Kirk Barton On The Andre Duke Show

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Create and do the things that makehim special. Then all of a sudden,
I don't think you really know whatthey could do until you put them
out there in a real game wherethere is no black jersey, there is
no non contact jersey. But youknow a guy like Troy, you know,
when he could create on the run. Uh, it was kind of
like Alan Iverson with his crossover,you know, I mean like when he
get open man, I mean,he could he could make things happen that

(00:22):
nobody in the history of O highsled football could make happen. So I
uh, you know it was itwas tough. Again, it was.
Uh, that's one of those hauntingones. I mean that that game probably
haunts me more than Florida because Floridawe just got our our wheels, we
got our doors blown up. ButFlorida also like we weren't we weren't really
that good in O six, Likein O five we were really good,

(00:43):
like like that O five Ohio Stateteam. If they had have played the
O six team, the O fiveteam would have dog locked us just because
our defense was so much better andand and really our offensives too, because
we had nick Man Gold and Robson'slike, we had NFL dudes on our
line, Uh, that were muchbetter than the guys that we played in
O six. So that that Texasgame honts me to this day because we
had the best team in the countrybeat and we let them go, which

(01:07):
that sucks. Yeah. Absolutely.In another game that you're what about Penn
State? Did we played those?Yeah, that was the first white out,
so that spawned the white out crazeand it was. It was.
It was the best college football environmentof all time. I mean it was.

(01:27):
It was so loud, it wasso crazy, and and honestly,
you know, I'd never been there. Most of us had never been there.
Some of the older like like youknow, something like Rob SAMs,
Nickmangle, they've been there. Butthey played and I think it was a
noon game in three but they we'dnever experienced a white out before, so
I don't think we were ready forthe noise. And I got hurt,

(01:49):
which is what really sucked. Inthe second quarter, I blew my knee
out on a field goal protection andit hurt bad, and it sucked,
and I couldn't finish the game.And they're their best player was their d
n that I blocked all day.And he was a first round pick tom
Behalay, he played for the Chiefs. I was pro bowler, and like
I played him in OH four andI thought he was good, but I

(02:09):
didn't think he was like incredible oranything. Like I didn't think he was
like some guy was like, ohmy god, how I'm gonna block this
guy? And when I was inthere O five, like, I handled
him and he played and I playedagainst him the whole game because he didn't
flip like they don't flip their dns. They play the same guy plays against
the right tackle the whole game.So I was handling him and and I
killed him in O four when Iwas a freshman, and I frankly wasn't

(02:30):
even good. And you know,so then when I got hurt, it
like it got a little bit tougherbecause we had to put you know,
we put Rob Sims at right tackle. Rob Sims it never played right tack
on his life, and they puthim out there, and then we put
Booty out there at right tackle.Booty was a true freshman, and you
know, no eighteen year old canhandle that environment. And he actually did
pretty well. But you know,at the end, of the game.
You know, Tom of course sacksthe quarterback and it's like my nightmare,

(02:53):
uh realized when the guy that Ihandled the whole year like ends the game
and kills strong Intrade as a summersault, and like they still play that clip
when we play Penn State because itwas the dramatic of an ending. So
that sucked. So, yeah,those are the two and that was the
hardest part, man, is likeby that time in the season, like

(03:13):
the season was over basically because welost two and you know, back then
it was like if you're not inthe you know, the top two,
ish, you're not going to havea shot to play for the championship.
That was PREBCS, but it wasstill you know, once you get down
you get a second loss through likesix weeks, man, your season's over
for you, you know, interms of winning the Natty, which was
our natural that was actually our goal. Yeah, absolutely, back then it

(03:36):
was you know, one loss youmight still have a chance, but two
losses basically you're out of it.So that had to be tough. And
then kind of getting away from maybesome of the more negative memories of that
year. The one game that Ipersonally had an invested interest in was the
I believe it was a Fiesta Bowlwith Notre Dame kind of walk me through

(03:59):
what you guys thought when you watchthem on film and kind of your guys
is mentality going into that game.Well, I mean, we knew they
were really good. We knew thatthey they had a lot of NFL guys
that were really well coached. Peoplecan say whatever they want about Charlie Weiss,
but you know their offense was waswas really good. I mean Brady
was playing at a very high level. Obviously, he was a guy that

(04:20):
probably could have left him been atop ten pick. I don't think it's
safe for his senior year helped him. I think if he had left after
that third year, he had havemade more good running back Darius Walker.
Their line was really good. RyanHarry had a bunch of NFL guys,
Ryan Harris the left tackle, goodplayer. Samarga, who ended up being
a pitcher in the in the bigleagues, was a force as a wide

(04:44):
receiver. Defensively, I remember thatVictor Abby Amieri, who again that was
there were another team that didn't flip. So I played against Victor Abby Mary
the entire game and he was thebest player in their entire defense. He
ended up being a second round pickby the Eagles. They had Zibbi Tomas
Abkowski, who we actually had thesame agent, so we actually came pretty
tight once we got to the league. But you know, they they had,
uh, they had dudes, butagain we had we had guys that

(05:06):
could really run and we thought wecould get after their back end a little
bit and we did. Like that'swhy we were thrown it up over the
top to Teddy and san Antonio andwe didn't think they could run with us,
and they couldn't. So that was, Uh, that was something that
like our game plan was, let'slet's take them deep, and uh,
we knew they were gonna blitz.It was. It's kind of funny when
you study these teams, is thatwhat are the weird things you study are?

(05:29):
Like what could they do against youthat they maybe haven't shown on film?
Given the break, given a thirtyday absence between you know, the
Michigan game and then the Bull game. So like we didn't have a big
ten title game back then. Soafter we beat Michigan before Thanksgiving, we
didn't play again until January. Soit's a big thirty five day winner,
so you could literally in stall anentire new defense. And we thought they
were gonna blitz us pretty heavy,just based on our runs and our tendencies

(05:53):
and the one end around the Zround, which you know ched gin was
the Z which is like your flankor your speed receiver. We we we
did a self scout and we'd ranto the right behind me like seventy five
percent of the time that year.So we ran our signature play which was

(06:13):
like it was called eight load,which is an option play that Troy Troy
never pitched it. It was anoption play where he'd never pitched it.
He only carried it, and uh, I guess Iowa. We scored two
touchdowns with it. We ran ita lot, but we put in a
reverse off of it. So youstart the option action and you see the
linebackers come flying right into the holewhere where we hit it. Cause I'm
sure that they went over that withtheir scout team for a long time and

(06:35):
uh and they over commit big timeto where the play was going. But
then you have ted coming back theother way on the on the Z round.
So there was nobody there and SanAntonio. San Antonio had the best
crack block and he probably he hadbeen thrown in prison if he did that
today because he'd been targeting and everythingelse. But san Antonio killed their their

(06:56):
their their walkout guy, their theirwalk out linebacker like killed him, took
him off his feet, and uhand Tad was like off to the races.
So I just remember our offensive staffdid a great job tress bulls like
Jim Bowman. Those guys really dida good job of scheming those guys up.
And uh, you know, ourdefense, our defense played well,
you know, I mean they weatheredthe early storm because Notre Dame went right
down the field and scored to startthe game, and then they clamped up

(07:18):
a little bit, and uh,but it was good. I mean,
we do it would be a challengeand those are the fun games because they
had they had equal talent, sous we were probably a little more talented,
but it wasn't like the normal hugegap of talent that Ohio State football
normally, uh encounters on a Saturday. Yeah. Absolutely. That was the
one thing that I wondered, ifyou touch on just because watching the game,
you know, the thing that jumpedoff the screen to me was just

(07:40):
how much faster. You guys wereat least at receiver compared to the defensive
backs. It looked like they wererunning in long grass and you guys were
on AstroTurf. Yeah, I mean, we just were lucky. We had
Ted and Santonio and Gonzo and uh, you know, obviously Gonzo that that
that play where he didn't catch itwas the play of the game where Zibakhalski
picked it up and ran to thehouse, because that was you know,

(08:01):
that was like the early the earlytimes of replay where they said that he
didn't catch it and it was incompleteand because that was that was gonna be
a fumble for a touchdown. Yeah, And I was like sitting there,
I was like, please God,do not want this be in touch because
that want to tie. I thinkthat would tie the game. But we
were able to get out and scoreand ice game down. But yeah,
it was uh, you know,those are type those are type games.

(08:22):
And again that's why it's fun athigh Stitch to play against teams that are
equal talent or close, because thenyou have to really you know, you
got to really be sharp. Youcan't you can't just you know, Ohio
State ninety nine percent of the timewhen we play we've got better players than
the other team on the sideline.But it's that one percent when you play
Georgia or you play a good NotreDame team, where you got to actually,

(08:43):
you know, win, you haveto go win the game instead of
just being better than they are.So, uh, it was it was
a fun night and I didn't knowthat'd be my last Bowl win, but
you know, it was really fun, and uh, it kind of I
think it kind of set us ina little bit of a trap where it
was like, we had this thisstreak going to the Fiesta Bowl. We
stayed at the Fairmont Scottsale Princess andthen we wore the white jerseys and we

(09:05):
beat you know, the Hurricanes,we beat Kansas State, we beat Notre
Dame. So then of course thenext year we played Florida, we got
our breaks beat off. And it'slike, but we sayed at the same
hotel and we're the same We werethe one seed and we wore our white
jerseys. Yeah, because again,like I don't know if it was superstition
or what it was, but itjust kind of is what it is.

(09:26):
I mean, it didn't matter whatcolor jerseys were were and I'm just being
funny, but it was like welike fell into the trap of familiarity.
And again I get it because youknow, if you wear the red jersy
against Florida and we get we loseforty one to fourteen, then people were
like, why did you wear thewhite jerseys? You could have did that
and we were undefeated. It.So this is some one of those like
funny things that you think about sometimestwenty years later. Yeah, for sure,

(09:48):
that Florida game was I was atthat game. That was the crowd
and the electricity in the stadium whenTeddy took that kickoff back and then the
just shock and haul when they sawhim hobbling off the field. Oh my
god. Well, the funny thingis that I won't talk too much about
it, but it's like he cameback in and played in the game.
Like that was funny. Thing islike I didn't even know he got hurt

(10:09):
because, like I mean, thatfirst offensive play that we had after Florida
scored, he's back out there andhe actually ran a route and we threw
him the ball. So like Iit wasn't like Okay, it wasn't like
his leg was like the bone waspoking out of the skinner anything like.
So I didn't know what was goingon. Obviously ted was too hurt to
play, but it was I remember, like I asked that the thing was

(10:31):
like, why aren't you in?And he's like and he looked at me
and he's like, come on,man, let's go, and I'm like,
I'm like, I love Teddy,but I was like, why aren't
you playing? Like, I mean, we need you. You're the best.
You're You're literally the best player onour team by far. You were
the eighth overall pick or ninth pickin the draft like that. No one
else though the team was anywhere closeto the top ten in the draft.

(10:52):
So yeah, I mean, thatwas like one of those ones where you
just know that it ain't gonna beyour night when your best player gets hurt
the first play. You're just likethis sometimes the football where you're just like,
God, this is gonna suck.And it was like I tell people,
like the it was like with theforty nine ers last year, uh,
in the NFC Championship, Like theylose brock Purty and then they lose
their backup quarterback and they're down toDeeba Samuel playing quarterback, Like you just

(11:16):
said that, like sometimes a footballman, it just ain't your night.
And that was a night. Itwas definitely not a night. And and
again it's not taking anything weight fromUrban and you know Urban and yeah,
Urban was the master of getting guysready to go. And those guys were
hungry and disrespected and they played thatcard up to the hill and they smashed
us. And again that's like Itell people, that's the beauty of football
is everybody who's ever played or coachhas had their brains beat out at some

(11:39):
point. It doesn't matter if NickSaban, Dabo Sweeney, Ryan Day,
Like that's that's the beauty of it. Bill Belichick got you're gotta at some
point it's gonna be your turn toget smashed. And that was our turn,
and it was. It was ahumbling night, but it was a
it was a terrible night. Butthat's just part of part of life,
Like you don't get to littlem Alland it was. It sucked because I

(12:01):
felt terrible for Troy because that wasa game that haunts his legacy because he
probably if he wins that, he'sprobably the best Buckeye of all time.
But it just cut is what itis. Yeah, definitely, I mean
coming off winning the Heisman. AndI mean it's not like Troy had a
bad game that game or anything either. Well, I mean, you know,
he didn't have a chance because wedidn't We didn't run the ball,

(12:22):
he didn't have his number one receiver. You know. Again, it's like
if you take Kelsey away from thehomes or when you see these quarterbacks,
if their number one guy goes down. Sometimes if they're just really incredible,
they can still make it work.But a lot of times, man,
it's it's tough, you know,when you don't have your your top guy.
And and again, like you know, we we just wouldn't play well,

(12:43):
like I mean, like we didn'tplay There wasn't Eddy fast like I
mean, are you know our offensewe sucked that offense, but you know
our defense gave up forty one pointstoo. You know, we had we
had a bunch of personal fouls.We played dumb football. So and Urban,
you know, Urban was ahead ofhis time with that offense. That
offense was I was sit there watchingthat man, and our guys were out
of gas. Our guys were winded, tired, and I was watching on

(13:03):
the big screen, and they're theway that they they stretched the field horizontally
in the Running Game. I mean, our guys were basically like running gasers
the whole game, and they werethey were exhausted. So Urban was ahead
of his time with what he didthere, and I was excited when he
came here because I got to learnthat offense and it was it was really
cool. Yeah. Absolutely. Inanother game from from your playing days,

(13:31):
how about the game in two thousandand six. What was the build up
going into that game? I thinkyou know it was it was one that
obviously, like when you look atthe schedules, and it was like once
we got past like Penn State,we knew that it was kind of cupcake
city and we had a scare againstIllinois, but otherwise it was, you

(13:54):
know, we were coasting and sowas Michigan. I mean Michigan got past
Notre Dame or Penn State or something, and then they were coasting, and
it was like we saw what wascoming. After they smashed Notre Dame,
they jumped up with the polls prettyhigh, and that, you know,
that's what made it the magic ofthe one two games. I mean,
they beat that Notre Dame team waslike a preseason number two team. I

(14:15):
think they were because they'd played USand they had like twenty guys come back,
so Brady was back and all thoseguys and and Michigan just smashed them
out at Notre Dame, and sowe knew they were going to be good.
And again they were good at No. Five. They just you know,
they had some bad losses. Theywere injured, and but they still
had like you know, sometimes therecord doesn't reflect the talent level because they

(14:39):
still had Alan Branch and Lamar Woodleyand Leon Hall and you know, Mario
Manningham. They had guys that werelike dudes, like real dude. Jake
Long obviously first overall picking the draft. So you know, we knew they
were going to be good. Theyput in a new a new running game.
They ran the Denver Broncos zone offense, and they were really good at
that and they were like just buzzsawing teams when I'd watch them on film,

(15:01):
and I think that, you know, we knew it was gonna be
a big challenge. And I Iworried about our defense in that game because
I thought our defense was good.I don't think it was great, and
I was right, and we endedup giving up like thirty nine points,
but thank god, we scored fortytwo. But that was the most points
I think we'd ever give it upto a Michigan team. I think,
uh, but it was. Hey, we scored three more than they did
and it's a team game. Butyou know, I knew that their offense

