May 8, 2025 • 17 mins
Matt Entz, Fresno State’s current football coach and the former Head Coach for new Seahawks guard Grey Zabel at North Dakota State, joins Softy to discuss what Zabel can bring to Seattle and his personality, why he stayed at NDSU, why North Dakota produced so many offensive linemen, and how hard the transition to the NFL will be.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, we spoke yesterday. Matt Ens is the new
(00:03):
head coach at Fresno State. He was on Lincoln Riley's
staff at USC a year ago, but the previous stop
for him was in Fargo, North Dakota, all right, and
where he was the head coach for Greys Abel, the
eighteenth pick in the NFL draft. He knew presumably starting
left guard for the Seattle Seahawks, or if he's not starting,
there's a problem problem. Had a chance to catch up
(00:24):
with coach Ens yesterday. Talked about what he saw in
him when he was in high school. How did he
maybe think one day he would be a special player,
How does he fit in the NFL? What are his
challenges going to be in the National Football League? How
come North Dakota State keeps churning out all these fantastic
offensive linemen. Here's our conversation with a new Fresno and
(00:46):
former North Dakota State head coach, matt Ends about Greys Abel.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Appreciate you guys having me on today.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Well, we appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
We talked to the North Dakota State offensive coordinator you
know very well last week on the radio show and
thought it'd be a good story to get you to
swing by and talk about the highest drafted interior offensive
lineman by the Seahawks coach since they took Steve Hutchinson
in two thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
And that turned out pretty good. That guy made the
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So go back to your early days with Grey's abel
recruiting him, bringing him to North Dakota State and what
stood out to him when he was an eighteen year
old high school senior that made you think this kid
may have a future.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, you know, the first thing, you know, when we
first started recruit Gray, it was limited. We had the
opportunities get him on campus during the spring, and then
all of a sudden COVID hit and so a lot
of our recruiting of Gray was via zoom, via telephone,
him sending videos of him and his brothers working out.
(01:54):
So it was by no means typical eight poo goal
of a normal recruiting path. But you know, the things
that we noticed right off the bat was one, how
hard he played and and and it was any sport
that he participated in, the energy and the effort that
he gave towards it. Excellent high school basketball player. Uh,
(02:15):
tremendous baseball player. I remember we we had the opportunity
to kind of get a peak of him during some
legion baseball and you know he was pitching, uh, doing
a little bit everything for his team. And yeah, just
we we had great value in guys that were multi
sport players. We knew that the ceiling was was was
(02:36):
extremely high. We didn't know where it was. And Gray
was wired like a like a Bison, tough, hard nosed kid,
great family, great great character, uh and and was a
guy that was willing to work and put the put
the effort in when he came in. You know, he
played force uh. And then initial twenty twenty season kind
of out of necessity a little bit uh during the
(02:58):
during that COVID year, started a handful of games, then
got injured and was out. But we saw at that
point that this guy was way above the curve. Just
his understanding of football, his ability to absorb things and
to retain information was on a different level. And then
you know, they're the coaching staff, the strength staff, nutrition staff,
(03:19):
all did a tremendous job and pouring into him. But
you know, at the end of the day, the thing
that separates guys from guys who can make it in
the NFL and guys who don't. Is Gray was willing
to do the unrequired. He was watching a ton of films,
staying after workouts, getting out the electra working. Was always
a guy after practice that went back over to the
(03:40):
O line area and worked on a fundamental maybe something
that he didn't like, footwork, hand placement, pad level, whatever
it might be. Was always a professional and the way
he approached his games well.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Matt Ends is now the head coach at Fresno State.
He coached Gray's abel for four years at Dakota State.
