Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Thanks for hanging out and being here. We'll start off
by saying it's another great day to be a commander.
We got another great new commander and Josh Connerly I
could tell you that this was a pick from the
entire building. And you know you're talking about starting off
(00:22):
with Paul Scancy. He was our West Coast scout, stood
on the table for him really early and put him
on the map, and then really just throughout the process,
we just we fell more and more in love with them,
and the coaches were all on board, not just the
online coaches they always want somebody that's an on lineman,
but the coordinator, Cliff Kingsbury, Brian Johnson, d Q. I mean,
(00:43):
everybody was just really pumped to get him and were
holding our breath for a while thinking he might go
ahead of us. So we were thrilled when he was there.
It was an easy pick for us to make and
really really pumped that we had another commander of the building.
So with that.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Fire away, what is it that jumped out of you?
Why did you guys like him so much?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It's really the total package. John, I think first, you know,
you look at the tape and you see what an
incredible athlete he is for his size, which is backed
up by a lot of his testing numbers too, but
just really the way he moves, just great feet, great
lower bodies, structure, great bend and it's just super talented
for a big man. And then you start hearing about
(01:31):
the type of person he is, just human being. And
then you hear about the type of football like person
he is in terms of in the locker room, the leader,
the worker, how routine oriented he is, how he's like
a true pro already despite being really young. He's just
twenty one. I think he's turning twenty one in November,
so's he's still like a baby in terms of age wise,
(01:54):
but he's very very mature for his age. And so
really throughout the process, Thanks just kept getting more and
more positive. And then we had him in for a
thirty visit last week. Uh he wasn't much of a golfer,
but that's all right. He was, Uh he he just
really really impressed us in person, just the way he
(02:14):
handled himself. Really, anybody we talked to we brief after
those thirty visits, and you go around the room and
talk about how each person interacted with him, and it
was all superlatives probably you know, uh we had we
had like three really really special guys here and he
was one of them, and just uh so really all
(02:35):
the whole process, it was just kind of all around
pretty easy pick.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And then because you have Laramie at left side, how
do you see Josh definitely right tack or do you
can you play either spot? Do you think right or guard?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I mean, yeah, I think you know what's cool about
our team and in our program and how DQ coaches
is its competition. And you know, iron sharpens iron. So
I think probably the only one I can say, you
know and leave these up to the coaches. Only one
I can say is LT is gonna be on at
(03:08):
LT and then the rest of them they'll compete for
the rest of the spots. I think so he But
to answer your question more specifically, he can't play guard
and he can't play tackle, so he's played both. He
played a little right tackle in the Senior Bowl, and
you know that's not totally foreign to him and he's
practiced at it. So you know, whether it's left guard,
(03:30):
right guard, right tackle, I don't think it'll be center,
although I do think he could play center if we
needed him to. That's probably what he'll compete at those spots.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Adam, you had talked about the possibility of trading back
when Connerley was there at twenty nine. Were you still
taking calls? Was that still a discussion.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, we got a ton of calls. Excuse me when
we're on the clock. We got calls throughout the week,
just preliminary calls, like we talked about earlier in the
week in our oppressor, and then we got a ton
of calls leading up to that. And what we had
discussed beforehand is really if he was on the board,
we weren't going to trade back, and so there's an
(04:09):
opportunity to train back with a few other teams. It
wasn't very far, but in our minds, it was not
worth even risking missing on him.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So and then kind of your three biggest moves so
far this offseason, Debo, tunsl and now Connorley. How much
are you guys trying to push your chips in towards
protecting and maximizing Jade and Daniels.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I mean, I think, yeah, it's it's every every move
we make, we're trying to maximize him and really the
whole team. So you know, he was he was the
highest player on our board, is really what it would
it ended up being. It wasn't really so much we
needed to get into a lineman or anything like that,
but he was clearly the highest player on our board.