(15:24):
was legit because I mean, we'vegot Manningham as your number one guy,
Mike Cartt was a good college player, not a good NFL player, Jake
Long as your left tackle, Hennywho played like fifteen years in the league,
was a really good quarterback. Likeyou knew it was going to be
tough, and you knew you weren'tgoing to shut him out, and I
just the build up was crazy.Then you know, Bo dies the day
before the game, which makes iteven crazier because you've got you know there,

(15:45):
you know the guy that they're they'reyou know, we've got the Woody
Hayes Center, they've got the SchaennBeckler Hall. Uh So, the guy
that their football building is named after, dies the day before the game or
Thursday before the game. It was. It was nuts. So yeah,
there was a lot of pressure towin, and I don't know if we
blew our stack that night and weran out of gas for Florida or we
thought we were too good or whatit was, but you know, it

(16:07):
was kind of like we sold outto beat Michigan and then like, you
know, we didn't have that sameWe didn't play anywhere near as flawless of
a game against Florida, obviously,because that Michigan team was was a team
that I think they kind of sufferedthe same fate where they you know,
they kind of blew their energy andthen they didn't do well in the Rosewell
versus sc either, because I thinkwe were so exhausted from that game and

(16:29):
they were probably defeated from losing thatgame. So I always like kind of
wonder about that because we just wedidn't look like the same team, you
know, And sometimes that happens whenyou've got all this energy and you expend
it and then you get to win, then you know you really need the
coaching staff and the leaders to tobeat you back down and just submission to
get ready to go for that nextone, because it's it's hard, man.
You beat Michigan that one two game, like the environment around Columbus is

(16:52):
different people. You know, it'sit's almost like you got to the woody
Hayesing where it's like, you know, you know, kick the old granny
and the knee, like anyone thatgives you a compliment over the age of
eighty three, kick him in theknee or whatever. Like, yeah,
that thing where it was like ifsomeone compliments, you don't take it,
like don't eat the cheese. Likethere's all these motivational things where it's like
when people are saying great things aboutyou and how great you are, don't

(17:15):
listen to it, like, youknow, don't focus on you know,
you gotta make it all white noise. And I think that's something that we
obviously could have been better at,but that that Michigan game will always be
special one of my favorite games,you know. And again it's again that's
another game that's clouded just because ofhow poorly we did in the championship game.
But at the time, the oneversus two game was incredible and that

(17:37):
was you know, like I toldit, that was like a real Michigan
team. That was a good Michiganteam. That wasn't you know, some
of these teams that we've played recentlyhave just stunk up at Michigan. But
that was like, you know,look at the guys, Look at David
Harris, played ten years for theJets, was a captain, and you
know, like those guys went onand went to the league and they were
like legit in the league. Yeah, and you'd already touched on it a

(17:57):
little bit, and I don't know, curious your thoughts. I almost feel
like when you come off a bigwin like that, it's almost better to
go right back and play your nextgame the next week, so you're still
off that high. But obviously withthe National Championship game, you guys had
forty days off in between. Doyou think that played a role as far

(18:18):
as you guys maybe lost some ofyour energy or lost some of your focus
after the Michigan game, and maybethat was part of the reason you guys
didn't perform as well in the inthe championship game. Well, I think
that. You know, obviously,now with the current structure with the Big
Ten Championship Game, you can't reallycelebrate the Michigan game anymore because you got
to go play, especially now wherethey remove the divisions and now it's like

(18:41):
you're gonna have to go play Oregon, you got to go play a top
five team on the other side ofthe Big ten because it's literally gonna be
the two top teams now. SoI mean, there could be a scenario
you play Michigan again, so youdon't you don't get to relate celebrate because
I mean back then, like whenwe played, like we were done before
Thanksgiving, which is crazy. Imean, I mean in six, you
know we had a bye week.Uh we actually I think we played twelve

(19:03):
straight games in O six, wedidn't we didn't even have a bye week
in O six because we played wehad a buy and then uh they removed
the bye week for whatever reason,and we played Bowling Green that was during
what was suposed to be our byeweek. So we played twelve straight and
we were done super early. ButI think with the current structure, uh,
it's all different because there's no realI mean, obviously you're gonna celebrate
beating Michigan, but you know,when you gotta play Oregon the next week,

(19:26):
like your celebration is gonna be youknow, like a couple hours and
that's it because when you got togo play the Oregon Ducks or whoever's that
two team in the Big Ten,Like, you gotta get your mind right.
You can't be out, you know, kicking it and having a good
time and relaxing because you're gonna befight. You're gonna be facing a monster.
And that's something that's gonna be intriguingthis year because we don't we don't
get to play Iowa or Northwestern orMichigan State or these like turds from the

(19:51):
old Big Ten like Western Conference thatnow you're gonna go play like real teams.
So that makes it tough. Andthen you know with the playoffs,
like it's just gonna be such ait's gonna be such a mental and physical
proposition for these guys because they've gotto stay even and they've got to peak
at the right time. And that'ssomething that Urban was great about, is
he'd get the guys to peak atthe right time, because that's delicate because

(20:15):
you know, you gotta figure outhow hard do I push them? How
hard do I beat him down?You know, do we put the hammer
down on him and practice today ornot? How beat up are they?
And that's why Mickey Barati's really goodis because he'd always give them good advice
on you know, the team's beattrash, take it down a little bit,
or hey, let's turn it upa little bit and beat them down
a little bit. Because you know, managing your roster and managing the health

(20:37):
of your players is gonna be socritical when you can play seventeen games now
because you know, like the olddays, like when I played, it
was thirteen at most, and nowyou got add four more games on top
of it, and you're not playingAkron four times. You're playing like sec
Skoals, You're playing good big tenschools, and it's gonna be it's gonna
be a battle, and I meanI'm excited for it. I think it's
gonna be great for college football.But you know, manage your roster is

(21:00):
gonna be so critical going forward.And that's why you know, Ohio State,
knock on wood, hanging on totheir depth in the transferporter right now
is absolutely huge. Yeah, absolutely. I mean they're playing seventeen games,
that's the full NFL season. Soin speaking of Michigan, Kirk, I

(21:22):
didn't know if you've got a chanceto catch the Sharon More postgame interview from
the spring game. It almost tome kind of looked like a hostage interview
because he did his press conference andthen they interviewed him on the field,
and he looked zero energy, didn'thave hardly anything to say, Yeah,

(21:47):
we played well, We're going tocontinue to work. It was almost like
he was deer in headlights almost.I think you knows what's coming again.
I know Michigan fans want to saynothing's gonna happen, slap on the wrist
or whatever, but it's just like, what do you look at how egregious
the cheating was and how much ofa luxury it is to have an electronic

(22:08):
paper material from a guy like ConnorSallion's who just used his own name for
buying tickets. And I'm sure theyfound, you know, transactions, and
I'm sure they're going through his venmoand his bank statements and whatever, like
I mean, because you know,you can, you know, subpoena that
stuff and it's gonna be it's gonnabe ugly. And again, Michigan,

(22:29):
the Hamburger gate thing just dropped likethis week, and that was from twenty
twenty during COVID, So you know, these things take time, and everybody's
like they want instant justice and instantexecutions. But you know, the NCAA
has got to be thorough and honestly. Some of this information takes time to
get and I think that they're gonnabe smashed. And again I say it,

(22:52):
I've said it a billion times onmy show, like every single coach
left the Strength coach. I mean, Joe Harbaugh pillage the entire scham Becker
Hall of every coach that he couldget except for Shanmore, you know,
and the guys that he didn't want. So he didn't want Mike Hart obviously,
because Mike Hart's a head case.Uh. And then his son Jay
Harbaugh went to Seattle with McDonald,who was there, you know, two

(23:15):
years ago. But I am orthree years go, excuse me, so
I am. I think that theyknow what's coming. I think it's gonna
be hard to recruit up there.You know. Again, they're getting kids
to commit right now, which isgreat. They got a good defensive player
the other day, But will itstick if they get hammered, which is
what I'm projecting. They're gonna gethammered worse than we've seen just because of

(23:37):
you know, again, they werecheating us integrity, which is a company.
You guys should google if you guyswill listening to this, Like US
Integrity is involved in this thing.In US Integrity, they they're they're they're
hired by every major gambling company,every major league as in like the NFL,
the NHL, Major League Baseball,the NBA to investigate from fradulate fraudulent

(24:00):
movement in gambling lines. You know. Again, like we saw the NBA
player recently get get a lifetime DANbecause his friend, you know, dropped
eighty thousand dollars at a casino onyou know him, like scoring under eight
points and under six assists and underfour rebounds, and so that was like,
yeah, yeah, people, Iguess, I mean, that's like

(24:22):
a layup for US Integrity. Butthey investigate all batting patterns. They have
access to all of the online transactions, and you know, their computers can
pick up when there's really suspicious activityon some random uh event or random game
or you know, some acron versusbowling Green Tuesday night game, all of
a sudden, it gets a milliondollar wager on one side, Like that's

(24:42):
gonna send up a big red flag. So those guys are investigating Michigan.
Obviously there's rumors of potential gambling goingon inside of Chann Beckler Hall, which
would be a no no. Soagain, it's uh, there's a lot
of layers to this and we haveprobably we've probably seen twenty percent of it
compared to what the investigation has gottenunveil. So I'm excited for it.

(25:04):
I can't wait for it. Andit's gonna be all the best days and
Black Skip history when it happens,right right, You guys were the first
ones to report on that and uhto keep it going. And I almost
have secondhand embarrassment for the fan baseup there and for the Beat reporters just

(25:30):
for the simple fact of that theyhad a lot of information that they sat
on and and it's wild to methat that there was. And then before
Pro day he came up and wethrew that night before Pro Day, and
we've i mean, we've payed intouch. I feel like, pretty well,
he's just an awesome human and evena better teammates. If I could

(25:52):
ask you quickly, what did youmake of what he was able to do
after you saw him and you playedwith him the year before and he came
on and did what he did hisrookie year. What did you make of
what he was able to do inhis rookie season. Man, I just
to be honest with you, itwas no surprise to me or anybody in
that Ohio State facility. Just weknew how to do a special and when

(26:12):
he got the chance, got withthe right people and the right coaching staff.
The dudes unbelievable. Brian Bearfield,Hey, Kay, welcome to Houston.
Brian Bearfield, big sarch media foreverybody just called me Sarage, as
you could tell by the hats.So, Kate, I don't want to

(26:33):
take you back down memory lane forjust one second. I just looked up
some of your stats. So youwere in high school. You were running
back one thousand and four into seventyseven yards your senior year, seventeen touchdowns,
linebacker, one hundred and sixty threetackles, four intercessions. You broke
your high school scoring record in basketballoverall athlete. Even when you got to
Ohio State, you didn't really youwere like a hybrid. They didn't really

(26:57):
know where to put you until youended up it tight ends. So I
say all that to ask you whatthe Houston Texans are getting an athlete who's
willing to play anywhere and everywhere theyneed them. Correct, one hundred percent.
Yeah, that's one hundred percent,undred percent correct, no doubt about
it. I'll do whatever we gotto do here to win ball games.
And I mean they got awesome players, awesome coaching staff, So just super

(27:19):
super blessed here. How much didthat how much does that background help you
or help you to get through youknow, college and now'll get you to
where you are today? Uh?I think every day I've been thrown in
a million different directions, pool ina million different directions, And to be
honest with you, I mean nothing'sever gone like how it's supposed to on
pen and paper in my life andmy coaching career, so I mean my

(27:41):
playing career, excuse me. Andit's just I think I'm just I feel
like I'm battle tested and I feellike I'm ready to go. Thank you.
Yeah, Cal You're unmute any better? Katie got me? Yeah,

(28:06):
I got you now. Cole Thompsonthe USA Today Texans Wire, Congratulations are
getting drafted. I just heard youkind of mentioned a little bit about coaching.
You're talking about your coaching career,not your playing career. Do you
want to get into coaching afterwards whenyou're done playing football. No, no,
no, it's a lot of emotionsgoing through my body right now.

(28:29):
So regardless, No, I'm notplaying on getting coaching. I'm playing on
just playing as long as I can. Just a quick follow up, and
you look at a guy like TamikoRyans, who is a former player that
is very close to the league onlyhas been out for about seven years.
What does it mean to be playingfor somebody who's translated over to this new
side of things but also understands whata player goes through on the daily basis.

(28:51):
I think that makes the biggest differenceon the world. And I think
you can tell by the way theplayers respect him and just how and the
job he's done in the short timehe's been there. I mean, the
dude's unbelievable. He seems like anunbelievable person. I'm just really really excited
to be able to planner Nathan CodyHey k Cody Davis from Sports Illustrated.

(29:11):
You and I met at the NFLCOMBA. By the way, Yeah,
I would like to know, man, what are what type of tight end
are the Houston Texans getting? ManI'll tell you what they're getting, just
a complete utility player. Basically,I'm gonna do whatever you asked me to
do at one hundred percent, uhone hundred everything I got every single time,

(29:33):
and just I'm gonna be the exactglue in the locker room. I'm
gonna be a dude people can cometo when things go wrong. And I'm
so excited to help his team anywayI can. Kim. Hey, Kate,
it's Kim Davis with Chalk Talk.Congratulations on getting drafted by the Texans.
Following up on what Cody, justto ask you from your compation,

(29:57):
I know he's spoken how you havethe stack, but what do you know
about this just from what you've seenthis offense? And although you're utility player,
what excites you most about it otherthan obviosly playing with CJ. Now?
I just think one. I thinkDalton Troultz is a great player.
I've watched a lot of his filmgrowing up and just even the last couple
of years study a lot of whathe does, especially was on the Cowboys

(30:18):
and now just to be able tolearn from a guy like that and take
notes and tips how he handles hislife and everything. It's gonna be awesome
for right now, in long termdown the road. And one quick follow
up, what do you know aboutthe city of Houston? Have you spending
time here? No? No.I trained in Brisco, Dallas for a
little bit for a couple of months, and then that was really about it.

(30:41):
Other than that, I've never reallybeen to Houston. But I mean,
I'm really excited to come. Allright, thank you for the media
you too, Aaron, Hey,Kate. When it comes to blocking,
some tight ends embrace it. Somedo it because it's part of the job.
What's your mentality toward blocking? AndI have a follow up? Man,

(31:03):
I love blocking, Uh, Ido. I'm gonna throw my face
in the fire chance I can get. I might always be pretty, but
I promise you're gonna get every ounceof the power I got. And the
draft process as a proven guy,did you go on a lot of visits?
Did you work out privately? We'resomeones that you remember, And what

(31:26):
kind of level of activity did youhave with Texan's Combine meetings, et cetera.
Yeah, thank yeah, we hadwe had a formal at the Combine.
Uh. And I've always, likeI said, always talked to CJ
closely. Uh so, just havingthat and then just throughout the prox we
had a couple of zoom calls hereand there, and other than that,
I mean, I trained the hoststate coach Mick and coach at the trained

(31:48):
coach is up there with train agroup of me, Tommy Iickenberg and Steel
Chambers, my roommates that we livedwith in the afternoon, and that was
really about it. We just trainand play ball at that point. And
the other teams, did you goon trips things like that? We took
one local visit to the Bengals.That was it. We have time for
a couple more. Go ahead,sarge, Oh Kate, I know that.