So if I have my timeline right, and if I'm
wrong about this, please correct me. You you left after
the twenty three year to go to USC, and now
you're a Frisno State obviously, so Gray Gray stayed behind,
(04:16):
and there was a lot of reports that he had
a lot of nil offers to leave North Dakota State
after you took off to go to USC. I mean,
I'm sure, I'm sure you maybe spoke to him about
joining you in LA and but he stayed. Did that
surprise you that he stuck it out and turned down
all those lucrative offers to stay One more year in Fargo.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
It does not based on you know, when you get
to know the individual. Like like I said, we had
a relationship based football program there at North Dakota State,
and it didn't I had that whole process of opportunities
started towards the end of the regular season of the
twenty three season, and so Gray and I had numerous
(05:00):
conversations about people reaching out, going through his high school coach,
going through other you know, means to connect with him.
Six figure you know, numbers that were getting thrown around
that were, you know, at the time and still this day, astronomical.
But you know, I think the thing that I remember
talking to Gray about the most at that time was
(05:24):
he was at a place that still appreciated development, that
there was still plenty of things for him to continue
to improve on. The real money for a guy like
him was going to be at the next level. Two
of his best friends had been recently drafted, one in
the second round, one in the fourth round. So it
wasn't like, you know, for Gray, going somewhere else wasn't
(05:44):
necessarily going to make him more attractive. Uh, maybe it
was going to give him some more dollars in his pocket.
Now but at the end of the day, Gray, it's
not going to make you a better player because you
change color jersey. And and I think at the end
of that Gray and his family appreciated how he'd been
treated at North Dakota State, the coaching staff, our administration.
(06:08):
He was going to stay where he'd been developed. And
it doesn't happen enough these days. You know. Again here
at Fresno State, we consider ourselves a premier developmental program
and we want guys that want to finish here. But
it's getting harder and harder to hang on to guys
for five years.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
So matt ends again with us.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Current head coach at Fresno State was Greys Abel's head
coach for four years in Fargo, North Dakota. And I'm
looking at his recruiting profile when he was in high school.
I believe he came out of Pierre, South Dakota, if
I if I have that correct, and so here peer
South Pier Thank you Peer South Dakota. So I don't
(06:47):
know if this is insulting or not, and if it is,
I don't mean it that way at all. But do
you think that maybe Grey's Abel was under recruited because
he played high school football in South Dakota. And if
this kid grew up been Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, California, whatever,
there may have been a lot more eyeballs on him.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Oh, of course, of course, you know that's that's that's
part of it. But I was also part of our
our recruiting philosophy was let's make sure that we look
under every rock and under every tree to find guys
that that can fit intoto what we're looking for. And
you know, Gray was a big long athlete in high
school that needed time in the weight room to continue
(07:27):
to develop. But you're, you're, you're exactly right. He You know, Pier,
South Dakota is not on any you know, it's it's
off the beaten path a little bit. It's not a
trip that you make. But I will say this, a
couple of years after Gray left to go to North
Dakota State, the starting quarterback at Peer now is the
(07:48):
backup at Ohio State. So it's not too far off
the beaten path anymore.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, he brought a lot of attention, no doubt, to
to Pier South Dakota.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I I learned how to pronounce.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Peer South Dakota because we're talking about grays Abel, So
matt Ens again, the head coach at Fresno State, was
grey's Abel's coach for four years in Fargo. And you
mentioned the other offensive lineman. We've got another one, Jalen Sundal,
who was with the Seahawks obviously as a backup. You know,
Cody Mock, I believe has started thirty four games for
the Buccaneers the last couple of years, that entire twenty
(08:21):
twenty one twenty twenty two. I think as well, offensive line,
either in training camp or now in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
What were you doing there? Like, what were you putting.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
In the water out there that turned North Dakota State
into an offensive line pipeline for the NFL.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Well, that was something that had been started that There's
been a lot of history of onlinemen coming through there.
