February 21, 2025 • 27 mins
Jaguars new Offensive Coordinator Grant Udinski sits down with Senior Writer John Oehser after his first week on the job in Jacksonville. He addresses the elephant in the room; the collective youth of the new staff and how his accomplishments have granted him opportunity despite his age. He discusses his relationship with Liam Coen, the importance of Trevor Lawrence and what we can expect from his approach to coaching.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast. And I've
been looking forward to this since he got hired because
this is an interesting guy that I know Jaguars fans
until the first game, are going to get used to
liking a lot. And offensive coordinator Grant Yudinsky, thank you
very much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thank you appreciate you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And first time in this role. I kind of joked
at the start, they'll like you to your first game
because it's a pressure role. You know, how do you
feel going into this, you know, the excitement of the
job versus raised expectations.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I think that's something you embrace from an expectation standpoint,
because that comes along with the excitement and that's the
reason we're here. So probably something I emphasized in that
press conference is the excitement that that's real and that's
something you feel, hopefully not just with me, but with
everybody you've come across on our coaching staff, and I
feel it with the players. So you appreciate the excitement
and you appreciate the raise xpation because that's what makes
(01:01):
this thing so fun and so exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
How you know, And I'll get this out of the
way twenty nine years old. It's becoming a young person's game.
NFL coaching is trending younger, it trends really wrong, really
young with you. But how ready do you feel for
this at your age or do you even think about that?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I don't know that I think about it in the
sense of age being ready, because people typically will ask
about the experiences and what makes you ready, and I
think that I've been unbelievably fortunate should be around really
good people and have different unique experiences, whether it's coaching
on defense or spending time with Kevin o'conllall Minnesota or
my time in Carolina. So I think it's more so
(01:48):
the experiences that I've had that have brought me to
this point, and I really can't control those things in
terms of the number of my age, So it's not
something that I concern myself a ton with, but I
would say I definitely try to make take every measure
possible to ensure that I'm doing everything I can to
be prepared for whatever responsibility is thrown my way.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I saw one story I was written on you when
You're in Minnesota, and you kind of mentioned the same
thing in that is that sort of a driving force.
Obviously great work ethic, But is there a thing of, hey,
I've got to be prepared to the nth degree so
that that's not questioned.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, I don't know that it's coming from the place
of not wanting to be questioned as much as it is.
I genuinely enjoy and want to do those things and
want to prepare to the nth degree as you put it.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So it's more so that this is what I love
to do.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
This is what I've always loved doing. So in the
off season or in the summer or late at night
when I'm spending time doing those things, it's not out
of a place of concern over whether people outside opinions
will judge me for my age necessarily. More so it's
that's what I want to be doing anyways, and that's
what I love doing. The added benefit of that is
(03:04):
that it kind of neutralizes some of those perfect quote
unquote lack of age or experience.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Better way to put it than the way I put it. So,
how do you go from defensive end to sort of
quarterback I want to say whisper, but quarterback expert, offensive guy.
How does that transition happen?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, well, I definitely wouldn't say whisper, that's for sure.
But it's just like in coaching has been a unique background.
Playing was a unique background. My brother's played quarterback. I
played quarterback a little bit growing up and was terrible
at it, so naturally got got you played defense and
other positions, so I wasn't as good as those guys,
(03:50):
so couldn't couldn't make the cut quite a quarterback at
the college level and all that stuff. So played defense.
But the nice thing is playing defense, playing linebacker, playing
defensive end, playing tight end, playing a little bit of quarterback,
playing in the backfield, Like all the different positions you
play throughout the course of your life, gives you that
perspective of those positions. Now it's not at the same
(04:11):
schematic level that you're handling things at the NFL or
even the collegiate level, but it does give you a
taste for the game at all the different levels of
defense or on both sides of the ball, even when
you're playing special teams.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
When did you know that you wanted to coach? Sounds
like probably at age six.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It was very I would say I knew I wanted
to coach the moment I figured I wasn't good enough
to play in the NFL, so probably like most young
boys growing up, I wanted to play for as long
as possible, whether I was fortunate or unfortunate enough to
realize pretty early that that wasn't going to go beyond college.
That was probably the moment I realized I was going
(04:47):
to go into coach in the NFL. So it was
very early that I was drawing plays up in notebooks
and stuff, but I.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Don't know that those were any good. But I may
have had some.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Some ineligible receivers going downfield and whatnot. But we've only
improved from there, hopefully.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So when Liam talks about he was doing the same
thing and his dad's office drawing up plays, you can
certainly relate to that.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, yeah, just the early passion, absolutely, yeah. And it's
cool here in the stories of him and his dad
and his background and the different coaches that he's worked
with throughout the Northeast. So I think that's something that
probably is one of the reasons why we connected so early.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
To your point, how did you get to know him?
This's obviously the McVeigh tree, O'Connell all sort of weaves together.
How long have you known him, when did that relationships start?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I've been following Liam for a long time, I guess,
following his offenses, But in terms of actually knowing him
in reality, the first time I met him in person
was for the in person interview, because all of our
conversations over heres have been over the phone, okay, kind
of a mutual respect in the sense of two people
(06:03):
are enthusiastic about talking football and similar scheme, similar background,
so a similar way of viewing things philosophically maybe, but
different ideas and different innovations as the tree branches out
in different directions. But meeting in person the first time
was actually for that interview, which was cool because it's
like you feel like you know somebody and then you
(06:23):
meet him in person and then they're exactly like you
kind of picture or anticipated.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
So it didn't take long in the I mean, you
obviously had a feel form from the conversations, so there
was no trepidation of hey, I can connect with this guy,
but I guess face to face he felt the same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Okay, got you. What would you consider your biggest I'm
sure how to phrase it, but the biggest break in coaching?