(32:12):
You know we asked you a lotof questions about playing with CJ.
But you've been scouted as a tightend but can also be fixed out to
the wide receiver position. Being atOhio State for as long as you were,
what did you pick up from alot of those great Ohio State wide
receivers that came through the time youwere there. You just watched, I
mean, you watch those guys goabout how they handle releases, how they

(32:34):
handle their feet atoping their routes andeverything like I mean for me, I've
never played it in my life,so starting you literally started from square one,
absolute square one, so learning slowlywith them. And then I mean
when you got the chance in thesummers, I mean when I was younger,
you got the chance to go trainwith Garrett in the summer and the
sand and stuff like. You justtry and take little bits and pieces of
what people have, just apply itto your game the best you can,

(32:57):
because not everybody's the same. Soyou just pieces together how you feel help
you the most. Thank you.We'll close with Cole Heate. I know
that your background is in defense fromyour time at Ohio State, that you
translated over to the offensive side toplay tight end. What kind of advantages
are Houston's offense getting with you beingable to understand kind of coverages? And

(33:19):
here's some folks here at the headtables. Obviously you just heard it from
Pastor Seamontago. Thank you again,past, and amen to an archie gard
of meinam next to him our pastpresident to stare Jami bar Left. You

(33:44):
just heard from him a few minutesago. Coach day more with the massive
times, let me correct myself,stay champion head coach that guys, how
you should be a The prestid nextto the name is his lovely wife Rebecca

(34:05):
and her Menda has signed on tospeak to us next year. She is
going to be one of our speakers. What a great story. She works
with a lot of underprivileged kids andalso as a track coach and wrote a
book. So we've got a lotof stuff to cover with Rebecca, so
we're looking forward to that. Andthen obviously our speaker, mister Archie German.

(34:32):
I want to thank our sponsors aswe have been doing the all season
long, Liberty Ford All Care,All Cares, Prime Time Health Plan,
Wilkshire Golf Course, the Maria MotleyMemorial Fund, the Scholarship and doctor Peter
Ferguson Chiropractor. A couple of announcements. The history books that we give all

(35:00):
of our speakers. We had afew to lefts for the season. They
were ten bucks. They're going tobe on sale for five dollars. Will
supplies last, so if you wantedto pick one up, if you go
in the back and give one ofthose as well, there's loaded one.
Okay, got the fight over,don't forget. Next Monday is our golf

(35:23):
outing at Wilkshire. So if you'vegot a team to register, please do
that sea Bill Costello obviously, andalso we have I know there was individuals
that needed to be put on ateam. So if you are looking for
a team to jump on Seamill andhe can get you squared away. Then

(35:44):
following our dinner that evening right hereat Tozy, so we'll have some great
prizes and door prices, like Isaid, and some things to give away
as well as a great meal preparedby the staff. Prey Tozy, the
Pro Football Hall of Fame Residency programrolls along. I've been mentioning this every

(36:07):
week, and this past week wasWillie Road and Willie had some fun in
town. I had a chance tohave dinner with Willie and but he's he
loves he loves Caro in Ohio,and I love to see that these Hall
of Famers come back and enjoy themselveshere in their second home. So I
can tell you firsthand that Willie wasreally excited about it. And this week

(36:30):
we have Lynn Swan, so newSteeler fans keep an eye out for Vince
one Calves in Boston. Talk aboutthis every week series is two to one
Boston winning the last game here inCleveland they played tonight, so the Cavs
can bounce back and see what theycan do send them back to Boston.

(36:52):
We've got some birthdays when it announced, and a couple of these were given
to me as I walked dude today. Tim Richard's birthday also, I know
he's back in the kitchen and workinghis butt off. Mike Tosi's birthday today
as well. And this one isspecial, this one here. Please join

(37:20):
me and welcome me. Is heback here? Okay? Club member Bill
Pilotti. Bill turns ninety nine nextTuesday, anyway, knowing you, Bill
is a World War Two veteran andfought in the Battle of the Balls,

(37:45):
so thank you. And then finally, June eighth is the National High School
Football Hall of Dinner or events,I guess if you call it, it
is June eighth, and Archie isa member of that Hall of fame as

(38:09):
well. So if you're interested andwant to go to that this year,
we've got some great new Chinese andCEE RJ for more information for tickets and
things like that about the event.So June eighth, we want to put
it on your calendar. So again, no luncheon next week. This is
our final week of the luncheon,and then we will see you at the

(38:30):
golf outing and here at the dinnernext Monday night. Breaks me to our
speaker today, which we kind ofchanging it up a little bit. Talked
to Archie a couple weeks ago andhe said, how about if we just
sit down and chat, and Ithought that was a great idea. Let's
talk shoot some questions to him.We'll open it up to the floor and

(38:52):
do that. But before we dothat, I almost forgot. We've got
a drawing. Yeah, I can'tbelieve you guys in saying it. I
would keep that in mind. Threehundred and twenty one dollars. It's our
biggest one in the year. Ozzie'sgot the money back there. When have

(39:15):
Artie drawing the ticket, I willput in my glasses and never let me

(39:49):
forget the nurs I messed up thenumber ones seven seven, five six or
seven three hundred and twenty one dollarsright down here, seventy five six four

(40:24):
sons every side. I'll get myglasses on while I read Archie's bio,
because there's some really good stomach hereand I want to make sure I get
him raggy. Then we're gonna inviteArchie over. We're gonna have a seat
over here, and we're gonna talkinteresting. This is too ironic. Born

(40:46):
at University Hospital nearly in the shadowof Ohio Stadium, Archie Griffin has been
a fuck out of his whole life. After serving for eleven years as President
and CEO of the Ohio State AlumniAssociation, Archie stepped back in twenty fifteen
to a consultant role as a senioradvisor in the Office of Advancement at Ohio

(41:08):
State. During his tenure leading theOhio State University Alumni Association, Archie later
an expanded effort to embrace young alumniand began initiatives focusing on career assistance and
establishing an office of volunteer Relations.Known to the world as the only two
time Heisman Trophy winner, Griffin isalso one of a select group of Buckeyes

(41:32):
to be named a three time AllAmerican during his playing days from nineteen seventy
two to nineteen seventy five. Amember of the National Football Foundation in College
Hall of Fame and current boarded director, Griffin is a member of the Rose
Bowl Hall of Fame and was namedAll American Century Player by the Tournament of

(41:54):
Roses Association during the centennial celebration ofthe Rose Bowl back into Thou in fourteen.
Griffin is one of the two playersin NCAA history to start in four
Rose Bowls. Following his story careerin Ohio State, Archie graduated in nineteen
seventy six with a degree in industrialrelations. He was the first round draft

(42:17):
choice to the Cincinnati Bengals, wherehe served as co captain and played for
seven seasons. He returned to OhioState in nineteen eighty four and rose to
become Associate director of Athletics for sportsbefore taking the leadership role with the Alumni
Association. Playing under the legendary coachWhitty Hayes, Archie learned a life lessons

(42:39):
of paying forward in life, devotingaccoontmiss hours to philanthropic causes. At Ohio
State, Archie created the Archie GriffinScholarship Fund, which benefits Ohio State's Olympic
sports programs in the central Ohio community. The Archie and Bondelie Griffin Foundation Fund

(43:00):
helps develop sports, educational and travelprograms for youth. As a aspire the
next generation to dream big. Archiehas three children, Anthony, Andre and
Adam, as well as three grandchildren. Archie and his wife Benida split their
time now between Westerville and another homein Florida. Locally, Archie has been

(43:24):
inducted in the Ohio High School AthleticAssociation's Circle of Champions, which recognizes former
high school student athletes who have demonstratedoutstanding character and accomplishments on and off the
field. He was inducted into theNational Federation of State High School Association of
State High School Association of Hall ofFame in nineteen ninety six. He was

(43:46):
also honored in many of twenty fifteento be the commencement speaker during his spring
graduation ceremonies at Ohio State. Archiewas recently selected as the number four all
time player in college football history byESPN. I want to know who the
other freedom legendary Ohio State coach.This is what's impressed appearing, Woody Hayes

(44:13):
said famously of Archie Griffin, He'sa better young man than he is a
football player, and I've seen alot of freak football players. A sought
after speaker and humanitarian Archie serves onmany boards and foundations. He's a former
director of Abercromery and Fish. Archieserves as a director of Vancovia Insurance Company,

(44:36):
member of the board of directors forthe Columbus Youth Foundation, and a
member of the board of directors forTriple A Club Alliance. Let's welcome two
times Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.Are you you're over there? I think

(45:10):
I'm on me say this. Thankyou so much, But I Depoly Christ
my father and father was still living. I'm sure they're the only ones who
believe all whose nice physicians. Wellyou know what, when when I got
that, I looked at it andI said, you know, I wouldn't

(45:30):
cut it down a little bit,but I thought, now I don't need
to, because we want to hearall about Archie Griffin. And uh,
this is a great opportunity. Andas you can see a lot of Scarlett
Gray out there, Archie, alot of banks and uh, I thought
this would be great. I knowyou mentioned that, why don't we just
sit there and chat. I've gotsome questions that I want to ask you
and let you elaborate on as well. So the first question is your your

(45:53):
family. It's a storied American story. Really when you think about it,
Uh, you're your parents grew upin West Virginia coal mining camps and before
moving north to really uh offer abetter life for their kids. You were
born in Columbus at a university hospital, which she was part of that bio.
I mean you had to little outand see that horse you out there

(46:15):
and say that's where I'm gonna be. Well, I wish I could have
looked out there at this time.Quite impossible. Right when you think about
your childhood, who are some ofyour greatest influences and and help you stay
on track? Well, you knowwhat, Uh, I guess I have
to start at home with family.You know, I was very important to

(46:37):
come from a fairly larger family.I've got six brothers and one sister,
and uh my parents, Uh theywere ins priority. I mean, uh
my mother and father. My fatherwas one of the hardest work with the
men that I haven't done. Imean, when you think about it,
uh he worked three jobs uh tosupport our family. And uh my mother

(47:00):
was a a homemaker and uh shedid a wonderful job with uh eight kids
and uh so when you talk aboutpeople who were in inspiration. Uh.
My folks were an inspiration to me. Uh as we were growing up.
They they had priorities for us,and the first one was for all of
us, all of us to alwaystrusted God. Uh. Second one was

(47:20):
all of us to get an education, college education. And the third one
was for all of us to participatein sports. And they wanted us to
trust God first because I always saidthe gods they controlled me, like he
could help you in any situation thatyou might find yourself in, and I
will hardly believe that. And secondly, they wanted to have an educational college
education because that was something they didn'tget. I mean, they had a
dream. Their dream was for allhaid of their kids to graduate in college.

(47:43):
And I'm very happy to say thatthat was a dream come truth with
them because all they of us didyou graduate from college? And my mother
and father were living they were sovery very proud of that fact. Then
their third priority was of course toall participating athletics, and they one of
the first paid an athletics because theyfelt with athletics and kind of round the

(48:04):
first out, it teaches you alot of viable lifelong lessons. Things such
as the will to win, copridpressure, get along in the team situation,
and all those things are very veryimportant to help you in life.
Absolutely that I mean that they wereinspired on. But there were others.
There were others I mean I II certainly think of my coaches, my
coach he's and my high school coach, uh Bob Stewart, who uh got

(48:29):
lessons so just passed away about ayear ago. UH create inspires man.
But I when I when I reallythink about people that made a difference,
I think about a junior high schoolguidance counselor. UH. His name was
Oscar Giel. He was a guidancecounselor our student council. UH. He
was the leader of our student council, and when I was in the eighth

(48:51):
grade, ninth grade, our servedas president of of of our student council.
And I just remember one day himsitting down with us and talking with
us about uh some things that hethought would help us in our lives.
And what he talked to us aboutwas what he called the three d's,
and three d's being number one desired, number two dedication, and number three

(49:13):
uh determination. And I remember tellingus that if we'd apply those three d's
to anything that we wanted to do, then we could always feel good about
ourselves because if we use those threed's, UH, in essence, what
we have done is we have givena total commitment desire, you know,
setting goals for yourself, dedication,committing yourself U to a little goal,
through determination, overcoming the opticals togive me away. Those three d's have

(49:34):
been I would say, my secretsauce for success because I've used those three
d's and just about everything I haveever done in life. And I learned
from a junior high school guidance councilorby the name of the district hospital here.
So those are just something the peoplethat UH impacted me, Frank in
a very very positive way as Iwas coming up well certainly has paid off

(49:55):
for you. You know, afteryour football days were over and you spent
nineteen years in the athletic department inOhio State, at eleven out of those
years as the alumni association president.That level was on top of that nineteen
right, and that thirty thirtyeven Ican't even get away. It was thirty

(50:20):
years ninete grade years to nineteen inthe athletic department eleven more as as our
association president. What were some leadershiplessons that he learned that he tried to
apply in the business world. Well, when you when you think about all
these ships, I'll think about thecoaches in particular, But before you ever
do that, the Gold group verybasic. I've tried to make things so

(50:45):
the Gold group do unto others becauseyou wish they would do up to you.
To me, that was one ofthe greatest things you could have as
a leader in all the really meaningof the chise treating people right, right,
I said, I can't think ofa leadership lesson any better uh than

(51:07):
that, treating people right, beingempathetic, feeling what others feel. I
mean, that's that's a great lesson, uh to have when you're in a
leadership grow. But I think thecoach as and some of the things that
I learned from him, Uh,Coach, he was a great leader,

(51:27):
I mean, and I think hewas even a better person than he was
a coach. And I just thinkthat much of him. But he was
a great leader. Uh, hehad great leadership qualities. Dedicated dedicated to
the House State University, dedicated uhto the game of college football, dedicated
to the coaches who worked for himand had them players who played for UH.
He was a disciplinarian. He said, UH fair, reasonable rules and

(51:51):
regulations, and he would enforce thoserules of regulation. He was honest,
great leadership lesson. Can't think offor from morn to see what he ate
is UH and UH the best thingabout the best thing about is the fact
that he cared about people. That'swhat made him such a great person.

(52:13):
I know people you know talk aboutthe incident that UH took him out of
the game, But I could tellyou as a guy that played UH for
coach A's who UH loved coaches,that man cared about people. You all
know. UH. The pay Forwardtern Uh, he really set that pay
Forward urn on the map. Imean he talked to us about paying Forward

(52:37):
years and years before the movie PayingForward came out or any of UH signs
that are on or house stage andthen out he talked about paying Forward.
Yah. I'll never forget. Heused to always on Thursday nights, UH
after practice. Uh it was alight there of practice. He would take
us uh over the children's hospital.Uh. He had one of those El

(53:00):
Camino you remember the El Camino.It kind of it wasn't a truck,
but it was uh a car thathad a a open back. We jump
in the back. He takes usdown the children's hospital to to talk with
the kids. Uh that when thechildren's hospital, because they loved for the
house State football players come down andtalk with He knew that, and every
Thursday he takes a couple of usuh down the children's hospital and talk to

(53:22):
because he knew that it would uhhad a positive impact on those kids and
children hospital. But he cared agreat deal about people. And you when
we talk about leadership, you know, caring, being dedicating, being honest,
and certainly treating people right a characteristicsthat you want to give your leaders.