But I think at the end of the day, it
comes down to what you're looking for and recruiting and
some of the things that we valued. You know at
NBSU we still continue to value character, toughness. If you've
(08:59):
ever watched India su play, you know there's a level
of physicality that's required to play there, and so identifying
the right guys with the right that are wired the
right way was always going to be critical. And then
you know, we wanted self motivated, intrinsically motivated young men,
guys that were we were never going to be satisfied,
(09:21):
guys that always wanted to continue to get better. And
when you talk about like that that online group from
twenty one and twenty two, uh, they were all very
similar wired guys. And then the last thing is a
lot of them were small town kids that were that
were three four three, you know, two three sport athletes
that were only scratching the surface of of what they
(09:43):
could become. I remember Cody Mouk was, you know, a
six five and fifteen pound, you know, choaking wet coming
out of high school and and he left three fifteen.
And Cordel Vohlsen, who is a starting right guard for
the Bengals right now saying, you know, was two hundred
(10:03):
and fifty pounds coming out of nine man football in
the middle of North Dakota. Or you know Jalen Sundell,
you know Maryville, Missouri, extremely talented and athletic family. He
just hadn't grown into anything yet. And so you know,
at NDSU, we continue to emphasize the weight room and
and growth and development. And that's why you saw these guys,
(10:25):
you know, year three, year four, year five really have
their success.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Uh, coach, before you go, I'm just curious about how
you think his transition to the NFL will look like.
I mean, obviously are now in in in Fresno, but
I'm certain you're gonna have a great relationship with Gray's
Abel for a long time for the rest of your
life and mentor him and and and be there for
him to support him in the NFL. Uh answer this question,
(10:51):
finish this sentence. I guess, Uh, Gray's Abel will have
a successful long career in the National Football League.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
If blank fill in the blank, farm.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
He stays, if he stays.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Healthy, that's it. That's it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
That's it. That's it. That that that that's that's what.
That's what I know of of who he is as
a person, his desire to continue to push himself. And
and you're talking about as as intelligent and smart an
offensive lineman as I've been around. Wow, he he knows,
he knows football, and so it's gonna be it's gonna
be fun. And uh, you know, one of these days,
(11:27):
uh him and I we we we talked the night
of his draft. I think right before he was about
ready to dive into those bush lights. But I'm sure
at some point him and I will have to him
and I'll have one together. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
He seems like a good dude and the kind of
guy you want to have a beer with. Man, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Huh. Oh, he's if you could have you, if you
could have five of him on the offensive line, it
might be the best old line in the NFL. Yeah. Well,
just because of the way he's the way he's wired
like that. I mean, he is a he's a he's
a country kid that loves football. He's going to be
a great teammate. He's going to be a great addition
(12:03):
to the locker room. He'll he just he understands the
secrets in the dirt and he's going to be willing
to put some sweat into his into his his product.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, you played a lot of tackle right at North
Dakota State in the last year and now he's a
full time guard. Just give us a quick thought on
that transition for him and how easy or difficult you
think that'll be.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Well, I think there will be some growing h I
don't want to say pains, but you know, opportunity for him.