So far. Obviously this is a huge deal, but what
kind of got you on the path quickly? Did you
look back on and say, hey, that's when it sort
of started.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
That's a tough question because I feel like every sure,
every move I made has felt like a big break
to me. I try not to take the advances that
I made for granted because it wasn't It's fresh in
my mind, still leaving Towson and looking for a job
and not knowing anybody. You know, It's not like I
(07:24):
had a great connection to get into the NFL in
terms of knowing guys when I graduated college, or coaches
that I worked with in college who were able to
just place me on a college staff, or I didn't
have it. My dad didn't coach in the NFL or college,
so I didn't have a lineage, direct connection like that.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So I try to take.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It, you know, be grateful for all those jumps that
I've made, certainly my first job at Baylor, But there's
too many people. If I went through it all, there'd
be one hundred people I would need to thank.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
But yeah, whether it's.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Baylor, whether it's Carolina, whether it's Minnesota, they've all been
pretty significant.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Obviously your relationship with Kevin O'Connell very close. What has
he meant to you? And I guess how has he
influenced you aside from every way?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, it's kind of the same answer I gave in
the press conference. It's a little bit of every way,
probably more ways than I even recognized. Okay, Like I said, so,
it was an absolute blessing to get to work with
Kevin and get to know his family and and really
everybody on the staff and kind of the culture that
he built there. There's a lot of special people in
(08:31):
Minnesota that I'll miss, certainly some incredibly thankful for the
opportunities that he gave me there. I wish I could
pinpoint and give you one or two things that sure
that significantly impacted me, but there's so many more than that.
If I listed one, I'd be leaving out other ones.
It's really in every way. But you spend so much
time with somebody, you learned about the way they view
(08:52):
things and the way they approach whether it's schematics or
culture or relationships of that impact. So you're taking stuff
from every element of it. Now that doesn't all directly
translate to me because I'm different than Kevin, and I
can't be Kevin, but there's certainly things you pick up
in every aspect of coaching or how he ran the organization,
(09:15):
how he let an offense, all those things.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Is there some symmetry whatever you call it in your
early conversations with Liam in terms of just approach philosophy
with how the Vikings? Yeah, yeah, it feels like it's
sort of the same. I sure vibe.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I guess absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I know what you're saying because you look at really
their time together in La Yeah, and you see kind
of the same roots and foundation of an organization and
the way they're building a culture and the way they're
building an offense. Things are always going to be different
because you have different people playing. We have different coaches here,
it's a different environment, but that kind of foundation and
(09:57):
the core pillars, essentially you can still.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Feel those Why aside from the opportunity to be an OCE,
what made this make sense?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Well, there's there's a ton of things that go into it.
There's so much to consider. I think the people is
a huge part of it, because you're going to be
spending almost every second of every day, sure with these
people investing in these players and devoting yourself to this,
So you want to make sure that if you're doing that,
(10:30):
it's with people you want to do it with, for
an organization you want to do it for, and with
players you want to do it with. So I think
that's one of the biggest pieces. Then there's of course
all the other elements of that you take into account
with you know, the opportunity aspect that you mentioned on,
but really the people is a big thing. People, the organization,
(10:53):
and then all the other factors that come into it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
When you're in oc working for a guy who's, Yeah,
where do you see yourself helping the most, making the
impact the most? Where do you fit when the head
(11:16):
coach is sort of an offensive guru, if you.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Will, right, It's a little similar to my role in Minnesota,
where it's my job to be an extension of Liam,
because as much as I'm sure Liam would love to
be able to lock himself in the offensive staff room
or with the players for twelve hours a day, exactly,
it's not a head coaching job. He's going to be
pulled in a million different directions, as he should be
(11:41):
because he's leading the entire organization. So it's my job
to be able to act as an extension of him
and keep our offensive staff, our offensive unit, players, coaches, himself,
and myself in complete alignment right. And when he's not
available to do things, then I got to make sure
that things are going in that same common vision and
(12:02):
we're still building appropriately in a way that not only
sets our team up for success or like our players
up for success, but for him for success as well
as the play caller.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
When did you know you were ready to be in
OC and why?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I would say that's kind of the same thing in
the sense they asked me earlier. Where the fortunate thing
about my position, and I guess football in general, is
it's not really my choice whether I'm ready to be
It's up to the people that you go an interview for.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, you seem pretty self away. If you didn't feel
like you were ready, you probably said, hey, I need
another year, yeah to be ready. So something sort of
told you, hey, this is yeah, I can succeed here.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I see what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
It's certainly something that I prepared for. And you spend
a lot of time in the off season making sure
you go back through things and do research and study
on your own because in season you're spending so much
time on that granular focus of this Sunday and what
can we do to maximize our chance of winning just
this Sunday, and how are we handling the problems that
we're facing today. So the off season is a great
(13:09):
time to take advantage of researching the league, researching processes
in different ways things are done. So I've done that
over the course of really my time in college, approaching
from a college standpoint, then you transition to the NFL
and you learn the NFL schedule and the off season
program and how you build those things.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Out, which is huge.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So you get used to doing that, and over the
course of my years in the NFL, you're just something
you're constantly preparing for. I don't know that there's one
moment I can point to and say I know I'm ready.
I would certainly say that my time in Minnesota, as
I increase in responsibility, probably built confidence, I guess in
approaching that role. But it's something that you're preparing for constantly.