(53:45):
I'm gonna take you back to yourfirst game and then you talk about
perseverance and overcoming obstacles and things likethat. It didn't start off too good
for him. You wanna share thatstory, Well, it didn't start off
to a good the uh my myfirst year Ohio State when I when I'd
been recruited uh about hoile State thougha lot of people told me that I

(54:07):
should go to my house stead.They said, uh that I was too
small. They said that UH,you know, the coach age was only
recruiting me so that the UH teamup north UH wouldn't get me. He
said, you know, you'll neverplayed for Ohio State because you know you're
you're just not big enough. Coaches, and we had those big bats,

(54:28):
well over two hundred pounds. Hewas a fullback oriented coach. And then
I should go to a smaller schoolwhere I'd get a chance to play well.
Being an atheletes, you know,I I I felt out my billion
or anyone else. I took itas a challenge, UH to go to
Ohio State. And I remember whenI reported to camp in the summer of
nineteen seventy two. Now something youmight remember that nineteen seventy two was the

(54:49):
uh uh very first year that theyh that they allowed freshman to play on
varsity teams in the current area.That was the very first year. And
you might remember if there were thoseplane crashes, certainly at Marshall and the
Wichita State had plane crashes and Marshallthey wanted to continue their football program,

(55:10):
but they couldn't do it without freshmenplaying. So the NCAA they opened up
freshmen being upible for everybody and sothat was the very first year that the
freshman world and played well with thatbig the case. My number one goal
was to make the varsity team becauseI wanted to prove to everybody who said
that I couldn't play at O housestate, I wanted to prove to him
that I could play at a houseskate. I'll never forget when I reported

(55:32):
the camp in nineteen seventy two,I was put in the back and put
it the batmen, playing on thefifth team and playing on the fifteen ben
playing on the Scotts squad. AndI think something you know with that is
that's more or less the beach squad. I mean, we were the guys
that took the beat and every dayin practice from the first team is our
job was to run the opposing teamplayed while the first team defense got their
practice off of us. You talkingabout discouraging, that was really discouraging because

(55:58):
for some strange reason, that firstteam defen seemed to know what places we
were running and when we were running, so as the running back, he
could have gained any yardage and allagainst that first team. Well, that
year, our first game was ahome game and it was against the University
of Iowa because it was a homegame. Coach Hayes he allowed everybody to
address because he believed that if youpractice for Ohio State, then you should

(56:22):
be identified at the Ohio State Universityof uniform had a home game. I
was really happy about that because thatwas the least show at the odds part
of the team, you know,even though I was from the fifteen at
tailback. And then even though that, you know, there were three number
forty five out on the field thatday, well the ninety before. Coach

(56:44):
as nine before every game, hetook all the varsity, all of the
varsity, which was about sixty fourplayers. He took them away to a
hotel with his freshman of reserves.We stayed in the dormitory. We met
up at the varsity, did agame to stated that game against how it
was started and we're beating now werepretty bad and in the fourth quarter it
was a couple of minutes to goin the game. Coach a decided to

(57:06):
give a few freshman an opportunity toplay, and I was one of those
freshmen. And now I can rememberhim calling off the bench to go into
the game, and I remember outcited. I was because this was my big
chance, and I could get inthe game, run for a touchdown and
made me just make a big play. He might put me on that varsity
team. And again that was mygoal. I wanted to be a part
of the varsity. I wanted toshow everybody who said that I couldn't play
at the house that I wanna showhim and I couldn't play o a house

(57:28):
team. Well, I went intothe game, got into the huddle,
and to my surprise, the firstplayer that was called was an eighteen sweet.
Now in eighteen sweet was a pitcherout to me going around the right
side, I mean, great opportunity. We broke the huddle, lines up
in the eye formation, quarterbacks startedcalling the signals. And as he started
calling the signals, I got thething. I said, you know,
I'm wonder if ball wanted line,that's gonna open up the same type of

(57:51):
call for me as they've opened upfor other running backsman around here, because
all day long they would make mebe huge. Though probably running backs to
around so Simon was one of them. If they do the same thing for
me for the ball was snapped Andas soon as the ball was snapped,
I did something that was fundamentally wrongto see when you're running back or a
tailback that you're gonna get a pitchout. One of the fundamental things that

(58:12):
you talked from day one coach withButter, you gotta look the ball into
your hand. You gotta wash theball come from the quarterback's hands into your
own hand. But when the ballwas snapped, the first thing I did
is I focused my attention from thehole which I was gonna run through.
And when I looked towards that hole, I was shocked because those guys that
opened up a hole big enough youcould drive a truck throw me in the
hole was just that being so insteadyou turn it back towards the quarterback and

(58:36):
watching the ball come into my hand, I kept my eyes on that hole
because I got to make sure itdidn't go anywhere men. With my eyes
on to hold the quarterback crissed theball, took the ball, hit me
in the hands, and I hunghim. And that's just one thing you
don't do when you play with Coach. He use met of fund Now,
as you can imagine, I wasdisappointed. He took me out of the

(58:57):
game and I watched the rest ofthe game was not much left from the
bench, very very disappointed. I'llnever forget going home. That night,
my father sent something was wrong withme. He asked him about I told
him, I said, Dad,even I don't know that I'll get another
chance, you know, being thefifteen to tail back, being on the
scout squad, I don't know thatI'll just having fun. I don't know

(59:21):
that I'll get another chance. Thisyear. For my father, like he
always would do, is he gaveme a courage and he said he if
they didn't think you could play,they wouldn't be chie in the game.
And I struck a chord with him. He might have something there. But
I went back to practice that nextweek. I was still on the fifth
team, still on the scout squad, still taking that meeting every day for
the first teamers. Our next gamewas against the University of North Carolina,

(59:45):
and it was also a home game, and again because it was a home
game, everybody was allowed to dress. Now before the game, coach took
the varsity away to the hotel withhis scrashman reserves stayed in the dovatory,
met up with the varsity game ofthe game with the stadium game against North
Airlina started first quarter. North Carolinablocked the count of arms and they went
ahead of US seven and other andall of a sudden midway through the first

(01:00:08):
quarter, called from the bench calledBen, Kevin calling bren I'm knowing didn't
mean me going then Kevin calling Brell. I was the only griping on the
team at the time. So Igot up and went to run out onto
the field. And when I wentto run out up too the field,
one of my teammates called me backbecause in all the excitement I had forgotten
to take my helmet with us toleave. The coach Hayes meant for me

(01:00:34):
to go into the game after Ihad come up the week with before I
would feel the team tailback. Iwas on the scouts squad. How could
he have meant for me to gointo the game. It was truly a
mystery to me. All I couldtell you is if I went into the
game, and I'll be totally honestwith you, I was in a daze
the whole time, and all Iknow is that my number was being called
and I was running with the ball. And I'll never forget when I left

(01:00:57):
that game after playing about two anda half quarters. When I left that
game, the eighty six thousand fansthat went to Ohiose Stadium, they stood
up that they gave me a standingovation. And they did that because those
two and a half quarters I brushedtwo hundred and thirty nine yard where it
was at that time I was thattime, that was Ohio State brushing record.

(01:01:17):
Now I've just never, ever,ever forget that hock counted as a
pre I really knew because the nightbefore that game, when I prayed it
is out of you every night,I asked to go to the book,
give me a chance to play inthat game. And when he give me
the chance to play, help meplay to the best of my building.
But he did that for me,and I'm so buried, buried, thankful

(01:01:37):
for me. I had a lotof exciting games at Ohio State, but
that that, about doubt, uh, was the most exciting. What happened
to happen in my predman year.Well it it certainly filled you, I
know, because it's now been fiftyyears since you won that Heisman Trophy,
the first one. Yeah, anduh, what what do you remember about

(01:01:58):
that night at that the ceremony,Well, it's different now than it was
when I was when I wanted.Uh, I'll never get it. Uh.
They called the Athletic department on aMonday after the Monday after we played

(01:02:19):
that team of North They they calledthe Athletic Department and told them, uh
that I needed to be in NewYork. Uh. They were gonna make
an announcement of the Hide Controphy winner. Uh. There would be two or
three others uh there, but theywere gonna make the announcement who want to
Hide Control. So I was allexcited uh to go to New York on

(01:02:39):
Tuesday, got on the plane.Uh. They had an escort beat me
in Columbus and and UH escort meuh to uh New York. And I
got there and I was the onlyone there. So they made the announcement
that I won to Hide Control.Uh huh and uh I'm excited certainly.

(01:03:00):
Uh. You know I played onthe great teams at Old House. Taking
that uh team was one of themthat nineteen seventy fourteen. Uh. But
certainly I was excited because you know, when you went out to the trophy.
As far as I concernant, UH, that's a team award, cause
you don't win that kind of Uh. Award. Don't you gotta have people
and telling you how a great deal? And I certainly had that during my

(01:03:22):
time at the Old House table.Well, they made it announced that the
that day and then uh the nextweek. Uh, my whole family got
the opportunity to come to New Yorkand they had the big uh dinner and
that was very very special. Igot really emotional because uh looking out to
the audience and seeing my whole familyand my mother's father, uh, my

(01:03:43):
brothers and so ter I mean everybody. Uh it's I got overtaken by emotion
because that was an awsome time forme. But the next year they tried
to pull that same thing right,and they told me they knew I knew
the drill. So I happened tobe uh going to Saint Clairsville, Ohio

(01:04:09):
on that Monday after the Michigan gamein nineteen seventy five, and so the
sports information director told me that onmy way, I needed to call in
to see if the Downtown Athletic Clubin New York called to tell me to
come uh to New York. Well, on my way to Saint Clairsville,

(01:04:30):
I I I stopped at a fillingstation and got on a pay phone and
all back to the Athletic Department anduh, I think it was Steve Staffords,
the assistant uh SID at the time. He told me that Downtown Athletic
Club called and said, uh,they knew that I knew the drill and
that I hadn't won the High Control, but I can't tell anybody, So

(01:04:56):
I had to wait till the nextday to go to New York. And
they now that I had won thesecond high as the true and I'll try
to honor their request. I didit better. My mother, my girlfriend
and a couple of my teammates foundout that night. They didn't tell anybody.

(01:05:16):
No, I don't think you failme. But yeah, it's quite
different now. You all know thatit's a it's a big, huge ceremony,
it's a TV showing on the ESPN, it's a it's a great time
for everybody. They've been a lotof it. Palmer played former winners back.
But it was quite a bit different. I bet that gas station wishes

(01:05:39):
they knew that you received the wordin their gas station that you won the
Husband Troda you mentioned. You know, it's changed that has changed in the
game of football, has changed asfar As ni L and the transferred portal
and all this stuff that's that's happeningin the last few years. Your thoughts

(01:06:00):
on that, is it good forcollege football or what are your thoughts?
Well, yeah, it' it's ora college in general. Yeah, it's
it's it's good, but very goodand a little bit of bad. You
know, let's say it's good becausewhen when when you you you think of
nil Uh, let's talk about inIL. You talk about in IL.
I mean people could see that coming. I mean yeah, yeah, everybody

(01:06:24):
uh could see that coming. Whenyou start seeing billions and billions of dollars
being paid uh uh to the collegecoaches, you just had know that,
Uh, something's gotta be given uhto the young people uh playing the game.
So you you you could see thatcompany. Now it didn't come,
But wait that I thought it wascoming. I mean I I I I

(01:06:47):
I I. I think they haveto get some more regarded ails around in
IL and how it's done. Youknow, when I thought of an il
us, I used to think ofnil as. Uh. You know,
you you go to college on yourscholarship, Uh, you do well and
maybe uh a car dealership might wantyou to do a commercial form. You

(01:07:12):
do that commercional, you get paidfor. That was in IL the the
way uh that I saw. Orif somebody wanted you to do uh a
company wanted you to come in anddo a speaking game with them, you
do that speak and gave it.You get paid for us And to me,
that's what an Io was. Wellit's gone far beyond that. Now.
You know, you have to dealwith uh uh in IL money uh

(01:07:38):
when you when you recruit people you'renot supposed to. But but when when
when people are being recruited, Imean I even hear stories that uh some
people are even asked, uh askthem when to come to universities to pay
them uh like five thousand dollars tocome make visits and things of that sort.
That's not how I'm envisioned in IL. So they need to get some
guardrails around it. But it's agood thing. It's a good thing that

(01:08:00):
they have uh in im. It'sa good thing that UH players or athletes
are getting uh the opportunity uh tomake uh some money uh off of uh
what they're doing. I I Ithink that's a good thing. I've always
been a proponent uh for that.Uh, but at the same time,
they've got to get some guard girlsaround. Now. I know the NCAA
just recently, uh pass the ruleswhere the schools can get involved and in

(01:08:24):
helping kids with in I L youknow, they can use their marketing partners
uh to help kids get their INIL, which is good, it's it's a
good thing. But I've always feltthat the schools shouldn't be involved anyway,
because I look at in IL assomething that if the schools had control of
it would be uh in a bettersituation. You wouldn't have to deal with

(01:08:45):
the agents and all that stuff that'suh getting involved in. Yeah. And
when transfer of Mortal is another Yeah, there transfer Immortal. I'll tell you
it's uh, it's crazy, andit it works for some. I mean
there's been some people that's gone forthat transfer portal and they've done a great
job. That's worked down and win. But what people don't know about are

(01:09:08):
those that get stuck in the portal. I mean, I think I think
Geene Smith was telling me that,uh there were us it was last year
or a year before, but uh, there were like thirty five hundred people
went into the portal. A thousandm didn't come out of the portal.
So you know hitting works with morewaves. Yeah, so you've gotta be

(01:09:29):
very very careful how you handled uhthose situations. So you know it's uh
it works for something. I mean, I I think of you know,
people like Joe Burke who who wentin and got the LSU and and did
terrific things. Uh Uh I thinksome people like that. Those are the
ones that you hear about, butyou don't hear about. There are ones

(01:09:49):
that get stuck in that portal.So uh again, very good, there's
a little bit bad. And keepingwith change and co football. As a
Big ten guy, you know thelandscape with the Big Tennis change, We've
got USC, Oregon, Washington,who else U S l U C l

(01:10:13):
am all coming uh into the BigTen? What do you make of that?
I can see that coming too.You know when you when you when
you see uh the SEC and thoseteams I go over the ten, you
knew that the Big Ten was gonnahave an answer for that, and they
answered being For a long time,the Big Ten has been talking about being

(01:10:35):
a conference that goals from coast tocoast and uh, now if you look
at it this year, it willbe a conference from coast to coast,
from the east coast to the westcoast. And uh, you know,
I think it's I know what heas is probably ruling open his grade and
no one in the U U CL a USC are playing in the big