Of course. Man, in the NFL, there's gonna be some
freaks that are going to line up across from you physically,
and you know, from a twitch standpoint, you know people
hands are going to be on you a lot. Faster
blocks happen, Quicker pass sets have to be a little
bit faster, you know, as an interior lineman. And so
(12:49):
it'll be fun to see his development, especially you know,
as he stays, takes another step up, and you know
the game is going to move faster, and you know
how quickly he can transition will be how quickly he
has us.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Matt, great stuff, man, I appreciate the visit, keep in touch,
best of luck with the Bulldogs this year, and thanks
again for doing this.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Man, well, I appreciate it. You make sure when you
see Gray and you see Jalen, please tell them hello.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah, does does Gray have a nickname?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
By the way, that would be like embarrassing if I
pulled it out and told him and like whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't think of
one right off the top of my head right now. Now,
you know, it's funny, So I'm gonna tell you a
quick story here. This type of kid he is. I
don't know where he got it from, but he found
a picture that was at one of the local establishments
of me, and all of a sudden, before I knew
it was at his house. And on Christmas Eve they
(13:41):
had a big party at the house and I got
a text about four three in the morning of all
these old linemen surrounding a picture of myself. And so
I don't know if I should take that as a
as a sign of respect or if I should be
concerned about that. But that's just the type of guys
he was with, and the type of people he led
was the just fun group they'll be associated with. Now.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I love it all, right, man, great stuff, Thanks again
for doing this. Looking forward to watching Gray here for
a long time, and you're obviously a huge part of
him getting here with the eighteenth pick overall, So congrats
on that. Best of luck in Fresno. We'll talk soon. Man, God,
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
It's really hard to kind of place expectations on a guy,
because there's two kind of lenses that I'm kind of
looking through right now, Dick. One is the Seahawks Lens,
and the other is the NFL Lens Seahawks. Lens says, well,
they just drafted the second highest drafted Garden team history, right, Okay,
bet it'd be a stud.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Right yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But then you compare it to what other teams who
have maybe had a habit like you always like to say,
the Seahawks don't draft interior offensive lineman very high, at
least not under John Schneider and Pete Carroll.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
And this is the highest they've ever drafted.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Hutchinson was seventeenth under Holmgren back in two thousand and one.
But there's been teams before that have taken guards in
the top ten, top fifteen.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I mean, you heard the coach right there say what's
the one thing keeping him from being a star? And
he says, if he's healthy, he's gonna be a star.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
End the story. Just he's gotta stay healthy. Period. That's it.
That's all. That's how much this guy believes in this.
I mean, I just have.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Modest expectations, which is solidify what has been a hole,
and just I just don't want it to be a
hole anymore.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
That's really the only expectations. I don't care.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I mean, it'd be great to say, way, we got
a six time All Pro on our hands, like Steve
Hudginson or whatever. But I don't worry about that. I
think more than Devin Witherspoon because he went so high.
That was the one where I was like, you better
be an all Pro man. You went five, that's right,
you know, you didn't go eighteen. So I think going
eighteen is a lot different because you just want a
guy at eighteen that's just gonna fill the role for.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Eight to ten years.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So this was and looking at an article that was written,
Oh god, this is twelve years ago.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Forget that this twelve year old.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, Devin, it does give you some context about what
teams did in the previous decades. So between two z
thousand and two thousand and nine, there were six guards
in the first round, nineteen ninety to ninety nine there
were thirteen, eighty to eighty nine there were nineteen, and
then the seventies there were fifteen.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So you know, I mean, it's like, you know, one.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Every year and a half for every half a year
you're taking a guard. But I'm with you and that
I just think I'm kind of looking at Gray's Abel.
The way I look at the Mariners offense, Like I
asked Larry yesterday, can we now say, hey, these guys
may not finish third in baseball and run score like
they're projected to be right now, but can we say
(16:35):
that the days of them being an absolute disaster are over?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
With this offense?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Can we say that they're done holding the team back,
They're done being a dumpster fire? And he said he
thinks so. And the hope with Gray's Abel is the
same thing. He may not be a All Pro, he
may not be a Hall of Famer because those expectations
are stupid, right to have those kinds of expectations on
a guy, especially a guy that was playing FCS football
for the last five years. But can we at least
(17:01):
get to a point where the absolute train wreck, which
is what you're saying that left guard will now come down?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yes, I mean, it's it.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And I think when it comes to the Mariners, I mean,
I don't think it's necessarily the talent that is guaranteed
to be as good.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I think it's just the approach. I think it's the mentality.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
I think it's the belief that is what's going to
be so much different this year than it has been
in years past.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Let's come back and talk about that a little bit,
because I was doing some number crunching there, which means
just going on the internet for like thirty seconds, and
I want to come back and talk about why this
might be more sustainable because of the approach. And then,
by the way, you may know that the NBA on
NBC is coming back.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
NBC is getting the NBA back. Have you heard what
they're doing?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
By the way, with their production for the broadcast, it
is a little cool but also a little bit creepy
at the same time. We'll get to that coming up
on ninety three to three KJRFM.