(13:50):
Just like with players coaches, you have a growth mindset
and you always want to be learning and not just
learning from the people who are above you, but you're
learning from everybody. Naturally, you're going to spend time learning
from the different people you come across their ways of
doing things, and those will naturally build your approach for
(14:10):
when you have the opportunity to sit in this chair,
which I'm fortunate to have now. So it's a culmination
of kind of a lot of things coming together that
make me feel confident enough to take that step.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And you'll be leading a staff for the first time.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Thoughts on that, Yeah, Like I went back to talking
about the people. That's a big part of the reason
why I'm here, and I'm so excited about this job
because of the group of guys we have in the
offensive staff room. So it will be a transition in
terms of my title, but I don't see it as
too much of a transition in the sense of taking
a leadership role. Whether you're dealing with players or whether
(14:47):
you're dealing with other coaches. In my role in Minnesota,
it's still a collaborative process and we all still have
the same shared vision. So even though my title has changed,
you're still working together with those guys.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Now.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
The hierarchy of kind of who who's got the final
say and who's leading the ship and said in the
direction has changed a little bit, right, But that doesn't
mean that I all of a sudden become a dictator
in that office staff from and the same thing with Liam.
So it's still that collaborative process. But having the guys
that we have here makes it so exciting and makes
it easy, so to speak, not necessarily easy, but it
(15:21):
makes it easier to be able to rely on those
guys and be collaborative.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Right. You can feel the relationships starting, and it makes sense.
I'd be REMISSI of any and ask you about Trevor. Yeah,
on the podium, you talked about it. Just what about him?
Is it beyond the clear talent?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
What about him makes you excited for this? And what
will you emphasize first with him?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Aside from the talent, it's kind of the same things
I talked about.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
There on the podium.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Was the guy the guy he is, So whether you
talk about the humility, the fact that you know how
accountable he's been, the work ethic, the commitment to focus,
all of those things make it exciting for me and
the rest of our staff to pour into that type
of person because those are the guys that improve and
those are the guys that have the opportunity to get
(16:13):
better and.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Lead your team.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
I asked you in the press or about the relationship,
just how do you I guess how important is that?
And I guess the answer is it's the most important thing, right,
the relationship with him and neither trust you guys will build.
That's everything at this point, right or yeah, just do it.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yeah, it's a little it's hard to parse out what's
most important because it's a little bit of everything is
the most important thing.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So there's no clear dividers in that sense. But that's
certainly a huge piece of it. Right at the end
of the day, he's the one with the ball in
his hands, right, so there needs to be a complete
trust that we're putting him in the best position.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
It's for success.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I got you, I've got to know about and you
probably know where I'm going at the end. I call
it the lost Grant story. When they couldn't find you
in Minnesota, And it's interesting if people haven't read the piece.
When you work, you work, but when you disconnect, it
sounds like you disconnect and you like to travel. Yeah,
(17:24):
so they couldn't find you in Minnesota for a couple
of days. Just hap you do that story if you will.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, well, there's a number of stories. Okay, so you
started with the football stuff and then you eased into
eased into the other stuff. But there's a couple of
different versions of stuff like that happening. That story, in particular,
I think is the first year in Minnesota I was
working with Kevin closely and kind of an assistant type
(17:51):
role to him, where I was still working with the
quarterbacks and doing very similar stuff that I'd done, but
I was also responsible for building out schedules and we
would work together on creating practice plans. You guys probably
communicated every day off season plans, what the lift schedule
for the guys is gonna be, what the weight room's
(18:11):
going to look like. So it was a great opportunity
for me because I got a real behind the scenes
of a minute to minute, day to day, week to week,
month to month of a head coach and how you
have to build things out from an organizational standpoint, right.
But I was in that role and kind of responsible
for putting together the training camp plan with them. So
we leave for summer break and typically, like you said,
(18:34):
once I'm off. I'm a hard guy to get a
hold of. So I did the same thing I did
every off season and packed my car up and immediately
drove out to Colorado and started hiking right and I
went on I think a three day hike is what
it might have been, three or four days. I forget
the exact details. But I get back to my car
(18:57):
after that hike, and I leave my phone in airplane
mode the whole time, because every once in a while
you might be able to get service, but for the
for the majority of it, you're probably not going to
get any service. So once I go to no service,
the phone's in airplane mode, preserve the battery, and then
I get back to the car. Once I get back,
typically drive a little bit and get back in the
(19:17):
range of getting cell service.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I turn it back on.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Well, typically when you turn it back on, you get
a number of texts, but this time it was like
rattling off like dings, like twenty five in a row,
and then another twenty five is it's loading and it's
a bunch and I'm looking through the text and it's
funny because it starts off with Kevin. If you read
it now, I'm reading it backwards, but if you went
and read it chronologically, it would be like from Kevin
(19:43):
and it would be, hey, man, we need to get
together for a call, go through some training camp stuff.
Then the next one's like, hey, not sure if you
got that, give me a shot whenever. Then it's like, hey,
we got to go through some training camp stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Hit me up.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Then the next one's like having her back, is everything good?
We need to do training camp stuff. Then the next
one's like, what's going on? Did you change your number?
Your phone break?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Hit me up?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Then it's like, hey, starting to get worried, where are you?
And it's like do I need to contact somebody? We
can't find you. And then the next one's like what
the man, what's going on? Are you okay? The next
one are you alive? And then you're going to other
conversations you got like the GM and other people texting me,
and other people very high up in the organization should
not be worried about me or texting me at that point.
(20:28):
So now I'm like in complete panic as I'm driving back, like,
oh my gosh, all these people are like sending out
rescue tea, like rescue messages to try to figure.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Out where I am. Yeah, now it's not funny.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So now I'm like panics, and I'm calling him and
calling everyone instantly telling I'm like, I'm all right and everything.