(01:10:58):
ten. Uh but uh yeah,I think it's uh gonna be exciting to
watch. I can't wait to seeUSC uc Lags come and play us in
November. And that's that's that's whatI'm not reported to. You know it
it's gonna be it's gonna be ashore. But you it it's gonna end up

(01:11:19):
with, in my opinion, acouple of super conferences. Uh you know,
we were just gives a eighteen eighteen. Uh, so I can see
the big dam to add another coupleand super see the SEC added some more.
Uh, it's it's gonna happen,have super conferences. You mentioned Woody.
I wanna go back to the firsttime you met Woody Hayes. I

(01:11:43):
I've heard this from a few peoplethat I've known over the years that when
Woody came to the house a lotof times he didn't talk for and football
all. Yeah, and tell usabout when he came to your house.
Well, first first, you know, he moved the salesman. Oh and
hey, hey, you get himin the house, and he's got the
parents there, that's who he selling. You know, you just sitting there

(01:12:06):
and they said the parents and uh. But the thing about about coach is
that, uh he he really didn'tsay anything about football at all. Uh.
Matter of fact, there was somuch that uh, I thought,
well, maybe he doesn't want meto play football for me. You know,
all he talking about was in educationand how cool it was for uh

(01:12:27):
me to getting good education. Anduh, you know, so again I
I I wasn't so sure that ifyou didn't wanted me to play football.
Uh, but he continued to recruitme. So you know, I I
told to go out state, andI'm glad that I did it because I'll
never forget it. And the firstmeeting that we attended this freshly, uh,
the first thing that they told allof us was if we were in
school for anything else other than toget a good education, then we might

(01:12:49):
as well get up and eat themeeting. He had a sam and stuff,
but he always said that an athletewithout an education couldn't be headed for
a bad situation. You know whenyou think about that, that's so very
true because when you you think aboutthe number of athletes that played the game
of football, I mean it's it'shuge. You know, over sixty thousand

(01:13:11):
athletes UH played the game uh comingout of uh uh high school, coming
out of college. And when youthink of the number that make it into
pros, you know, it's notany comparison because you've got the thirty two
pro teams, you got seven roundthe draft. That's two hundred and twenty
four people, two hundred twenty,four hundred and sixty seventy thousand. It's

(01:13:33):
not very good knowledge of room andtwenty. Coach as always tried to make
the hospital and that you had tohave something else to fall back on.
That fall back position that he constantlyreferred to that he drilled in the huss
cause that you had to have aneducation, You had to have something,
you got a fall back position.It's always your education to get out,

(01:13:56):
make it good lining and be ableto out for the companies. Uh.
I know, this is my lastquestion for you, and then we're gonna
open it up. Floor off.It's all right, I always wondered,
and you know I'm watching your career. You know, you started off with
a with a bad bumble and andthings like that, but you had such
an incredible career after that. Andyou played against some really good teams,

(01:14:18):
uh, in the Rose Bawls andand throughout the the regular season. I
mean, the team up north hadsome pretty good teams. They did,
and and there were some other teams. IOWA back then was good, and
there were some other teams. Whowas the toughest guy you ever played against?
Tough guy, played against a lotof tough guys, A lot of

(01:14:38):
really really tough guys. You know, I'll i'll go to about pro career.
Uh. One of the guys thatwas really really tough to hit me
the hardest. Well, you rememberguys, remember Hollywood Anderson. Oh yeah,
you had something. Guy hit meso hard. Calling man, I'm

(01:15:00):
Kenny Anderson, was thought via I'llrunning the past, but I was the
least man on pass playing. Iwas one out the side Kenny Anderson football
up in there. It just letsseem back. It took forever from now,
and when it came down, Ithought it Holly Wood Henderson hit to
be so hard, I mean outof him. He hadn't be until the

(01:15:21):
next day, I can't he said, he ain't hit me so hard,
and I'll never forget that. Andthen I was reading his book and he
talked about that kid. That's howhard he was hard enough, but he
wanted to talk about it in hisbook. He said, I hit art
scripted so hard. I knocked bothfull times and tools office and he did.

(01:15:45):
He did. He didn't be hard. Uh. But the other guys,
I mean, you know, I'veheard you mentioned some of the Pittsburgh
Steelers, and you know the ProFootball Hall of Fame, A lost Fitzburgh
Steelers are in the Hall of Fame. And one of'em Jahan Laderman,
I mean, he he, hewas one of those guys, Jack Lambert.
Uh and and and not necessarily asthe hardest hitter, but he was

(01:16:09):
the surest tackle. I mean,you could never get away from Jack Lavin.
And I'll just never forget how howhe uh used to uh wait when
when when first played a game onoffense, I'll never forget. Line up
in the affirmation, looking across theline of spirits at Jack Lamber. Now

(01:16:29):
this is first played. The gamecame just start right, Jack Lambert had
the blood all over his uniform.Where did that come from? Playing the
game? What did you do inthe locker room and never play? He
had blow it all all over.He's just unbelievable, but he was a

(01:16:51):
very sure tackler. Uh Dona lovedplaying against uh. I. I I
liked him because I actually knew alittle bit about him because he played It's
played with my brother Daryl at KentStaton's, so I had an opportunity to
watch him play UH even when Iwas UH in high school was lit and
uh and and and always paid alot of petitional and whom they went caught

(01:17:14):
because he was those same teams asone of my brothers. Well, I
know these folks have some questions.We're gonna open'em to the floor before
artily has to leave here, Sogo ahead, arn'tie? Yes, sir,
the thousand you mentioned that went intothe portal, do they have any
choices? Well, they could asktheir team to let him back in,

(01:17:34):
or they could, you know,try to go to another team, try
to get accepted on another team.But you know, you go into that
portal, sometimes you can get lostin that portal. I mean the team
that you left don't have to taketo get back. So then that's that's
what I'm saying. I mean,it's one of those situations where you know,

(01:17:54):
you can go in that portal hopeingyou'll come out, but you might
not come out, and you Ihope you've got the other opportunities out there
for you to take. And mostof the time what will happen is they'll
go to uh maybe a lesser divisionof some sort. But yeah, I
mean it's not just one way thing. You don't go in and out of

(01:18:15):
mad get picked up by somebody.Yes, I don't want to say Cornelius
Green story. Cornelia's Green story.Yeah, well you all might remember Cornela's
Green was pretty fun. Uh.Being going into my sixth year, I
kind of know the layer of theland and everything, and anything that I
can do to help them become acclimatedand be a part of our team,

(01:18:39):
I'm gonna try to do that.So obviously I don't know, they don't
ask me, and uh, butmy job is when they get here to
kind of help bring them along asmuch as I can, because you know,
we'll go as far as the quarterbackgoes. Good to see too longer.

(01:19:00):
Yeah, yeah, we were wewere training. We trained at Bambritos
together, so I got to seehim for the most part of the off
season, and first of all,I was happy for him. Obviously,
we know that this is a businessand you have to do what's best for
his career and his future as well. So you know, obviously he has

(01:19:24):
familiarity with Joe Brady had one ofhis best seasons with them, So you
know, I think he's gonna bea big part of their offense and continue
to grow as a receiver. Youknow, it's a lost for our room
because he's a dynamic playmaker. Hecan play inside and out and just his
energy. Man, I think hereally became one of the favorite teammates on
the team because he kept things light, but he also was a really hard

(01:19:45):
worker and and uh made plays whenwe need him to. So on a
personal standpoint, I'm definitely gonna,you know, miss him having him in
the building, and he's kind oflike the guy you I get to talk
to and and he's like my bestfriend. But on the other hand,
I get to see him, youknow, continue to take steps in his
career. Uh, he's still veryyoung, so he has a lot of
good football ahead of him. Literally, King offense and how may be different

(01:20:14):
for the offense. And yeah,yeah, we haven't honestly even started an
install yet, so I haven't evengot a lay of the land quite yet.
I'll probably take a look at justgot our I pass within the last
few days, so I'll try totake a sneak peek at what we have
looking for. But you know,I know with him talking to zach Ertz,
he does a great job of tryingto get his playmakers involved, which
I think we have a really goodgroup of guys from the running backs to

(01:20:36):
receivers and some solid tight ends aswell. So I'm just looking forward to
see where I fit into that.And you know, I think with him,
his biggest things is making sure theplaymakers are making plays and trying to
fit the scheme around that, whichis always good to hear, good to
see too. Off Yeah, yeah, it's definitely, you know, an

(01:21:08):
adjustment obviously when you're learning a newoffense, and it's kind of the same
mentality I take into last year inyears past, where you kind of just
want to take a day one approach, kind of erase what you've learned in
the past. But at the endof the day, I think you know,
schemes in the NFL are relatively similar. Is just the names and the
formations that may be a little different. So just getting used to the terminology

(01:21:30):
and Cliff's offense is just going tobe something that's an adjustment for all of
us. But the good thing aboutit is I got some good time on
my hands to really put some workin studying when I leave this place,
so I could come in here whenwe have walkthroughs and when we start to
put our helmets on, we canreally hit the ground running. So so
far it's we haven't learned anything yet, but my approach is the same.

(01:21:53):
Try to take good notes in there, ask good questions, and then study
on my own at night. Iknow you like to go to the off
season. Yeah, yeah, Ithink I got some really good work down
in Florida. Is just working onmy footwork, just being better at the

(01:22:13):
top of my routes, sharper onmy speed cuts, dig routes, out
routes, and just being cleaner withmy footwork at the top of the routes.
I think, you know, witha little bit of zone covers that
we've seen in the past with someteams kind of running more too hot show,
You're gonna get a little bit moreof catch technique where guys are kind
of sitting at the top of yourroute. So I want to be better
at being efficient to getting out ofthose routes when the guy's kind of sitting

(01:22:35):
at my depth, whether it's afifteen yard comeback or a twelve yard curl
route, you know, being ableto get out efficiently so I can keep
creating keep the separation within my route. So obviously I'm always still working on
my ball skills and making sure I'mjust catching a lot of footballs in the
off season, but just really beingbetter at the top of the routes and

(01:22:58):
you know, sharper out of mycuts is something and I think I can
improve on. Good to see youtoo. You know, you're obviously one
of the leaders of this team andteam captain, and with so many new
faces, new players locker room,what is the challenge you're going to have
and the other leaders in that lockerroom blend everything together because there's so many

(01:23:18):
new and different personalities. Now,yeah, I think I think that's really
started with coach Quinn in the wayhe's really integrated everybody over the first two
days. I think we haven't evengotten into x's and oo's quite yet.
We've just really beginning to know oneanother, getting out there with Chad and
the strength coaches and getting some goodworkouts in just kind of creating a foster
in an environment where everybody's the sameand continuing to have a competitive environment.

(01:23:44):
I think that brings out the bestin one another. And obviously, you
know, you have guys like ZachErtz who's played a lot of football and
won a championship, Marcus Mariota obviously, Bobby Wagner, who's a future Hall
of Famer. So you've got someguys who have been brought in here who
know what it's supposed to look likeat this level. And from my self,
I just want to continue to adduh my value and be even more
vocal this year than I have inthe past, especially with possibly a new

(01:24:06):
quarterback coming in, and I thinkthat can really help our offense. Have
you know, some more unity withthe guys who know what it looks like,
helping bringing those guys, the youngerguys along. I don't know,
if you had a chance to watchOSS conference, he didn't want to use
the word rebuild. Yeah, thechanges going on with this franchise, all

(01:24:29):
the new changes and new coaching staff, all the new players. Is there
a certain word use or how doyou view everything? Honestly, I just
think of it as a as anew year. Just talking to Sam Cosmy,
Uh, we've been here for afew years, so it's a lot
of new faces. I think,you know, this is probably the most
I would say turnover we've had inthe last few years. So there's guys

(01:24:50):
coming from all different areas, walksof life, and but I think the
one thing is the same. They'reall coming in looking for an opportunity to
compete, taking up a step intheir careers and prove that they're one of
the best players at the position.And I think coach Quinn has emphasized that
we're gonna have the opportunity to proveourselves. Whether you're a ten year vet

(01:25:11):
or a second year player. Youknow, this is a clean slate for
everybody. So I think it's justabout getting on the same page, enjoying
coming in here and working together andalso just pushing each other in these workouts,
and then when we start getting onthe field, uh, really get
that competition going. Try to simulateas we go along in this off season
process of how the games are goingto be. Hey, how are you

(01:25:39):
doing? Good to see you too, And yeah, I think coach Quinn
has really assemble assembled a very uniquegroup of coaches. There's multiple head coaches,

(01:26:00):
there's multiple quarter uh coordinators have comefrom different places, and so you
have guys who have a lot offootball experience, some have played, some
have coached in big games. Andthen you bring in, you know,
the the talent that we have defensivelyand offensively. And I just think you
can feel the unity and the samenessin the message that he's trying to preach

(01:26:21):
to our team, and it's we'regonna be tough and we're going to be
competitive, but we're also going tohave fun. And he, like I
think he said in Your Guys' Interview, he said he likes to do you
know, hardship with good people.So I think that's fun. You know,
a guy like me likes to putmy nose down and grind and work.
So I know him and I aregoing to continue to hit it off,

(01:26:43):
and you know, it's just myjob to help bring other guys along
with me. Thank you more.Your next step as a vocal leader.
Yeah, what does that mean?I think for me, I've grown a
lot in my vocal leadership. Ithink I try to always find the balance

(01:27:05):
of when to say something, whennot to say something. I think I
never want I've always wanted to bea person when I say something that means
something like you don't want to beYou're giving all the motivational speeches, but
you're not backing up with your play, or you're talking so much you kind
of your message is drowned out.And so it's kind of continued to find
that balance of when to say thingsand when to kind of just take a

(01:27:26):
step back. But I think I'vegotten a really good feel of how to
do that. I think obviously witha new coaching staff, you just try
to understand what they how they wantthings done, and you try to,
you know, bring what you dowell into that, and you also try
to encourage the guys who haven't takenthose steps in their career to do that
as well. So I think forme, it's just really starting In my

(01:27:47):
position group, I think we havestill a very young group, kind of
inexperience for the most part, butI think we have a lot of talent
in there, and it's just myjob in Bobby's job to continue to bring
that group of being part of thisprogram and you know, just contribute as
much as I can. What wasthe major point for you to decide with

(01:28:10):
the Rams? You know, Ihad some familiarity with Stafford, you know,
I had him my rookie year,and you know, I've seen the
pieces to the puzzle and you know, the ability to you know, possibly
make it all the way and Idefinitely wanted to be a part of something
like that. Thank you, jortonhim Jonah, Welcome to Los Angeles.