All right, we spoke yesterday. Matt Ens is the new
(00:03):
head coach at Fresno State. He was on Lincoln Riley's
staff at USC a year ago, but the previous stop
for him was in Fargo, North Dakota, all right, and
where he was the head coach for Greys Abel, the
eighteenth pick in the NFL draft. He knew presumably starting
left guard for the Seattle Seahawks, or if he's not starting,
there's a problem problem. Had a chance to catch up
(00:24):
with coach Ens yesterday. Talked about what he saw in
him when he was in high school. How did he
maybe think one day he would be a special player,
How does he fit in the NFL? What are his
challenges going to be in the National Football League? How
come North Dakota State keeps churning out all these fantastic
offensive linemen. Here's our conversation with a new Fresno and
(00:46):
former North Dakota State head coach, matt Ends about Greys Abel.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Appreciate you guys having me on today.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Well, we appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
We talked to the North Dakota State offensive coordinator you
know very well last week on the radio show and
thought it'd be a good story to get you to
swing by and talk about the highest drafted interior offensive
lineman by the Seahawks coach since they took Steve Hutchinson
in two thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
And that turned out pretty good. That guy made the
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So go back to your early days with Grey's abel
recruiting him, bringing him to North Dakota State and what
stood out to him when he was an eighteen year
old high school senior that made you think this kid
may have a future.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, you know, the first thing, you know, when we
first started recruit Gray, it was limited. We had the
opportunities get him on campus during the spring, and then
all of a sudden COVID hit and so a lot
of our recruiting of Gray was via zoom, via telephone,
him sending videos of him and his brothers working out.
(01:54):
So it was by no means typical eight poo goal
of a normal recruiting path. But you know, the things
that we noticed right off the bat was one, how
hard he played and and and it was any sport
that he participated in, the energy and the effort that
he gave towards it. Excellent high school basketball player. Uh,
(02:15):
tremendous baseball player. I remember we we had the opportunity
to kind of get a peak of him during some
legion baseball and you know he was pitching, uh, doing
a little bit everything for his team. And yeah, just
we we had great value in guys that were multi
sport players. We knew that the ceiling was was was
(02:36):
extremely high. We didn't know where it was. And Gray
was wired like a like a Bison, tough, hard nosed kid,
great family, great great character, uh and and was a
guy that was willing to work and put the put
the effort in when he came in. You know, he
played force uh. And then initial twenty twenty season kind
of out of necessity a little bit uh during the
(02:58):
during that COVID year, started a handful of games, then
got injured and was out. But we saw at that
point that this guy was way above the curve. Just
his understanding of football, his ability to absorb things and
to retain information was on a different level. And then
you know, they're the coaching staff, the strength staff, nutrition staff,
(03:19):
all did a tremendous job and pouring into him. But
you know, at the end of the day, the thing
that separates guys from guys who can make it in
the NFL and guys who don't. Is Gray was willing
to do the unrequired. He was watching a ton of films,
staying after workouts, getting out the electra working. Was always
a guy after practice that went back over to the
(03:40):
O line area and worked on a fundamental maybe something
that he didn't like, footwork, hand placement, pad level, whatever
it might be. Was always a professional and the way
he approached his games well.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Matt Ends is now the head coach at Fresno State.
He coached Gray's abel for four years at Dakota State.
So if I have my timeline right, and if I'm
wrong about this, please correct me. You you left after
the twenty three year to go to USC, and now
you're a Frisno State obviously, so Gray Gray stayed behind,
(04:16):
and there was a lot of reports that he had
a lot of nil offers to leave North Dakota State
after you took off to go to USC. I mean,
I'm sure, I'm sure you maybe spoke to him about
joining you in LA and but he stayed. Did that
surprise you that he stuck it out and turned down
all those lucrative offers to stay One more year in Fargo.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
It does not based on you know, when you get
to know the individual. Like like I said, we had
a relationship based football program there at North Dakota State,
and it didn't I had that whole process of opportunities
started towards the end of the regular season of the
twenty three season, and so Gray and I had numerous
(05:00):
conversations about people reaching out, going through his high school coach,
going through other you know, means to connect with him.