And he explained very clearly and politely to make sure
that I let him know if I'm going to go
off the grid anytimes after that.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
But yeah, but that's sort of you. I mean, great story,
but that's sort of what you do in the off season, right,
Like my impression is you've traveled to a bunch of
different spots alone, kind of I guess, kind of deconnecting, right.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah, it's not necessarily purposely deconnected. I'm not purposely trying
to lose cell phone service necessarily, but that typically is
the case. It's usually pretty remote locations, whether it's hiking
in the US or going abroad. I've done a little
bit more broad travel these past couple of years. I
don't know what this offseason will look like in terms
(21:30):
of being able.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
To do that. I probably you'll get a few days.
We'll get a few.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Days, for sure, but maybe not the big trips I've
done in the past. But yeah, if I'm not doing football,
typically I'm going to be traveling somewhere, trying to take
advantage of the time. I can you spend so much
time up here, and I love spending the time up here,
but it's going to be long days and long nights.
So when you get away, when you get time off,
(21:54):
I try to take advantage of it by going out
and seeing as much as I can.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I got you in your or five year plan, ten
year plan. When do you see head coach?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, that's not something that I that I think about, certainly,
not on.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
A day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I would say, similar to how you approach the offensive
coordinator position, you are constantly learning all the.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Time at all roles. So I was not an.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Offense coordinator before this, but I was constantly preparing and
learning and gathering information and thinking about those things and
deliberating on what are the best processes, what are the
best ways of doing things, what makes an optimal situation,
what makes things less than optimal. But from a day
to day standpoint, I'm purely focused on my role here
(22:43):
and maximizing the potential of our players here and our
team here, our unit here. So it's certainly something that
I learn and try to prepare for. Maybe in the
off season, but it's not my focus and not something
I put a number on.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Fair enough, the last thing we do. It's called the
ozone five. Five quick fun questions, and I know you've
been briefed on the first one. I don't know that
I have last binge watch.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Oh if they did tell me this, yeah, I toltdally.
This was gonna be a bad answer because I don't
know that I've had a binge watch.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I'm gonna make you not say films. I know you
want to say film No, that would be that would
be a little over the topotball, that would be.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
A little too football coach of an answer. I'm not
gonna give you that. I gotta be a little bit
of a person.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I don't know that I've watched. I'm not a binge
watch guy. I get I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Favorite series of all time.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
See this is I'm gonna I'm gonna fail. I'm gonna
fail this whole What is this called the fives? I'm
gonna I'm gonna fail this entire ozone five. I'll give
you this instead of answering the question. I actually don't
have cable. I don't have a TV. The only TV
I have is I plugged my computer. Kevin gave me.
Kevin O'Connell gave me his old TV when he when
(23:57):
we moved to Minnesota. So I used that to plug
my canter and when I go home and put the
film up on.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
There, so screen it's an old flat screen. Yeah. Now,
maybe I'll get.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
A TV now, but but yeah, that is Ah, maybe
that's more interesting than the fact that I don't have
a good binge show or makes me seem more insane.
So hopefully not totally insane, but yeah, I do not
have a TV.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
When you're a coordinator twenty nine, you're supposed to be insane. So, uh,
the last song you heard this morning on the way in.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I told you I was going to fail these five questions.
I'm an audiobook guy, audiobook, audiobook and podcast. I'm an
audio track guy, so I mean, I'll have music on
in the background in my office.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
But I couldn't even tell you what's gotcha. I have
no idea you'll get this one. Uh, the best vacation
spot you've ever gone to.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
It's like choosing your favorite child.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
You can't do that all right, Well, recentcy bias, the
recency bias, I would say Norway right now, but that's
because that was last summer.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
So I'll go with Norway.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Top three because it sounds like that's interesting stuff for.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
You, all right, or the last three, well, Norway.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
The last three.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
If I'm going backwards, yeah, I'll just lump kind of
Scandinavia together.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Then then i'll go the Alps.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
It would be before that, specifically the Austrian Alps, and
then before that would have been.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
I'm trying to think.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I'll go favorite three because I love well, it's hard
to pick. I got to pick something in the US,
but but I'll pick the Rocky Mountains just generally.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I'll take the whole range and could you've been.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
There quite a bit?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, I spent a lot of time there.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Best football memory.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I'm I mean, I'm gonna go zero for five on
these I can't think of. That's the thing is you're picking.
You can't pick a favorite. You can't pick a favorite.
There's a lot of really good ones. There's a lot
of really good ones. I mean some of the wins
in Minnesota, some of the the last Secon field goal. Yeah,
some of the good wins last year, even two years ago,
(26:10):
I mean three years ago. We had some big time
game winning field goals and close games at the end
that were really exciting. Two years ago, we still had
some really cool wins, like Josh Dobbs going in on
three days of preparation and beating Atlanta, where I would
love to take credit for it, but he's the one
that really put in the work, like some late nights
that week and long study hours to get him ready
(26:32):
to play that game, like unbelievable. It wasn't a playoff win,
and it's not a win that led us to get
in the playoffs, but those are really really special moments. Really,
those moments where you see guys fulfill the potential and
achieve something that they've worked so hard to earn. Those
are some of the most fulfilling moments.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Person or people most responsible for you being here.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yeah, that's a long list. That's a really really long list.
I would say, just for the sake of time, I'll
probably just focus on my family right now. Probably the
family and the coaches that I've worked with. There's a
lot of coaches that I've worked with where if I
start naming one or two, then I'm leaving out a couple.