(01:28:31):
I'm Jordan with the Athletic congratulations.Thank you Jordan. And so we respect
the watch placement here on the onthe deck. I'm actually a lefty though,
so I got it on the wrongone, but I'm kind of amberdex
Or, so we can forgive it. I just wanted to get your a
little bit deeper takeaways of what youmake of the personnel along this offensive front,

(01:28:56):
showing up Kevin Dotson on the oppositeside of you at guard and then
Steve bobbyla probably moving to center yourimpressions of those guys. I know you
haven't you know, been down onthe ground for that long. But just
from afar, what you make ofthose guys and Rob hagen Stein and Alerc
Jackson on the outsides. Yeah,I mean we've had some cross tape through
the season, so I was ableto see like the work that they do,

(01:29:17):
and uh, you know, that'sa powerful bunch. I came out
the same year as Dotson, soI had some familiarity with him through college,
and uh, you know, watchinghim, Steven Alaric and Rob,
you know that's a that's a goodgroup, kind of similar to what we
have in Detroit, and you know, there's there's some specialness there. So
I'm excited to be a part ofit. You know. Sean McVay has

(01:29:40):
praised a lot of the run gamethat you guys deployed, and particularly kind
of getting a little bit more tothe duo, the man blocking and the
gap stuff, as as a lotof teams shift. We're still on the
outside stuff. Is there when youwatch that cross tape? Is there a
crossover in your mind of things thatyou're already comfortable with that the MS last
year started really installing and deploying behindsome of these new personnel. Oh yeah,

(01:30:04):
I mean the gap scheme and theduo just in general is probably our
bread and butter and Detroit and GladI said bread and butter over here,
so you know this is it's notgoing to be too hard of a transition.
And you know things like that areright up my alley. And then
finally, you know Matthew Stafford.I know you had familiarity with him your

(01:30:27):
rookie year, but watching from afarwhat he was able to do in LA
and you know we saw him kindof get back to help being healthy last
year. As someone who is goingto be protecting him, how do you
describe him? How would you describewhat he's good at and what you needed
to do to protect him. Imean, he's in Detroit. We called
him the Wizard. You know,he can figure it all out and he

(01:30:47):
can make anything happen. And youknow, I'm excited to be able to
protect him and you know, lethim make us look good and make plays
happen. Thanks Johan, I congratulation, Thank you. Adam. Hey Jon,
I'm Adam with the Orange County Register. Congratulations, Thanks Adam, appreciate

(01:31:08):
it. Yeah, I'm curious kindof what the process looks like. You
know, you agree year terms abouttwo hours into free agency? What do
those two hours look like? Whoare you talking to? You talk to
anyone with the range personally, it'slike, just what do those two hours
look like for you? Actually,me and my wife, you were just
sitting at home and like, theI guess twelve o'clock hit and we were

(01:31:30):
like, we thought it was goingto be like an idiot and you know,
mayhem and kind of sat there forlike forty five minutes and my agent
was calling me. It was like, what do you think of Los Angeles?
And I was like, that doesn'tsound too shabby. And we talked
about it, and you know,it sounded like the right move, good
weather, good place to be,good winning culture, great staff, and

(01:31:51):
you know, just everything overall wasjust a pluf. So we couldn't deny
that. I know, it's kindof the age in the business. What
is it likeboa to make a decisionlike that, by such a light altering
decision like that on such short notice. Yeah, I mean it is.
It is pretty crazy, you know, just the the amount of timing you

(01:32:14):
have. But you know, youkind of have a I don't know,
I've been on the outside looking inat this place for a while, so
I kind of had a general ideawhat's going on, and a lot of
familiarity within our building. Like BradHolmes, you know, he was from
here, so I kind of gota feel of the people that you know,
they they've been around and how theyrun things. So I kind of
got a good feel about how itwould be here. Thank you, Stu

(01:32:42):
They jonas Stu Jackson from the RamsDot comedy beneach you man, my fellow
Jackson brother, what's up? Man? Hey? What's up? Listen?
That you've spent most of your footballcareer, whether it be you know,
college or obviously the NFL now inthe Midwest or East Coast, So now
you're here, what's it like justbeing out here? And you know,

(01:33:03):
being in southern California now, Iwill say the weather is beautiful, you
know, it's excellent and definitely goingto miss the East coach. You know,
I've got a lot of roots therein the Midwest. You know,
I've started a lot there, butnothing like new beginnings and no better place
to be in here. And Iguess what did you notice about just this
offense from Afar? I know Jordanasked you about some of the specifics with

(01:33:26):
schematic carryover, but you know,beyond that, beyond Matthew Stafford, what
it would appeal to you about beinga part of this offense and being a
part of this team. Beyond thosethings. Yeah, just I mean a
lot of similarities on what we do. You know, the gap scheme,
play action and you know, havingto drop back. You know, I'm
comfortable in whatever we've had. I'vehad eight this should be i think nine

(01:33:47):
now nine different offensive coordinators since Istarted college. So I'm comfortable in whatever.
It doesn't really matter. But likeI said, the pieces to the
puzzle were, you know, incredible, whether it's the wide receivers, the
running back, the QB, theold line, the defense. You know,
it's it's a it's a pretty goodteam over here. So I'm excited
to be a part of it.Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

(01:34:11):
Gary, Hi Jonah Gary playing fromthe Los Angeles Times. Welcome the Lost
Angels, Sarah, Thank you.Gary. I'm curious what was it like
the part of uh, you know, alliance an organization that enjoyed that verge
last season, and what, ifanything are your memories of playing against the

(01:34:33):
Rams in that wild card game atwork Field. Uh yeah, you know,
being a part of something, uh, you know, and Detroit where
for so long that the city wasdying for a winner, and being able
to bring it there and and youknow, change the trajectory of everything and
and bring some light to the situation. It was awesome and there's nothing like
it. But you know, whenwhen you when you face the l A.

(01:34:56):
Rams, you know they got theygot a special defense and you know
up front they they got the guys. You know, so that's at all
y'all good sir. See, Idon't I don't mess with that though I
worked for you know, you didnot. I don't Claire. Will you
talk about the differences between left andright and just I mean, obviously it's

(01:35:20):
different size of it, But isit schematically or is it physically anything different?
Uh, it's more mentally. Theyain't think though, Like least side
was always my uh best side backin cars, but since I got to
if, I've always been playing right. But you know, it's a it's
a good challenge for me and Ican show people I can actually play right
and left. So it's a versatilitything. So I'm happy about it.

(01:35:42):
There, you moved around a lotthroughout your career that there's jumbo side you'll
tackle, I guess, And itsays in playing about the left and the
right side, do you think youkind of benefit from focusing a little bit
more on the right center, Yeah, a little bit. But you know,
there is a new system that wehave. I I didn't find my
mindset most in the right, butalso have my minds on and left too,
just in case something does happening tolike you know what I mean,
like Coltland or you know, Peteof course, but I'm always gonna be

(01:36:06):
ready for loft no matter what.How quickly have you felt like you picked
up this new system that you're workingin after it's a we actually pret picked
up pretty well cause it's the samesystem that I'm used to back in the
hot stae cause we're more like spreadback at how I say. So,
you know, it's pretty good.One of those like the draft process off

(01:36:26):
seasons. A lot of people outsidethe buildings are paraders get the right tack,
Yeah, a lot of yeah,alright, now, a lot of
people in the building, right,we have a right time. All the
people get motivated by that. Youfollowed it like if you peta you doing
it though I don't. I readinto it a little bit. But also
at the same time like they nothere of course, but I don't really
care what they say. I knowwhat I can do, and the team

(01:36:46):
know I what I can do.So they trusted me right now and I'm
not gonna live them right now.How hard or how easy is that to
compartmentalize that and use that as fuelsgoing forward rather than the kind of marinated
it, uh I j I justkeep the seats. Everybody knows that one
person I don't really care for himat Also, that's all going through.
But it's all love. I loveuh outside of this. But keep it

(01:37:09):
on me, keep getting better,keep on these knights, see what I
can do there. You've been aoutspoken about your supporter of Zamir, and
obviously it's just a chance now tobe the dog. Wait, what is
it about him that you bought inso early? The reason why I bought
it so early cause us I wasat a house they they always taught us.
Actually, I go get it andask. Since I got here,

(01:37:30):
I'm always wanna go get and Igotta picked late and I always wanna prove
people wrong. You know I thinkprove people wrong all my life. I
don't wanna keep doing that. That'sall different, which I guess we just
like we don't put it like setand you feel like a community year that
you know mean nine eight difference ninethey difference from my first year and my
second year to now. Like now, my guy, I know I can

(01:37:53):
play. I know I can goagainst some one of the best special nights
anybody else that we want to playthis year, and I know why can
do so. All gotta do nowis ast meet my potential and should do
it and help everybody else out onthe team as well. You've practiced a
lot against Malcolm and he's really comeinto his own. What is it about
Malcolm that's helped him make that nextstep? There? Man, Malcolm,

(01:38:14):
he's quiet, he doesn't really saytoo much. He comes in to work
every day, do what he does, and he works hard. He doesn't
flit twice at anything. Yeah,he'll get mad over a co restpos At
the same time that like he hasa mentality of adult Like he's he don't
really care what y'all think or anybodyelse thinks for real. So it's just
like alright, let's keep going.That's how everybody is on the team about

(01:38:35):
tyraise. Yet that same mindset,he does have the same mindset. A
little nervous, but uh nah nah. He has definitely grown up a lot
from his like first year here untilnow, like he has, but he's
he's growing up a lot mentally too. Until you guys are reimagining the offensive

(01:38:57):
line a little bit with you outthere right side, yeah, farm there
next to you on the on onthat side too, and then drafting the
guys a little line. Yeah.How long exciting is that to be part
of something that's that's kind of beingyou know, having that trust but also
being reinvented a little bit. That'sgreat, you know. But me and
dealing knows like they gonna keep aplacing us, of course, But all
the same time, we gotta keepgoing. You know, came to school

(01:39:18):
and think about what they did.All we gotta do is saying about what
what can we do is get betterin fourteen as well? Sorry, don't
put all I don't know, bothsides the right a little bit more.
How How long are you guys workingtogether? So we working pretty well,
you know, you say, forus, we had like a a little
rookie moment a little bit. Butyou know, me and him, that's
been great friends. You know,actually like my brother and I always will.

(01:39:43):
You know, we talk every dayabout how can we get better?
Help can we help each other outon the on the right side so we
can actually make a connection. Youguys played like Friday game. Do you
do you think of that? Whatdo you about the NFL playing like Wednesday,
Christmas? All that stuff? Theygotta see us. So I think
guys, see, guys, first, I really care about that. It's
time for play. Russell knows that, Uh, we're competing against each other

(01:40:08):
every day. Him being out therefor me that you know, helps me
getting better. Uh, us pushingeach other. So I mean, I
definitely don't have the mindset of youknow, me just you know, sitting
all year. So you know,I'm coming in every day giving it all
I got and you know, pushinghim to be his best, and he's
you know, pushing me to bemy best each and every day. So
I appreciate that you too had arelationship before this. Yeah, is it

(01:40:29):
kind of does this kind of helpwith growing on as you're on the same
team, Uh, I mean,yeah, you know the first time I
ever talked to Russell was when Iwas in college. So you know,
we've we've we've known each other,uh for for a good bit now.
And uh, the fact that Iget to you know, learn stuff from
him, you know that the thethings that he's accomplished, you know,
up to this point in his careerhas been great. So just me learning
just the little details how he's souh meticulous in detail within every rat every

(01:40:51):
individual drill. It just kind ofmakes me think, like, you know,
that's what I should be doing eachand every time. So I'm I'm
glad to have him here and gladto be able to learn from him.
How do you look back over thetime that's up? It's just really good.
What how do you look back onthe time in Chicago? Yeah,
I mean there was a lot ofups and downs, but all in all,
I appreciate every relationship that I built. All my teammates, they know

(01:41:14):
that, nothing but love for thecity, for the fans, and uh
for my you know, old teammatesand coaches. Did you feel they did
everything they should have done? I'mnot really gonna, you know, harp
on the past. It is whatit is. It's it's in the past.
Now I'm here now. So likeI said, I'm grateful to be
here and gratefully what it'll be ahardest team like Jack Kevin. You're traded
at ten o'clock the time you areyou able to sleep that night orre you
on the field? What kind ofhappened after you get that? I mean,

(01:41:36):
yeah, I mean I've been dealingwith you know, people for you
know, a long time. Soat my exit meeting, you know,
we were in the same situation lastyear with the having the number one pick,
and it was just a little bitdifferent this year. So I mean,
I'm not I'm not naive to thefact that, you know, I
can read body languages and stuff likethat, so it wasn't really just a
shock to where it's like, ah, I got traded, Like I knew

(01:41:57):
what was gonna happen beforehand. SoI'm just glad I got, you know,
traded to the spot that I wantedto be at. The Yeah,
I think, so, I thinkwhen you're just you know, waiting,
cause I knew I was gonna gettraded, you know, at the end
of the day, that's that's justwhat it was. So it was just
you know, uh just me waitingand you know me, you know,
trying to figure out where I'm gonnabe at and uh stuff like that.

(01:42:19):
It was definitely a relief to youknow, kind of be on a team
and uh know where I'm gonna beat. So that's another thing to a
really good situation because yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, shout
out to uh uh you know posehe he you know, who would communicate
it to to him, you know, through my agent, and you know
I told him where I wanted tobe and this was a place I wanted

(01:42:40):
to be, so you know heuh you know, honored that and I
appreciate him for that, and uhglad he was uh able to put me
to the spot where where I wantedto be at. What needs to go
right for you to become the guy? Now? You know he kind of
envisioned you and you came out inthe first round, but you said,
what needs to go right? Yeah? I mean, I mean, I
know you're gonna put the work in, but you're in a good spot.
And what are the little things thatyou think it's gonna take to get you
to become the guy that with you? All? I think me I just

(01:43:03):
gotta you know, keep working everyday, like I said before, just
being detailed and every drill, nottaking a day off. And I'm just
good having rest here, learning fromhim, us pushing each other each and
every day. So you know,I think just controlling what I can control
every time I step on the field, you know, just just fall out
and uh play to the best ofmy abilities and you know, let let
let God handle the rest. Sowhat can you just bend on? The

(01:43:25):
team has been helpful to you orclosest to you as far as getting used
to the team, the organizations andplays, just work any practice, yeah,
I mean, uh, it's anew offense, so nobody really has
been in the offense before. ButI mean there's a lot of young guys
on the team, so I thinkjust that fact right there, it's easier
to communicate with people and kind ofjust you know, kind of just build
that relationship cause you have so muchin common already. So I've already uh

(01:43:46):
hung out with a handful of guyson the team, already built those relationships,
and you know, we're just gonnacontinue to grow get closer with each
other, and uh you know,ready ready to uh get to playing this
season stuff, justin what was itabout this team, this situation that appealed
to you. Just the culture Ireally think at Ohio State. I think
there was a video that dropped withyou know, Coach T. I can
just you know, feel the energyand just you know, just the consistency

(01:44:10):
throughout the years and the culture thatCoach T has and just the standard that
you know, the Steelers have haveset, this organization has set. So
I think that was the biggest ofpill for me. And you know,
our defense is always you know,gonna top tier and you can't you can't
win games without defense. So yeah, just just the culture coach T and
you know, of course the teamitself. So it wasn't an issue that

(01:44:31):
it was a situation where they had, like literally days before, had gotten
a guy that they said, thisis gonna be our story. Nah.
I mean I wanted to come herebefore Russ got here and after too.
So it was it was more sothe team, not you know, not
worried about who was here, noneof that sense sought to Pittsburgh when he
got here that after city other people. I mean, yeah, I will
say this, I think Pittsburgh hasone of the or has a lot of

(01:44:55):
nice people. That's one thing I'venoticed. Like I've taken a few ubers
at the airport and I've had fourwith thirty minute conversations with Uber driver.
So yeah, just just people,uh you know, their generosity, they're
their niceness. I'm going out andpeople don't even know who I am.
They're just being so nice to me. So I think that's one thing I've
noticed. And then I started goingon the walks this past offseason, so
just the different views of the city, the bridges and stuff like that.
It's is is pretty cool to me. So we do you know, the

(01:45:17):
offense is new, it's just dayone, but from what you've learned so
far, how do you feel likeArthur Smith's offense is gonna put your skill
set some of the stures? Imean yeah, I think, uh,
you know, he's he's had experiencewith you know, doing their quarterbacks a
lot of quarterbacks in the past,Ryan Marcus of course, Desmond and Tyler
in the past past few years,so you know, he knows how to

(01:45:38):
play to his players strengths. Andyou know, of course he's new here
too, so he's got to figureout, you know, what guys do
uh, what things the best way, and you know we're just gonna keep
building and getting better every day.But I definitely, you know, trust
him to you know, put everybodyin the right spot to have as much
where he's got his two cents onit, which is, you know,
always the best two cents I've heard. But me being who I am,

(01:45:58):
you know, I'm I'm I'm gonnathrow my two cents in there, you
know. So that's just uh,it's been awesome. Man. We he's
he's you know, a resource forme, just a person that I can
always bounce my thoughts off of.And now, you know, just a
year you said, thirteen months.Now I feel more comfortable just you know,
bringing certain things that you know,you never you never wanna come off
too. Stan. But I'm acurious guy. I got a lot of
questions. I like, I likefootball a lot. I like to talk

(01:46:19):
talk to games. So you know, come to find out, he's the
exact same. So we uh,you know, we get along well,
and you know we're gonna keep keepbuilding that relationship. Sometimes in this league,
playing you know, eighteen games,they tryna make it twenty. You
know, it's like it sound likea little a little fever dream to be
honest, But but uh, ifwe can find a way to k you
know, stay up right out there, keep keep Aaron on his feet.