Six figure you know, numbers that were getting thrown around
that were, you know, at the time and still this day, astronomical.
But you know, I think the thing that I remember
talking to Gray about the most at that time was
(05:24):
he was at a place that still appreciated development, that
there was still plenty of things for him to continue
to improve on. The real money for a guy like
him was going to be at the next level. Two
of his best friends had been recently drafted, one in
the second round, one in the fourth round. So it
wasn't like, you know, for Gray, going somewhere else wasn't
(05:44):
necessarily going to make him more attractive. Uh, maybe it
was going to give him some more dollars in his pocket.
Now but at the end of the day, Gray, it's
not going to make you a better player because you
change color jersey. And and I think at the end
of that Gray and his family appreciated how he'd been
treated at North Dakota State, the coaching staff, our administration.
(06:08):
He was going to stay where he'd been developed. And
it doesn't happen enough these days. You know. Again here
at Fresno State, we consider ourselves a premier developmental program
and we want guys that want to finish here. But
it's getting harder and harder to hang on to guys
for five years.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
So matt ends again with us.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Current head coach at Fresno State was Greys Abel's head
coach for four years in Fargo, North Dakota. And I'm
looking at his recruiting profile when he was in high school.
I believe he came out of Pierre, South Dakota, if
I if I have that correct, and so here peer
South Pier Thank you Peer South Dakota. So I don't
(06:47):
know if this is insulting or not, and if it is,
I don't mean it that way at all. But do
you think that maybe Grey's Abel was under recruited because
he played high school football in South Dakota. And if
this kid grew up been Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, California, whatever,
there may have been a lot more eyeballs on him.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Oh, of course, of course, you know that's that's that's
part of it. But I was also part of our
our recruiting philosophy was let's make sure that we look
under every rock and under every tree to find guys
that that can fit intoto what we're looking for. And
you know, Gray was a big long athlete in high
school that needed time in the weight room to continue
(07:27):
to develop. But you're, you're, you're exactly right. He You know, Pier,
South Dakota is not on any you know, it's it's
off the beaten path a little bit. It's not a
trip that you make. But I will say this, a
couple of years after Gray left to go to North
Dakota State, the starting quarterback at Peer now is the
(07:48):
backup at Ohio State. So it's not too far off
the beaten path anymore.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, he brought a lot of attention, no doubt, to
to Pier South Dakota.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I I learned how to pronounce.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Peer South Dakota because we're talking about grays Abel, So
matt Ens again, the head coach at Fresno State, was
grey's Abel's coach for four years in Fargo. And you
mentioned the other offensive lineman. We've got another one, Jalen Sundal,
who was with the Seahawks obviously as a backup. You know,
Cody Mock, I believe has started thirty four games for
the Buccaneers the last couple of years, that entire twenty
(08:21):
twenty one twenty twenty two. I think as well, offensive line,
either in training camp or now in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
What were you doing there? Like, what were you putting.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
In the water out there that turned North Dakota State
into an offensive line pipeline for the NFL.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Well, that was something that had been started that There's
been a lot of history of onlinemen coming through there.