But there's a lot of coaches that I've worked with
who deserve credit. And then my family, my parents, my brothers.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Well, you said you were going to fail the ozone five,
I'd say you passed it. I'd say you probably got
an A.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
I appreciate the leniency on the grading. I think I
think two for five.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
What was that?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
What?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I go two for five actually giving you real answers.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
So I think you had three for five.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
And sixty percent.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
In my academic world, that's passing.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
All right, I'll take it. I'll take it. I appreciate it, Grant,
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Thank you for doing the ozone podcast. Look forward to
working with you, and I know fans looking forward to
watching you and getting to know you.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Thank you, buddy,
All right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast. And I've
been looking forward to this since he got hired because
this is an interesting guy that I know Jaguars fans
until the first game, are going to get used to
liking a lot. And offensive coordinator Grant Yudinsky, thank you
very much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thank you appreciate you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And first time in this role. I kind of joked
at the start, they'll like you to your first game
because it's a pressure role. You know, how do you
feel going into this, you know, the excitement of the
job versus raised expectations.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I think that's something you embrace from an expectation standpoint,
because that comes along with the excitement and that's the
reason we're here. So probably something I emphasized in that
press conference is the excitement that that's real and that's
something you feel, hopefully not just with me, but with
everybody you've come across on our coaching staff, and I
feel it with the players. So you appreciate the excitement
and you appreciate the raise xpation because that's what makes
(01:01):
this thing so fun and so exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
How you know, And I'll get this out of the
way twenty nine years old. It's becoming a young person's game.
NFL coaching is trending younger, it trends really wrong, really
young with you. But how ready do you feel for
this at your age or do you even think about that?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I don't know that I think about it in the
sense of age being ready, because people typically will ask
about the experiences and what makes you ready, and I
think that I've been unbelievably fortunate should be around really
good people and have different unique experiences, whether it's coaching
on defense or spending time with Kevin o'conllall Minnesota or
my time in Carolina. So I think it's more so
(01:48):
the experiences that I've had that have brought me to
this point, and I really can't control those things in
terms of the number of my age, So it's not
something that I concern myself a ton with, but I
would say I definitely try to make take every measure
possible to ensure that I'm doing everything I can to
be prepared for whatever responsibility is thrown my way.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I saw one story I was written on you when
You're in Minnesota, and you kind of mentioned the same
thing in that is that sort of a driving force.
Obviously great work ethic, But is there a thing of, hey,
I've got to be prepared to the nth degree so
that that's not questioned.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, I don't know that it's coming from the place
of not wanting to be questioned as much as it is.
I genuinely enjoy and want to do those things and
want to prepare to the nth degree as you put it.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So it's more so that this is what I love
to do.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
This is what I've always loved doing. So in the
off season or in the summer or late at night
when I'm spending time doing those things, it's not out
of a place of concern over whether people outside opinions
will judge me for my age necessarily. More so it's
that's what I want to be doing anyways, and that's
what I love doing. The added benefit of that is
(03:04):
that it kind of neutralizes some of those perfect quote
unquote lack of age or experience.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Better way to put it than the way I put it. So,
how do you go from defensive end to sort of
quarterback I want to say whisper, but quarterback expert, offensive guy.
How does that transition happen?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, well, I definitely wouldn't say whisper, that's for sure.
But it's just like in coaching has been a unique background.
Playing was a unique background. My brother's played quarterback. I
played quarterback a little bit growing up and was terrible
at it, so naturally got got you played defense and
other positions, so I wasn't as good as those guys,
(03:50):
so couldn't couldn't make the cut quite a quarterback at
the college level and all that stuff. So played defense.
But the nice thing is playing defense, playing linebacker, playing
defensive end, playing tight end, playing a little bit of quarterback,
playing in the backfield, Like all the different positions you
play throughout the course of your life, gives you that
perspective of those positions. Now it's not at the same
(04:11):
schematic level that you're handling things at the NFL or
even the collegiate level, but it does give you a
taste for the game at all the different levels of
defense or on both sides of the ball, even when
you're playing special teams.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
When did you know that you wanted to coach? Sounds
like probably at age six.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It was very I would say I knew I wanted
to coach the moment I figured I wasn't good enough
to play in the NFL, so probably like most young
boys growing up, I wanted to play for as long
as possible, whether I was fortunate or unfortunate enough to
realize pretty early that that wasn't going to go beyond college.
That was probably the moment I realized I was going
(04:47):
to go into coach in the NFL. So it was
very early that I was drawing plays up in notebooks
and stuff, but I.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Don't know that those were any good. But I may
have had some.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Some ineligible receivers going downfield and whatnot. But we've only
improved from there, hopefully.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So when Liam talks about he was doing the same
thing and his dad's office drawing up plays, you can
certainly relate to that.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, yeah, just the early passion, absolutely, yeah. And it's
cool here in the stories of him and his dad
and his background and the different coaches that he's worked
with throughout the Northeast. So I think that's something that
probably is one of the reasons why we connected so early.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
To your point, how did you get to know him?
This's obviously the McVeigh tree, O'Connell all sort of weaves together.
How long have you known him, when did that relationships start?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I've been following Liam for a long time, I guess,
following his offenses, But in terms of actually knowing him
in reality, the first time I met him in person
was for the in person interview, because all of our
conversations over heres have been over the phone, okay, kind
of a mutual respect in the sense of two people
(06:03):
are enthusiastic about talking football and similar scheme, similar background,
so a similar way of viewing things philosophically maybe, but
different ideas and different innovations as the tree branches out
in different directions. But meeting in person the first time
was actually for that interview, which was cool because it's
like you feel like you know somebody and then you
(06:23):
meet him in person and then they're exactly like you
kind of picture or anticipated.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
So it didn't take long in the I mean, you
obviously had a feel form from the conversations, so there
was no trepidation of hey, I can connect with this guy,
but I guess face to face he felt the same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Okay, got you. What would you consider your biggest I'm
sure how to phrase it, but the biggest break in coaching?