(01:46:40):
You know, I'm I'm excited forthat and uh everything that comes with it.
But uh, but yeah, likeI said, man, that's it's
it's harder said than uh or harderdone, and said, I guess you
know, it's one of those things. It's like that's a lot of games.
You know, all of a sudden, take a lot of hits.
They take a lot of hits wherethey're not looking, and it's just how
can we keep him healthy? Yeah? Yeah, are you when do you
think I get you a super roomnow? You guys have made more money

(01:47:01):
healthy and everything, like, yeah, you know, I'm excited to see
it at at full health. Youknow, we've I haven't got to see
all the all the guys out thereat once. And and you know,
it's one of those positions where everyday is something might happen to Nick up.
You know, it's just a atough position to stay out there at
all times. But I feel likewe got a great group and and the
number one thing is how can westay healthy? How can we you know,

(01:47:23):
I'll be out on the field,and I think having depth like this
and the group we have is gonnahelp us. Having guys that can do
different things, that can go catchball over the middle, all types of
things that it's gonna take some ofthe strain off off all of us.
You know, It's it's a goodgroup. So I'm excited to, uh,
you know, get out there.I feel like we haven't had the
whole whole thing together, but youknow, come season time, a roll

(01:47:43):
and it's gonna be exciting. Whatabout a guy is a your old number?
Yeah, yeah, Malaca, Yeah, man, he's uh it was
a brute and once he catches thatball, I mean he's he's got great
uh instinctive where the defense is gonnabe at how to make someone miss?
Yeah, man, just just playerforever, you know what I mean.
When always talking about his plans,so you know, you us transitions like

(01:48:08):
one of those fairy tale like it'syour time now. But but again,
either way, you know, wetalked about it. You know, that's
that's the how it goes, youknow. But obviously you know he sees
he's he's been one of my biggestsupporters. Again, I affect. Everybody
leads in their own way, youknow, not everybody's the guys coming around

(01:48:32):
and that's not everybody, right LikeI feel for me, that's me specifically
on game day with the O lineafter we do one on one like that's
my Like, well Hump did likelike that's my like big vocal time.
I feel like I've talked to Humpabout this, you know, just recently
talking about how what I want todo for the room is I want to

(01:48:56):
bring that Hump energy that he broughtright so last year year. Of course
some traits have been doing it foryears, but the year while I spent
with him, he brought a lotof the energy and the excitement and the
happiness in the room was just hisnatural energy to where I only had to
focus on me, you know,I didn't have to make sure other other

(01:49:18):
guys would, you know, feelsome type of way when they came in
here because Hump brought that. ButI'm the Hump's not here, but I
saw what he did for a room. I want to be that guy to
make sure everyone's ampt to go topractice, everybody's hype weren't taken and field
team one period you know it's alow day or something. You know,
it's a it's a day, butlike I want to make it feel like

(01:49:40):
you pre paris the trip right now. I want to bring that because that's
what me and Hump did to eachother. Wee wile hpe each other other
dudes like dudes were about to getwalked through. We're lit. So I
want to do that. I wantto bring that energy. I want to
make bring more guys, you know, to do that. You know,
I wanted to do that from dayone, you know, I kind of
I wanted to do that from dayone, from just talking to him,

(01:50:02):
and obviously it's that time. Ispend the off season before OTA started just
being in myself, just thinking aboutwhat the room needs, you know,
because I know my new new roleas one of the leaders, you know,
on the offense, is that weneed a guy like that that's gonna

(01:50:23):
make sure the old line is pickedup ready to go. Every day I
was held accountable little things and happenedto practice. People aren't saying anything,
and how I may lead maybe differentthan somebody else may lead. You know,
I like to a practice at leastlike the legal positivity, you know
what I mean so, but hethe energy yet went beyond just the hyped

(01:50:44):
up the dal line and started too. So that's kind of how I wanna
be s goal mine literally my wholelife. I want to be a NFL
team captain, like specifically the NFL. I wasn't a captain of high school,
wasn't a captain of college. ButI made a joke when I was
in high School's like, did Ifeel like I'm not gonna be a captain
to like it to the NFL?Yeah, but that would be awesome,

(01:51:08):
you know, but you know,if it happens, i'd be great.
But not either way. I wannaassume a role as a captain from the
perspect of the guys on the team. Vidual award today and to get back
to that way, yeah, Imean, I can't say that. I
mean, I guess the biggest thingis that I felt like it has felt

(01:51:30):
like how it you used to inthe past. But it didn't take just
the first day OTAs. It tooktraining left and right once the season ended,
cause I didn't know what it wasgonna be sure, So it took
a lot of yeah reps just toget back to feeling like myself for Day
one OTAs and then that whole firstweek, but now like today specifically just

(01:51:55):
changing some small things with my feetthat I did today, talking about Oline
coach about some things I can dowith my fee to get to the to
selling it the traditional angle that Ilove to set on. Felt even I
thought I felt, I thought Ifelt great already by my okay, I
felt even better. So I'm evenmore excited tomorrow. Now I'm getting my
feedback and how I liked it theright side and on the left side,

(01:52:15):
So I'm excited. I mean,obviously, I feel like in the league,
whether I left or right, you'restill going against premier guys. So
obviously you have high expectations for yourleft hand run tackle. But there's definitely
the like the the level of energyand like the expectations definitely taking a humane
start cause now connected the blind side, that's the that's the tackle role,

(01:52:41):
you know. So so yeah,I would say in terms of communication as
far as just even outside of facilitiesand stuff like that, like really creating
that tackle quarterback bond even more offthe field, I think has been something
that's even been cool. I gota text one day as a hey,
like you play left, and Iwas like, yeah, you know,

(01:53:02):
yeah, I've been training both.I've been training both. You know.
I asked after the season, They'relike, honestly, you know, we'll
talk to you still play in theseason and I just gotta text me,
like depending what happens with with thefree agency then. So I was like,
you know what, I had awhole season right tackle. So if
I get the word, I'm goingI'm standing right tackle. I don't used

(01:53:24):
to do what I did before.I'm built on that bus. I was
like, I might as almost trainedthe left tackle now as if I'm going
to be a left tackle, andI'd rather do that than training on the
right time and get the cro Heyyou're the left tackle. I'm like,
oh, I didn't even switch onmy feet yet, you know what I
mean. So I'm like, letme just prepare in advance. I was
like, yeah, let's god.You know, I think occasionally on third

(01:53:45):
down there'd be a lot of twists. I would just know like it's I'm
automatically coming. And I think thatwas my mindset for like the first half
of the season. But like Ididn't have to go into a game and
with surprise like oh, my gosh, they did that. I kind of
figured like, okay, like thisis this is the type of rush when
it get like this is how thisguy usually rushes. But I get the
vibe, this is how the endslike the rush, you know, tackles

(01:54:06):
that are you know, first yearguys who got the premiere patch on.
I already knew what it was gonnabe, already know of every stunt and
honestly just knowing that it's kind ofan advantage too, so you're not you're
not You're not who they brought thetwist of my side again, it was
never an Aaron Donald, like youknow, they're coming out of minds like
three plays in a row, andin two minutes I knew that it was

(01:54:27):
gonna wa happen. So like youknow what I mean, I'm watching more
than everybody else and he rarely Englandgoes out there on occasional third downs on
the d M, and I said, already know it's gonna be He's gonna
pick me, you know what Imean, So fact fact it's kind of
a it's also kind of advantage ina way, but it's also exciting,
like Okay, I'm gonna get thehardest. Look. You know those are

(01:54:47):
real, real reps, you knowthe bank, So really, I I'm
not. I really didn't kind ofprocess that. I was like, hey,
when they tell me, we're abouthow you might approach this, and
what do you think it's meaning thekey element? You're getting the most out
of those because you got two guys. This ain't my first rodeo, No.

(01:55:10):
I know a lot of people lookat say, well, this guy
only been on the field for threeyears westernn Tucky and Oregon. Just because
I didn't have the title of arunning back coach where I was at the
Memphis I never carried myself that way. I was carried myself as a running
back coach. I approach every daythat way. So at Memphis we had
Darren Henderson, Patrick Taylor, TonyPollock, Kenny game Well, Tonyo Gibson.

(01:55:36):
I've seen talented backs, and I'veseen them be able to function with
one another. So I hear thatall the time about well, this ain't
my first rodeo. Same thing outthere at Oregon Wet Buckeervern Norwich and George
James. You go look at theirnumbers. They all functioned well together.
We learned how to play as one. So this ain't my first rodeo so
and plus I know those two kidsbecause I recruited them when they was in

(01:55:58):
high school. So I'm a funThe challenge and the responsibility of it right
behind it. Dan Hope Carlos,just what is your kind of coaching philosophy?
How do you get the best outof your running backs? I get
the best out because I love theyoung man. My main focus is to
change the hearts and minds of themand they'll play for me. I had
just got through reading Coach Trestle's WinnersManual and it's somethingay that I took from

(01:56:21):
that book. You have your purposeand you have your goals, all right.
My purpose is to serve and pourinto the young man. Now,
my goals is a football coach.All of them are take care of themselves.
So that's one of the ways.I'm just real relationship base and I'm
very detailed at this position. Iknow y'all heard me say it before,
and I'm gonna keep saying. Thisis the worst coach position in football.

(01:56:43):
It's terrible, guys, hire anybodyto coaches position and recruiters. Carls Locker
is not a recruiter. I'm anelite relationship builder, but I coached this
position. I'm a ball coach,so that's who I am. So I'm
gonna pour into these kids. Ithink they kind of seeing it now.
And I jumped in day one attheir coach and the praise. You know,
the soft batched cookies. Where didthat phrase come from? Kind of

(01:57:04):
what was place this boy? Letme tell you about that boy. I've
been called everything but the name thechild of God by the people at the
other places I left, so thatI've been getting pills Pillsbury needs to give
me a deal, cause I've beengetting I been getting some dms and textas
I'm something. Some of them havebeen so funny. The saftbatched cookie thing

(01:57:26):
came from just having a frame ofmind, a mental toughness. It had
nothing to do with guys getting inthe portal and anything. Now, most
people say I'm a saftbatched cookie forleaving there, but actuality I'm not.
Because it takes great strength to makea decision to leave a place. No,
a weak minded person wouldn't be ableto make the decision I made,
so it took great strength to dothat. So I'm telling you if I

(01:57:49):
literally in my DMS, it's someit's some great comedians out here that have
been sending me like tons of cookies, and I'm like, it's funny right
behind him, huddle, How areyou going about the assessment of the talent
in the room? Uh? Overthe past week or two? How much
is that on field? Off field? Like, what's the process of getting

(01:58:09):
to know who you have as players? Well? I broke down well,
me being a guy that loves therunning back position, and I already broke
those kids down cause I recruited himout of high school. You know,
c is from where I'm from inMontgomery. I was one of the first
guys to offer him just watching himgreat contact balance, creative runner, great

(01:58:30):
hands and trey. I recruited himout of Virginia exceptional short air, your
bursting quickness and things that I'm gonnahelp him get better on. And then
I recruited James Peeples out of tout of San Antonio, Texas. I
knew what he was gonna what hewas gonna be TC and Sam those two
kids I'm getting to know and I'mgonna help them improve the game. But
we got different runners. In there. I like to call myself. I'm

(01:58:55):
in love with this position. SoI get to break down runners and help
the game. So talented, talentedroom, very talented. Uh far back
uh, Jeremy Birmingham Podcast Couch.How do you swear that that the soft
past cookies are actually the best cookies? The Philip Britton mix and wan those
are way better than the County chipsand white things with Terman? I mean,
do you do? You have tofirst find a balance there or somewhere.

(01:59:18):
Well, for me, I'm actuallynot eating any cookies. Nah,
I'm just saying I'm not eating anycookies this year. I gave it up
for a fast or no sweets forme for the whole year. That's something
I gave up. So they theterm the South bast cookie term. Look,
guys, I actually took that fromI represent the high school coaches of

(01:59:40):
Myths, Tennessee. I actually tookthat from a guy named coach Slocum.
He used to always say that softbast cookie. I actually stole that from
him. I give him credit forit, and I tell him all the
time he said, you I shouldhave branded that, cause you done took
it and ran away with it.But that's just where that comes from.
So that that now was standing.As you get to Ohio, standards start
to look around the country. Everyorgan's a big place. That's a that's

(02:00:02):
a major job, right. Howhow do you think that wearing your opposite
at logo are the jas wearing theblocker when you get out out of living
free and trail, how does thatchange the way that you feel you're either
receive or or does it add adifferent level to it to just feeling like
I can go anywhere and get anybodyin the country. And that's the sangest

(02:00:24):
thing for me. This is agreat place. Oregon is a great place
too. But guess what, whateverI put on, I know what I'm
going to represent for me. In I N I know who who put
me here? Uh? I knowI represented something higher, you know,
Like I told you, I knowwhat my purpose is. My purpose is

(02:00:44):
to porting to people. So whateverlogo I have on, I'm still gonna
be doing the same thing. Sothis is a great logo. Great logo
by well another logo. Every dayit's across I see around my neck.
I know what I represent. Sothat's the greatest logo I could ever wear.
So it don't matter what other logoor I have on. I got
that one though. I'm be'a goingto any house and be a recruit.