But I think at the end of the day, it
comes down to what you're looking for and recruiting and
some of the things that we valued. You know at
NBSU we still continue to value character, toughness. If you've
(08:59):
ever watched India su play, you know there's a level
of physicality that's required to play there, and so identifying
the right guys with the right that are wired the
right way was always going to be critical. And then
you know, we wanted self motivated, intrinsically motivated young men,
guys that were we were never going to be satisfied,
(09:21):
guys that always wanted to continue to get better. And
when you talk about like that that online group from
twenty one and twenty two, uh, they were all very
similar wired guys. And then the last thing is a
lot of them were small town kids that were that
were three four three, you know, two three sport athletes
that were only scratching the surface of of what they
(09:43):
could become. I remember Cody Mouk was, you know, a
six five and fifteen pound, you know, choaking wet coming
out of high school and and he left three fifteen.
And Cordel Vohlsen, who is a starting right guard for
the Bengals right now saying, you know, was two hundred
(10:03):
and fifty pounds coming out of nine man football in
the middle of North Dakota. Or you know Jalen Sundell,
you know Maryville, Missouri, extremely talented and athletic family. He
just hadn't grown into anything yet. And so you know,
at NDSU, we continue to emphasize the weight room and
and growth and development. And that's why you saw these guys,
(10:25):
you know, year three, year four, year five really have
their success.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Uh, coach, before you go, I'm just curious about how
you think his transition to the NFL will look like.
I mean, obviously are now in in in Fresno, but
I'm certain you're gonna have a great relationship with Gray's
Abel for a long time for the rest of your
life and mentor him and and and be there for
him to support him in the NFL. Uh answer this question,
(10:51):
finish this sentence. I guess, Uh, Gray's Abel will have
a successful long career in the National Football League.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
If blank fill in the blank, farm.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
He stays, if he stays.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Healthy, that's it. That's it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
That's it. That's it. That that that that's that's what.
That's what I know of of who he is as
a person, his desire to continue to push himself. And
and you're talking about as as intelligent and smart an
offensive lineman as I've been around. Wow, he he knows,
he knows football, and so it's gonna be it's gonna
be fun. And uh, you know, one of these days,
(11:27):
uh him and I we we we talked the night
of his draft. I think right before he was about
ready to dive into those bush lights. But I'm sure
at some point him and I will have to him
and I'll have one together. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
He seems like a good dude and the kind of
guy you want to have a beer with. Man, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Huh. Oh, he's if you could have you, if you
could have five of him on the offensive line, it
might be the best old line in the NFL. Yeah. Well,
just because of the way he's the way he's wired
like that. I mean, he is a he's a he's
a country kid that loves football. He's going to be
a great teammate. He's going to be a great addition
(12:03):
to the locker room. He'll he just he understands the
secrets in the dirt and he's going to be willing
to put some sweat into his into his his product.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, you played a lot of tackle right at North
Dakota State in the last year and now he's a
full time guard. Just give us a quick thought on
that transition for him and how easy or difficult you
think that'll be.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Well, I think there will be some growing h I
don't want to say pains, but you know, opportunity for him.
Of course. Man, in the NFL, there's gonna be some
freaks that are going to line up across from you physically,
and you know, from a twitch standpoint, you know people
hands are going to be on you a lot. Faster
blocks happen, Quicker pass sets have to be a little
bit faster, you know, as an interior lineman. And so
(12:49):
it'll be fun to see his development, especially you know,
as he stays, takes another step up, and you know
the game is going to move faster, and you know
how quickly he can transition will be how quickly he
has us.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Matt, great stuff, man, I appreciate the visit, keep in touch,
best of luck with the Bulldogs this year, and thanks
again for doing this.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Man, well, I appreciate it. You make sure when you
see Gray and you see Jalen, please tell them hello.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah, does does Gray have a nickname?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
By the way, that would be like embarrassing if I
pulled it out and told him and like whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't think of
one right off the top of my head right now. Now,
you know, it's funny, So I'm gonna tell you a
quick story here. This type of kid he is. I
don't know where he got it from, but he found
a picture that was at one of the local establishments
of me, and all of a sudden, before I knew
it was at his house. And on Christmas Eve they
(13:41):
had a big party at the house and I got
a text about four three in the morning of all
these old linemen surrounding a picture of myself. And so
I don't know if I should take that as a
as a sign of respect or if I should be
concerned about that. But that's just the type of guys
he was with, and the type of people he led
was the just fun group they'll be associated with. Now.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I love it all, right, man, great stuff, Thanks again
for doing this. Looking forward to watching Gray here for
a long time, and you're obviously a huge part of
him getting here with the eighteenth pick overall, So congrats
on that. Best of luck in Fresno. We'll talk soon. Man, God,
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
It's really hard to kind of place expectations on a guy,
because there's two kind of lenses that I'm kind of
looking through right now, Dick. One is the Seahawks Lens,
and the other is the NFL Lens Seahawks. Lens says, well,
they just drafted the second highest drafted Garden team history, right, Okay,
bet it'd be a stud.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Right yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But then you compare it to what other teams who
have maybe had a habit like you always like to say,
the Seahawks don't draft interior offensive lineman very high, at
least not under John Schneider and Pete Carroll.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
And this is the highest they've ever drafted.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Hutchinson was seventeenth under Holmgren back in two thousand and one.