So far. Obviously this is a huge deal, but what
kind of got you on the path quickly? Did you
look back on and say, hey, that's when it sort
of started.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
That's a tough question because I feel like every sure,
every move I made has felt like a big break
to me. I try not to take the advances that
I made for granted because it wasn't It's fresh in
my mind, still leaving Towson and looking for a job
and not knowing anybody. You know, It's not like I
(07:24):
had a great connection to get into the NFL in
terms of knowing guys when I graduated college, or coaches
that I worked with in college who were able to
just place me on a college staff, or I didn't
have it. My dad didn't coach in the NFL or college,
so I didn't have a lineage, direct connection like that.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So I try to take.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It, you know, be grateful for all those jumps that
I've made, certainly my first job at Baylor, But there's
too many people. If I went through it all, there'd
be one hundred people I would need to thank.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
But yeah, whether it's.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Baylor, whether it's Carolina, whether it's Minnesota, they've all been
pretty significant.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Obviously your relationship with Kevin O'Connell very close. What has
he meant to you? And I guess how has he
influenced you aside from every way?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, it's kind of the same answer I gave in
the press conference. It's a little bit of every way,
probably more ways than I even recognized. Okay, Like I said, so,
it was an absolute blessing to get to work with
Kevin and get to know his family and and really
everybody on the staff and kind of the culture that
he built there. There's a lot of special people in
(08:31):
Minnesota that I'll miss, certainly some incredibly thankful for the
opportunities that he gave me there. I wish I could
pinpoint and give you one or two things that sure
that significantly impacted me, but there's so many more than that.
If I listed one, I'd be leaving out other ones.
It's really in every way. But you spend so much
time with somebody, you learned about the way they view
(08:52):
things and the way they approach whether it's schematics or
culture or relationships of that impact. So you're taking stuff
from every element of it. Now that doesn't all directly
translate to me because I'm different than Kevin, and I
can't be Kevin, but there's certainly things you pick up
in every aspect of coaching or how he ran the organization,
(09:15):
how he let an offense, all those things.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Is there some symmetry whatever you call it in your
early conversations with Liam in terms of just approach philosophy
with how the Vikings? Yeah, yeah, it feels like it's
sort of the same. I sure vibe.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I guess absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I know what you're saying because you look at really
their time together in La Yeah, and you see kind
of the same roots and foundation of an organization and
the way they're building a culture and the way they're
building an offense. Things are always going to be different
because you have different people playing. We have different coaches here,
it's a different environment, but that kind of foundation and
(09:57):
the core pillars, essentially you can still.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Feel those Why aside from the opportunity to be an OCE,
what made this make sense?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Well, there's there's a ton of things that go into it.
There's so much to consider. I think the people is
a huge part of it, because you're going to be
spending almost every second of every day, sure with these
people investing in these players and devoting yourself to this,
So you want to make sure that if you're doing that,
(10:30):
it's with people you want to do it with, for
an organization you want to do it for, and with
players you want to do it with. So I think
that's one of the biggest pieces. Then there's of course
all the other elements of that you take into account
with you know, the opportunity aspect that you mentioned on,
but really the people is a big thing. People, the organization,
(10:53):
and then all the other factors that come into it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
When you're in oc working for a guy who's, Yeah,
where do you see yourself helping the most, making the
impact the most? Where do you fit when the head
(11:16):
coach is sort of an offensive guru, if you.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Will, right, It's a little similar to my role in Minnesota,
where it's my job to be an extension of Liam,
because as much as I'm sure Liam would love to
be able to lock himself in the offensive staff room
or with the players for twelve hours a day, exactly,
it's not a head coaching job. He's going to be
pulled in a million different directions, as he should be
(11:41):
because he's leading the entire organization. So it's my job
to be able to act as an extension of him
and keep our offensive staff, our offensive unit, players, coaches, himself,
and myself in complete alignment right. And when he's not
available to do things, then I got to make sure
that things are going in that same common vision and
(12:02):
we're still building appropriately in a way that not only
sets our team up for success or like our players
up for success, but for him for success as well
as the play caller.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
When did you know you were ready to be in
OC and why?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I would say that's kind of the same thing in
the sense they asked me earlier. Where the fortunate thing
about my position, and I guess football in general, is
it's not really my choice whether I'm ready to be
It's up to the people that you go an interview for.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, you seem pretty self away. If you didn't feel
like you were ready, you probably said, hey, I need
another year, yeah to be ready. So something sort of
told you, hey, this is yeah, I can succeed here.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I see what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
It's certainly something that I prepared for. And you spend
a lot of time in the off season making sure
you go back through things and do research and study
on your own because in season you're spending so much
time on that granular focus of this Sunday and what
can we do to maximize our chance of winning just
this Sunday, and how are we handling the problems that
we're facing today. So the off season is a great
(13:09):
time to take advantage of researching the league, researching processes
in different ways things are done. So I've done that
over the course of really my time in college, approaching
from a college standpoint, then you transition to the NFL
and you learn the NFL schedule and the off season
program and how you build those things.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Out, which is huge.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So you get used to doing that, and over the
course of my years in the NFL, you're just something
you're constantly preparing for. I don't know that there's one
moment I can point to and say I know I'm ready.
I would certainly say that my time in Minnesota, as
I increase in responsibility, probably built confidence, I guess in
approaching that role. But it's something that you're preparing for constantly.