So if it was a defensive player that was the
(04:52):
highest player on our board, we would have done that.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Do you hear from Jayden at times like this?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
But he gets up real early? No, I didn't hear
from him. We did call him though, we woke him
up and then he went back to bed, But no,
he's happy.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I mean, I know you guys have talked about sort
of this accelerated timeline, but to really invest in the
line to get Deebo, I mean, is this just kind
of reinforce that belief that you have that this team
is maybe closer than some thought initially.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
You know, I think every year you're trying to win
the championship, you're trying to win the whole thing. So
we tried to do it last year, We're going to
try to do it again this year. That's that's what
we do this for. So I don't think we're you know,
trying to accelerate anything. That's just that's kind of that's
what we came in here with that mindset, and we'll
continue to have that mindset while we're here. What do
(05:45):
you remember about Scancey's initial presentation. He really stood on
the table for him. We do uh, we do like uh,
like early in the season, we'll talk to all the
scouts and who who are there? You know, their guys,
and he said, this is my guy. This is like
it was really early in the process too, before i'd
even seen him. And I saw him in person at
a game and when they played Michigan and and I
(06:09):
remember him saying that, So I was really really interested
in seeing him and seeing the way he moved in person.
It was super impressive. But it wasn't so much obviously
he loved the player, but he just loved everything about him,
just what he was about. I think, you know, they're
both from Seattle, so he probably had a little bias
there too, but that's all right. But that also means
he knows a lot about him. And so when you
(06:29):
have a scout who's been in that area for a
long time, which Paul has, he knows a lot about
those players, especially the ones that are close to him geographically.
So you always put more stock into that. And you know,
just being a road scout that I was for a
long time, you really start to I mean look around
and see the other scouts and they really know the guys,
(06:50):
like where they live, and they just for what that's
just your job, right is to know that. So you
put a little more stock into that. So that really,
you know, gave us a lot of confidence early on.
You've had a lot of I guess you know, just
so far top one hundred picks that have been at
the Senior Bowls. There something about that event. We're seeing
those guys that, especially early on.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
In the draft, make you say, hey, you know, like
that's you know, something we want to target.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Not not so much that's something you want to target.
But I do think you know myself and probably a
lot of people. You know, you're able to get more
conviction on a player if you see him in person
and you're around them more and you kind of understand
and it could be conviction either way, conviction that you
do really like them or conviction that you don't like
them as much for your team. So I do think
(07:34):
that helps a lot and all the touch points you have,
I think, you know, I believe in that. Not every
team believes in that, and you know, to each their own,
but for me personally, for me to you know that
that helps quite a bit. So to see him at
a game, to see him at the Senior Bowl, to
we interviewed him at the Combine, came on on thirty visits,
so you know, all those things help. Adam.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Obviously this is not between layer of Mee and Josh.
You guys have made two pretty seismic moves on the
offensive line. When for you did you just think, hey,
this is an area we need to we always need
to improve the line again. But one of the people like,
hey we kind of need to do this. What kind
of triggered that for you to make you know, look
for these kinds of.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Moves, Well, I think you know, each each one is
its own move. With Laramie, it was a chance to
get an elite player at a really important position, and
you know, we didn't know what we'd be able to
get in the draft at that time, and so you
know that was you know that one that was when
we were really really behind. Everybody was behind that and
(08:38):
and with this it was you know, simply him being
the highest player on the board and so and him
having the versatility to play other positions made it, you know,
pretty easy to.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Do that with him being the highest player on your board.
Maybe this doesn't matter, but the general sense of this
draft was offensive tackles kind of dry up quick, and
then the defensive ends and some other positions run a
little bit deeper. To that factor into the thought process
of hey, we want to get jump here, we can
maybe find these other positions later.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, you always look at that. I think that's that's
a good question. And yeah we did think that, you know,
you know, after Josh, you know, there was gonna be
a little bit of a dip in terms of the
guys that we really liked, and it wasn't a huge adp.
But you're right, there's you do look across the board
and say, okay, you know, okay, we can get these
(09:27):
guys later. That that shouldn't be the driver of your decision,
but it also makes for you know, to feel more
comfortable about doing that.