But there's been teams before that have taken guards in
the top ten, top fifteen.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I mean, you heard the coach right there say what's
the one thing keeping him from being a star? And
he says, if he's healthy, he's gonna be a star.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
End the story. Just he's gotta stay healthy. Period. That's it.
That's all. That's how much this guy believes in this.
I mean, I just have.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Modest expectations, which is solidify what has been a hole,
and just I just don't want it to be a
hole anymore.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
That's really the only expectations. I don't care.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I mean, it'd be great to say, way, we got
a six time All Pro on our hands, like Steve
Hudginson or whatever. But I don't worry about that. I
think more than Devin Witherspoon because he went so high.
That was the one where I was like, you better
be an all Pro man. You went five, that's right,
you know, you didn't go eighteen. So I think going
eighteen is a lot different because you just want a
guy at eighteen that's just gonna fill the role for.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Eight to ten years.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So this was and looking at an article that was written,
Oh god, this is twelve years ago.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Forget that this twelve year old.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, Devin, it does give you some context about what
teams did in the previous decades. So between two z
thousand and two thousand and nine, there were six guards
in the first round, nineteen ninety to ninety nine there
were thirteen, eighty to eighty nine there were nineteen, and
then the seventies there were fifteen.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So you know, I mean, it's like, you know, one.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Every year and a half for every half a year
you're taking a guard. But I'm with you and that
I just think I'm kind of looking at Gray's Abel.
The way I look at the Mariners offense, Like I
asked Larry yesterday, can we now say, hey, these guys
may not finish third in baseball and run score like
they're projected to be right now, but can we say
(16:35):
that the days of them being an absolute disaster are over?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
With this offense?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Can we say that they're done holding the team back,
They're done being a dumpster fire? And he said he
thinks so. And the hope with Gray's Abel is the
same thing. He may not be a All Pro, he
may not be a Hall of Famer because those expectations
are stupid, right to have those kinds of expectations on
a guy, especially a guy that was playing FCS football
for the last five years. But can we at least
(17:01):
get to a point where the absolute train wreck, which
is what you're saying that left guard will now come down?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yes, I mean, it's it.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And I think when it comes to the Mariners, I mean,
I don't think it's necessarily the talent that is guaranteed
to be as good.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I think it's just the approach. I think it's the mentality.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
I think it's the belief that is what's going to
be so much different this year than it has been
in years past.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Let's come back and talk about that a little bit,
because I was doing some number crunching there, which means
just going on the internet for like thirty seconds, and
I want to come back and talk about why this
might be more sustainable because of the approach. And then,
by the way, you may know that the NBA on
NBC is coming back.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
NBC is getting the NBA back. Have you heard what
they're doing?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
By the way, with their production for the broadcast, it
is a little cool but also a little bit creepy
at the same time. We'll get to that coming up
on ninety three to three KJRFM.
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