(13:50):
Just like with players coaches, you have a growth mindset
and you always want to be learning and not just
learning from the people who are above you, but you're
learning from everybody. Naturally, you're going to spend time learning
from the different people you come across their ways of
doing things, and those will naturally build your approach for
(14:10):
when you have the opportunity to sit in this chair,
which I'm fortunate to have now. So it's a culmination
of kind of a lot of things coming together that
make me feel confident enough to take that step.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And you'll be leading a staff for the first time.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Thoughts on that, Yeah, Like I went back to talking
about the people. That's a big part of the reason
why I'm here, and I'm so excited about this job
because of the group of guys we have in the
offensive staff room. So it will be a transition in
terms of my title, but I don't see it as
too much of a transition in the sense of taking
a leadership role. Whether you're dealing with players or whether
(14:47):
you're dealing with other coaches. In my role in Minnesota,
it's still a collaborative process and we all still have
the same shared vision. So even though my title has changed,
you're still working together with those guys.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Now.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
The hierarchy of kind of who who's got the final
say and who's leading the ship and said in the
direction has changed a little bit, right, But that doesn't
mean that I all of a sudden become a dictator
in that office staff from and the same thing with Liam.
So it's still that collaborative process. But having the guys
that we have here makes it so exciting and makes
it easy, so to speak, not necessarily easy, but it
(15:21):
makes it easier to be able to rely on those
guys and be collaborative.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Right. You can feel the relationships starting, and it makes sense.
I'd be REMISSI of any and ask you about Trevor. Yeah,
on the podium, you talked about it. Just what about him?
Is it beyond the clear talent?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
What about him makes you excited for this? And what
will you emphasize first with him?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Aside from the talent, it's kind of the same things
I talked about.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
There on the podium.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Was the guy the guy he is, So whether you
talk about the humility, the fact that you know how
accountable he's been, the work ethic, the commitment to focus,
all of those things make it exciting for me and
the rest of our staff to pour into that type
of person because those are the guys that improve and
those are the guys that have the opportunity to get
(16:13):
better and.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Lead your team.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
I asked you in the press or about the relationship,
just how do you I guess how important is that?
And I guess the answer is it's the most important thing, right,
the relationship with him and neither trust you guys will build.
That's everything at this point, right or yeah, just do it.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yeah, it's a little it's hard to parse out what's
most important because it's a little bit of everything is
the most important thing.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So there's no clear dividers in that sense. But that's
certainly a huge piece of it. Right at the end
of the day, he's the one with the ball in
his hands, right, so there needs to be a complete
trust that we're putting him in the best position.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
It's for success.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I got you, I've got to know about and you
probably know where I'm going at the end. I call
it the lost Grant story. When they couldn't find you
in Minnesota, And it's interesting if people haven't read the piece.
When you work, you work, but when you disconnect, it
sounds like you disconnect and you like to travel. Yeah,
(17:24):
so they couldn't find you in Minnesota for a couple
of days. Just hap you do that story if you will.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, well, there's a number of stories. Okay, so you
started with the football stuff and then you eased into
eased into the other stuff. But there's a couple of
different versions of stuff like that happening. That story, in particular,
I think is the first year in Minnesota I was
working with Kevin closely and kind of an assistant type
(17:51):
role to him, where I was still working with the
quarterbacks and doing very similar stuff that I'd done, but
I was also responsible for building out schedules and we
would work together on creating practice plans. You guys probably
communicated every day off season plans, what the lift schedule
for the guys is gonna be, what the weight room's
(18:11):
going to look like. So it was a great opportunity
for me because I got a real behind the scenes
of a minute to minute, day to day, week to week,
month to month of a head coach and how you
have to build things out from an organizational standpoint, right.
But I was in that role and kind of responsible
for putting together the training camp plan with them. So
we leave for summer break and typically, like you said,
(18:34):
once I'm off. I'm a hard guy to get a
hold of. So I did the same thing I did
every off season and packed my car up and immediately
drove out to Colorado and started hiking right and I
went on I think a three day hike is what
it might have been, three or four days. I forget
the exact details. But I get back to my car
(18:57):
after that hike, and I leave my phone in airplane
mode the whole time, because every once in a while
you might be able to get service, but for the
for the majority of it, you're probably not going to
get any service. So once I go to no service,
the phone's in airplane mode, preserve the battery, and then
I get back to the car. Once I get back,
typically drive a little bit and get back in the
(19:17):
range of getting cell service.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I turn it back on.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Well, typically when you turn it back on, you get
a number of texts, but this time it was like
rattling off like dings, like twenty five in a row,
and then another twenty five is it's loading and it's
a bunch and I'm looking through the text and it's
funny because it starts off with Kevin. If you read
it now, I'm reading it backwards, but if you went
and read it chronologically, it would be like from Kevin
(19:43):
and it would be, hey, man, we need to get
together for a call, go through some training camp stuff.
Then the next one's like, hey, not sure if you
got that, give me a shot whenever. Then it's like, hey,
we got to go through some training camp stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Hit me up.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Then the next one's like having her back, is everything good?
We need to do training camp stuff. Then the next
one's like, what's going on? Did you change your number?
Your phone break?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Hit me up?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Then it's like, hey, starting to get worried, where are you?
And it's like do I need to contact somebody? We
can't find you. And then the next one's like what
the man, what's going on? Are you okay? The next
one are you alive? And then you're going to other
conversations you got like the GM and other people texting me,
and other people very high up in the organization should
not be worried about me or texting me at that point.
(20:28):
So now I'm like in complete panic as I'm driving back, like,
oh my gosh, all these people are like sending out
rescue tea, like rescue messages to try to figure.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Out where I am. Yeah, now it's not funny.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So now I'm like panics, and I'm calling him and
calling everyone instantly telling I'm like, I'm all right and everything.
And he explained very clearly and politely to make sure
that I let him know if I'm going to go
off the grid anytimes after that.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
But yeah, but that's sort of you. I mean, great story,
but that's sort of what you do in the off season, right,
Like my impression is you've traveled to a bunch of
different spots alone, kind of I guess, kind of deconnecting, right.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah, it's not necessarily purposely deconnected. I'm not purposely trying
to lose cell phone service necessarily, but that typically is
the case. It's usually pretty remote locations, whether it's hiking
in the US or going abroad. I've done a little
bit more broad travel these past couple of years. I
don't know what this offseason will look like in terms
(21:30):
of being able.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
To do that. I probably you'll get a few days.