Speaker 6 (09:35):
On that same topic, Adam, how much pressure do you
now feel to switch to the defensive side of the
ball tomorrow if you stick with that pick or turn
it into more picks.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I think it's just looking at our board and picking
the highest player on our board. So I don't think
there's any pressure to pick defensive guys. Have to feel
bad for Joe Witt a little bit, but but he's
he was extremely supportive of this pick too. He's he's
a great team guy. All jokes aside, but no, there's
there's no real pressure to do that to force a
(10:09):
pick on the defensive side of the ball. It's just
trying to pick the best commander for us.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
And then at LT's point in his career and being
new here, how much do you expect him to kind
of tutor the young guys kindly included coming in here,
or is his job just to focus on his job.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's really you know, that's really up to him. And
you know, from what I understand and we you know,
you know, we haven't had a chance to practice with
these guys yet. But with his reputation as as a
really good teammate and a really guy who will help
the younger guys from back when he was in Houston,
that was one of the things we really liked about him.
So whether that's something he you know, wants to do
(10:48):
or not, that's up to him. But I do know
he'll be a great teammate. And you know, he's still
you know, one of the best, arguably the best left
tackle in the game, So you know, that's why we've
got him.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Hey, Adam, so we've heard you and DQ mentioned, you know,
asking the guys about their why or what makes them tick?
So how much of that do you all wait into
where they fall on your board?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
You know, what makes them tick and their why is
is a really important component of understanding that the person
and you always want to know that. I think it's
a part of the puzzle, certainly, and it's important to us,
especially for what we we stand for and what we
believe in. But it's just a part of the puzzle.
(11:37):
And and you know, as long as they're they're good people,
good teammates, great competitors, and you know what, everybody's gonna
have a different why and and they're all pretty special.
So it's cool to know that and cool to understand
that and really tap into that. But I think, you know,
it's it is just just a part of the puzzle.
(11:59):
Outside of the talent standpoint.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
For Josh, the fact that he went up against some
really good players in the Big Ten Abdul Carter being one.
How does that, you know, how did that help in
your evaluation of him?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, that's a great question. That was something I was
actually I failed to mention when when I started the presser,
But I think, you know won the way he competed
against Abdul Carter. He went toe to toe with Abdul Carter,
who's the best pass rusher in the draft. He did
really well. And he did really well against a lot
of really good players. He you know, played at Ohio
(12:30):
State twice and they were getting they were getting the
break speed off and in the second game and he
was still competing to the very last second, and that
showed a lot. And just so those types of things
you've seen, and when we have metrics where R and
D doesn't, department does a great job of giving us metrics,
(12:51):
how do they perform against high draftable players? And so
he performed really high against high draftable players, and that
lined up with what our eyes awe And so those
things make you really not not just his skill, but
the fact that he will go toe to toe with
those guys. He's not gonna freak out, he's not gonna panic,
(13:11):
he's not gonna do things that he doesn't normally do
when he's you know, face to face with a really
great player.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
Hi Hi Adam. We saw on paper as far as
all the things that Josh does, the pluses and all
of that, and you talked a little bit about uh
talking to him at the Senior Bold and at the
Combat Bonds. But what are some of the tangibles that
we don't know about him that's not on paper.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
In terms of like is on the field or just
on the.
Speaker 8 (13:43):
Field, or him just as the person that really resonated
with you all when you talk to him.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, I think it is really just his like one
is his maturity. You know, when you when you're sitting
in a room with him, he's got this quiet confidence
about him, and he's got a baby face because he's
still really young, but he's really mature. He's really thoughtful.
And then you hear about, you know, how much of
a pro he is already in terms of how routine
(14:10):
oriented he is, you know, one of the hardest workers,
if not the hardest worker on the team, and all
those different things, how smart he is, how how bright
he is learning football, so all those things together and
he really just the whole when everybody gets that great
vibe for him, it really makes you feel confident to
make the pick. Thank you, guys, All right, get some rest, everybody.
(14:35):
We got one more. Kendall Kendall Griggs, what's up? Bud
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