on.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Charles, Wait, so it was only a four thousand other scholarship.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, I had some academic and I did. I did
a couple of little different essays to get a couple
other little ones that helped me take care of the
rest of the thirty some thousand that was left over.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
But yeah, my gosh, I didn't realize college football did that.
They did it in increments of like four thousand.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Well Division two, Division one is pretty much all or
Division two. They can cut it up and give you
four or ten whatever, seventy five. Yeah, so by the
end I was on a full ride, but it took
me a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
To earn that. Do they have like a whole announcement
when they like shock you and come and you're on
scholarship ride.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
No, it's not like that.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
It's more of a blue collar field, like, hey, pay
for your schooling now, Oh my gosh, take it. Ohio
State they missed out?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, for sure, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Are you a Buckeye fan or is it all Charles?
I was okay it.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Was and then yeah, soon's Virginia.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Anything else you want people to know about your camp? Barberton.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah, so we do our camp every year. It's funded
by our foundation, Kaminski Family Foundation, and we do a
cornhole tournament the same day. So we'll do the camp
in the morning and then we do like a cornhole
tournament in the evening and do some raffle baskets and
stuff to raise money that usually is more than enough
to pay for the camp and to allow it to
be free. So we're trying to get that foundation up
(13:49):
and running. But yeah, just kind of we're still just
figuring out the ropes on how we can give back,
and a foundation has a lot of work. We learned,
like we had all these plans of what we wanted
to do, but you need like a lot of volunteers
and a lot of help, and you have to be
put some hours to it every week. So but yeah,
this camp in this cornerwall tournament's just the start of it.
(14:12):
So we have plans to do some other cool things,
you know, some different outings and fundraisers and then different
events to be able to allow kids to come to
a camp or whatever.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
So okay, so when did the Commensity Family Foundations start.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That was twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, and so we've
had a couple of years to kind of learn the ropes.
There's a lot to it, but like the biggest thing
we've learned is that we need more time, and so
the big work is going to be after my career,
you know, where we can plug some real hours into it.
But yeah, we're just learning a couple of years. In
(14:47):
maybe six or seven years, that thing will be really
wrong and we'll be able to do a lot of
cool events and a lot of volunteer fund raiser activities
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