We'll get a few.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Days, for sure, but maybe not the big trips I've
done in the past. But yeah, if I'm not doing football,
typically I'm going to be traveling somewhere, trying to take
advantage of the time. I can you spend so much
time up here, and I love spending the time up here,
but it's going to be long days and long nights.
So when you get away, when you get time off,
(21:54):
I try to take advantage of it by going out
and seeing as much as I can.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I got you in your or five year plan, ten
year plan. When do you see head coach?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, that's not something that I that I think about, certainly,
not on.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
A day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I would say, similar to how you approach the offensive
coordinator position, you are constantly learning all the.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Time at all roles. So I was not an.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Offense coordinator before this, but I was constantly preparing and
learning and gathering information and thinking about those things and
deliberating on what are the best processes, what are the
best ways of doing things, what makes an optimal situation,
what makes things less than optimal. But from a day
to day standpoint, I'm purely focused on my role here
(22:43):
and maximizing the potential of our players here and our
team here, our unit here. So it's certainly something that
I learn and try to prepare for. Maybe in the
off season, but it's not my focus and not something
I put a number on.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Fair enough, the last thing we do. It's called the
ozone five. Five quick fun questions, and I know you've
been briefed on the first one. I don't know that
I have last binge watch.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Oh if they did tell me this, yeah, I toltdally.
This was gonna be a bad answer because I don't
know that I've had a binge watch.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I'm gonna make you not say films. I know you
want to say film No, that would be that would
be a little over the topotball, that would be.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
A little too football coach of an answer. I'm not
gonna give you that. I gotta be a little bit
of a person.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I don't know that I've watched. I'm not a binge
watch guy. I get I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Favorite series of all time.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
See this is I'm gonna I'm gonna fail. I'm gonna
fail this whole What is this called the fives? I'm
gonna I'm gonna fail this entire ozone five. I'll give
you this instead of answering the question. I actually don't
have cable. I don't have a TV. The only TV
I have is I plugged my computer. Kevin gave me.
Kevin O'Connell gave me his old TV when he when
(23:57):
we moved to Minnesota. So I used that to plug
my canter and when I go home and put the
film up on.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
There, so screen it's an old flat screen. Yeah. Now,
maybe I'll get.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
A TV now, but but yeah, that is Ah, maybe
that's more interesting than the fact that I don't have
a good binge show or makes me seem more insane.
So hopefully not totally insane, but yeah, I do not
have a TV.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
When you're a coordinator twenty nine, you're supposed to be insane. So, uh,
the last song you heard this morning on the way in.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I told you I was going to fail these five questions.
I'm an audiobook guy, audiobook, audiobook and podcast. I'm an
audio track guy, so I mean, I'll have music on
in the background in my office.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
But I couldn't even tell you what's gotcha. I have
no idea you'll get this one. Uh, the best vacation
spot you've ever gone to.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
It's like choosing your favorite child.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
You can't do that all right, Well, recentcy bias, the
recency bias, I would say Norway right now, but that's
because that was last summer.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
So I'll go with Norway.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Top three because it sounds like that's interesting stuff for.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
You, all right, or the last three, well, Norway.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
The last three.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
If I'm going backwards, yeah, I'll just lump kind of
Scandinavia together.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Then then i'll go the Alps.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
It would be before that, specifically the Austrian Alps, and
then before that would have been.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
I'm trying to think.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I'll go favorite three because I love well, it's hard
to pick. I got to pick something in the US,
but but I'll pick the Rocky Mountains just generally.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I'll take the whole range and could you've been.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
There quite a bit?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, I spent a lot of time there.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Best football memory.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I'm I mean, I'm gonna go zero for five on
these I can't think of. That's the thing is you're picking.
You can't pick a favorite. You can't pick a favorite.
There's a lot of really good ones. There's a lot
of really good ones. I mean some of the wins
in Minnesota, some of the the last Secon field goal. Yeah,
some of the good wins last year, even two years ago,
(26:10):
I mean three years ago. We had some big time
game winning field goals and close games at the end
that were really exciting. Two years ago, we still had
some really cool wins, like Josh Dobbs going in on
three days of preparation and beating Atlanta, where I would
love to take credit for it, but he's the one
that really put in the work, like some late nights
that week and long study hours to get him ready
(26:32):
to play that game, like unbelievable. It wasn't a playoff win,
and it's not a win that led us to get
in the playoffs, but those are really really special moments. Really,
those moments where you see guys fulfill the potential and
achieve something that they've worked so hard to earn. Those
are some of the most fulfilling moments.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Person or people most responsible for you being here.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yeah, that's a long list. That's a really really long list.
I would say, just for the sake of time, I'll
probably just focus on my family right now. Probably the
family and the coaches that I've worked with. There's a
lot of coaches that I've worked with where if I
start naming one or two, then I'm leaving out a couple.
But there's a lot of coaches that I've worked with
who deserve credit. And then my family, my parents, my brothers.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Well, you said you were going to fail the ozone five,
I'd say you passed it. I'd say you probably got
an A.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
I appreciate the leniency on the grading. I think I
think two for five.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
What was that?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
What?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I go two for five actually giving you real answers.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
So I think you had three for five.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
And sixty percent.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
In my academic world, that's passing.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
All right, I'll take it. I'll take it. I appreciate it, Grant,
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Thank you for doing the ozone podcast. Look forward to
working with you, and I know fans looking forward to
watching you and getting to know you.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Thank you, buddy,
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