(02:01:05):
Uh uh deep right, Cameratique Robinsonand the athletic So which you you mentioned
the time at the Memphis and themnisfour NFL running backs you mentioned there?
Who you learned from that time thatwe that you can take over to managing
your girl and kid. What didI learned from them? I just building
a just teaching the kids. Welive in such a selfish world though,

(02:01:28):
and I can tell the kids allthe times, it's gotta be much more
the football. The ball gonna goflat one day. As I always say,
what being in that room there atMemphis is, it wasn't four five
teaching them how to be a bobout being one? I tell you them
in all time, it doesn't costyou anything to celebrate another man's success.
So teaching them how to be one, and then once they learned to be

(02:01:49):
one, they function and they feedoff one another. So that's what I
learned from being there in Memphis,right front, Andy Bach from let'em
in Road Cross heard of your careerin the law enforcement kind of influence you
as a coach, you kind ofship where you are. Ah well,
I just got through talking to somebodyabout that today. When I first got

(02:02:09):
in this profession and I got myown room in Western Tech, I was
aksed. No, how was Iwas gonna be able to handle'em my
room? I said, Man,I had a part with fifty one inmates.
You talking about me having got sixor seven guys? Are you kidding
me? I'm talking about me havingto do traffic stops or going on domestic

(02:02:29):
no vioence calls. It's simple easy, No, people donna know what you
care. Also, no, yougotta have a certain demeaning about yourself.
So when I walk into the room, it's the reason why I go train
every morning. This is when it'ssame thing when I was a police officer.
You look a certain way kind ofdeter people from doing certain things.
So it's reason why I go trainevery morning. I'm'a look just as good

(02:02:50):
as my boys look. So uh, it helped out a lot. In
other words, uh from Rol RightAustin word uh the podcast Carls Welcome to
Columbus. What would it mean toI don't know, revolutionize the way running
backs or coach. What does thattake? I ain't. I'm not gonna

(02:03:12):
say revolutionari. I just good.It's some good running back coaches out here.
Everybody's different. It's some great coachesout here. I just want the
head guys who say that on thesejobs to not just hire guys just you
know, all coaches on your staffshould be great recruiters, not just some
running back coach. We coach aposition, We developed players as well.
I just want the coaches to realize, Hey, you know what, let

(02:03:33):
me look and be thorough about thisguy that I'm hiring for this job.
Is he teaching the position? Ishe development the position? Because you're not
gonna hire anybody just coach quarterbacks,are you. Well, it shouldn't be
like that for the running back positioneither. And I'm only passionate about it
because I played it. I loveit, So it's the only position I
want to coach. Could I coachthe other positions? Yeah? I played
dB in college too, but Ilove the running back position, so I

(02:03:57):
just want to see it coach.Well, yeah, a million questions.
All that's a couple of Number one, when you when you when your wife
whatever, you got the message stuff? Or are we moving again? What
was What was her reaction? Nah, she she's just new guy had give
us, gave us a new assignment. S W. It was never like
we're moving again. Let me tellyou guys something I grew up. My

(02:04:17):
mom was in the military, soI lived everywhere. I lived in Panama
of South America. I'm used topicking up and moving. I lived in
Fort Riley, Kansas. Montgomery's home. Meph's my second home, so I'm
I'm used to moving now. Mywife it was different for her, but
she's just new guy that gave usa new assignment. So it's time to
go. What did uh? Whatdid coach they tell you when he heard

(02:04:38):
you that he wants out of you? That may be different. It's not
slamming somebody else, But what didhe say he wanted you to bring to
the running back room? I thinkhe did his research on me. He
said he wanted the guy to todevelop the position. And that's not taking
a shot at the coach that washere who I'm friends with. He said,

(02:04:59):
they want somebody to really get theguys going. I can only be
me And I told him that becauseI'm gonna be me every day now because
see my mindset is when I stepin this building, I got one mindset.
That's to do my job so wellthat the living dead or unborn can
do it any better. So whenI leave it, that's what my mindset
is. Hopefully I'm here for along time, but only God knows that.

(02:05:23):
So but that's my mindset every daythat step into the Wizards hate So
that's my mindset. I'm gonna domy job so well that living dead or
umborn couldn't do it any better.So that's what my mindset is. Suppose
you got time for one last question, Bill Ravenowitz, Clumbus Dispatch Carlos.
First of all, it's the truththat nobody calls you Carlos, never calls
you Locke. That's the truth.Yeah, I prefer to be called Locked

(02:05:46):
in particular. But I wouldn't sayeveryone doesn't really know how to handle it
properly. You see it currently.I mean, it's just it's a variable
that's new and how to handle it. There's not a transcript on how to
handle that variable. So you justguys just trying to do what they think
is right. That's all they're reallytrying to do. And I'm not saying
they're right or wrong, but hewas trying to do the same, and

(02:06:06):
uh, you know, I thinkat the end of the day he realized
he made made the wrong decision andwe connected on it. We talked about
it, and you know, itwas a great opportunity to to to right
or wrong. And uh, obviouslywe're very glad he's here. I've always
believed in him. We believe inhim, and he believes in himself and
that's part of the just trying tounderstand what's my path right. So,

(02:06:28):
uh but yeah, it's been great. Steps have been made. He's growing,
but he's nowhere near where he knowshe's capable of being. He's just
really oppresive. Caremiah. I lovethe way he lives. I love the
way he approaches things. I lovethe way the questions he asks. I
love the way he makes mistakes andthen correct mistakes. It's very veteran,

(02:06:54):
Like, I mean, there's somuch ball he has to learn. Like
he literally does things that are good. I'm like, do you know why
that worked? He goes coach,I have no freaking idea, So like
I'm trying to teach him all ofthat why it worked. So then you
know, the consistency at which itworks just goes through the roof. And
so but I'm very you know,excited and proud of the conversations we're currently
having, and I'm exciting it forthem to keep going, Bryan, like

(02:07:16):
power for you working with you tellI love working with Chip Chip is.
I love talking ball, I lovethe viewpoints, I love I love the
veteran that he has, you know, and uh I love Yeah, I

(02:07:38):
like, I love all of it. I think that you know, early
on the biggest impact, you know, just you know, feeling perspective.
I think in the run game hasbeen awesome, you know, and then
you know, off of the rungame some of the actions or or relief
throws or all that kind of stuff. I love where it's at. I
love working with them, and Iwould say that I sleep a little better,

(02:08:11):
all right. Uh No, It'sit's really a great combo because,
like you know, we're obviously we'redoing a lot as a group. It's
not just Chip and I so butyou know, obviously Chip has an image
and a view on things that Inever had. So to have that experience
and to have that viewpoint, I'mjust trying to absorb as much as I

(02:08:31):
can, but then also highlight somethings that we've really done a good job
of and make sure those you know, nothing's really changing. We're just trying
to enhance. We're not changing,we're enhancing. So where the things fit
is perfect. You know, Ithink, uh, you know, the
rest of the dynamics and search chipcan talk about. But it's been it's
been awesome, so I'm excited aboutit. We talked to a mecha.

(02:08:54):
You're just talking about moving from slotto the house side. You know how
good we've been in the slot.Is that a difficult move for you guys
just coaches to know how good aguy is in at one spot, but
know that maybe for his long termfuture and the no. I wouldn't say
it's anything on his future, becausehe's capable of doing whatever you want to

(02:09:15):
get done. But I'd say thatit says more about the room. I
think it's it's the growth of youknow, Brandon and the growth grow of
Bryson that's really you know, allowingmy mind to say, hey mech be
prepared. You're gonna move around alot. You're gonna come out of that
slot, You're gonna be outside.We're going to create mismatches out there.
I mean, his ability to movearound is critical. But I would say

(02:09:35):
between mech and between Carnell TAS's abilityto move around a lot, it's going
to provide a lot of flexibility forour room and uh and those top you
know, six seven guys that arereally doing a good job right now.
Progress looked like this spring for Alecabecause there's no content. It's one of
those things I'm true when U hasbalanced how much the work does a need
versus how much does he act?Yeah, heavy, heavy emphasis on what

(02:09:56):
work he needs, you know,versus anything else. I rely on him.
We have great dialogue back and forth. It's a two way. It's
a two way conversation. And frankly, there's gonna be times where like,
hey, Meg, what do youwanna do today? You wanna outside?
You don't go inside, and Idon't care. So we're not there yet.
We will be there, but it'sjust more about, you know,
when the room is ready to startmixing things up. I would say,

(02:10:35):
there's God. I mean, Imake sure I bring in guys that are
able to do all, but Ihave not asked them to yet. So
the only guys that in our roomcurrently I have asked to do that has
been Mecca and Carnell, and thoseare probably the two guys that I would,
you know, think heavily on doingmoving around a lot. I'm not
putting that on anybody else right now. I'm not saying they can't, but
at this point, having two guysbeen able to swing, you probably don't

(02:10:58):
need much more than that. Guysbeing experts at what they're good at,
so it it helps the offense.Do'll be great at everything and be an
expert at something and we can usethat to our a lot of them.
I like him. Yeah, it'sa bunch of good dudes just just got
here. So we're gonna keep workingand I like I like our edge guys
that we picked up, and I'mexcited to work with them. Do you

(02:11:20):
know much about how we played againsthim, Leon Boy, and what's been
kind of you earlier him. Ithink he's super skilled, russier, a
little good length, and he's moreathletic than I even realized. And I
think guys like him when they cometo our scheme are the best is brought
out of him. So I'm excitedto see what potential he has. He's

(02:11:43):
year nine, so I feel likeyou as a d lineman, you can
keep improving all the way through tenyears in this league. So I'm excited
to see what he's got. Howold did you know Sorets of when he
was assistant here, and I'd gottento know him a lot at what's really
right now? I know him prettywell. He was always just a good

(02:12:05):
dude around the facility. He didour ball meetings, so he's good in
front of a group. He's agood leader. He knows the scheme really
well, which is good. Iwas happy to see him promoted. He
called me in the off season,we talked. I just congratulated him,
and I think he's gonna bring somethingsimilar to what we had with the Miko

(02:12:31):
good. Do you know Brandon Stanleywell at all? I mean, obviously
Joey Platform, I don't know toomuch about him. I've obviously heard from
my brother, but I don't eventhink i've said high yet. I haven't
ran into him yet, but I'msure i'll get to know him. When
you say it looks similar to Mikothe energy or system, maybe a little
different energy, but I think justknowing the system from the front to the

(02:12:56):
back, I think he knows howit ties in, and he's been around
with some really good coaches, soI think it'll be pretty pretty seamless,
and I think we'll be firing onall cylinders. You're three months removed from
the Super Bowl now, so howhave you? I guess digested it,
and I guess physically everything good togo. Yeah, I feel really good.

(02:13:20):
I think it's been one of mybetter off seasons of just kind of
it was a long year, soI took it nice and slow to get
back into it. Not as youngas I once was, so I'm taking
a little a little slower, buteverything's great. I'm feeling as good as
I felt. I'm excited to actuallyget some practice in. Last year was

(02:13:43):
kind of tough, getting thrown inWeek one after I walked through, so
that was another reason I'm excited tobe here, is just to get practicing
a little bit in season. Practiceis one thing, but actually being able
to work your stuff and not havea game coming up is It's good.
With the Super Bowl unfortunately, Iknow how to bounce back from tough losses,

(02:14:09):
so it was rough for a littlebit, but now it's just annoying
when people bring it up since Angellast season. We've seen a Rock on
TV commercials and on the stage withLuke Coombs and throwing out the first pitch
of the Giants game. But heseems like a guy that's totally unaffected by
celebrity, which he has now.But what have you noticed in his leadership

(02:14:30):
style and the way he carries himselfany difference at all. I think he's
definitely getting a little more vocal withinthe building. And uh yeah, I
mean, I don't think he's evergonna change. I don't think he's somebody
that's gonna change even when he getspaid next year. So he's he's a
man of faith and he kind ofreminds me of Scottie Scheffler, but except

(02:14:54):
for just super humble and really goodkid. And yeah, he's definitely famous
suffer I don't just from watching Armsteadget released obviously meant so much to the

(02:15:18):
defensive line into the team. Imean, Colin John were pretty open that
they were willing to talk about tradingDeebo or are you at raf? Does
that just another what's that feel likein the locker room when those sort of
joels happened. I didn't even knowthat happened and I wasn't here, but

(02:15:39):
you're talking about this armstead in alarmer released, so that's certainly one thing.
Yeah, it's a tough business,for sure. You have to have
thick skin and I haven't gone throughthat, but I think you just have
to understand that it is a busyand the team's going to try and get

(02:16:01):
as good as it possibly can withor without you, and you have to
look out for yourself. That's whyyou go through holdouts and do certain things
that seem selfish in the moment,but it is what it is, and
when everything's settled, we're gonna cometogether as a team and try and go
get one. And what's the overallfeeling around the group right now? Like

(02:16:22):
how much does it feel like theexcitement of the ramp up to the season,
Even though it's early, it feelsgood. It's been a couple of
days for me, so I likeall the new guys. I'm getting to
know everybody, but I think thepasses in the past and we're ready to
go. Do you talk to Youtalked to Beat all about handling the business
part of this, and he's goingthrough something similar. We chat a little

(02:16:43):
bit, but not too much aboutthe details. They just told him keep
his head up and try and staypositive through it all over your first impressions
when you heard what your schedule wouldbe in that Aaron Rodgers's first up,
it'll be fun. Yeah, it'sgonna be gonna be a good one.

(02:17:05):
Excuse me kind of alluded to this, but the fact that last year you
had to have that hold out forsomething that affected you somewhat early in the
season. If you hadn't had thatexperience, would you be here right now?
I mean, was that part ofthe motivation for being here early just
to have the opposite when ye,No, I don't think that's one of

(02:17:28):
the reasons. But I just talkedto Kyle and he kind of asked me,
uh, he kind of stated howhe felt about why it would be
good for me to be here andasked if I agreed. And I agree.
So it's not like I'm missing toomuch. I think I'm out here.

(02:17:48):
It's a little less workload than I'mdoing back home, so it's kind
of a good active recovery thing forme. And I'm getting football stuff,
football working specifically, so that's good. I'm not it's not compromising my training
at all and I get to meetall the guys. It's positive. How
did Joey take the news your brother? Did you have to like let him

(02:18:11):
down? Oh? No, he'she's there. He's got a new regime
over there. Did you first?I actually thought I was coming next week
until recently, so I was gonnahave one more week at home, but
we're both in California. Anything youcould share about Conn's reasons reasons that you

(02:18:33):
agreed with here, Uh, yeah, just the things I already stated,
Just getting around the guys and justgetting the football stuff honed in a little
bit before camp starts. You've beenafraid, I've been afraid to speak out
on player safety issues and things likethat when it comes to play service and

(02:18:56):
things like that. The eighteen gameschedule has been kind of discussed again he
recently. What is your kind oftake on that possibility. I mean,
it's I guess it's easy to appreciatewhen you kind of see it working and

(02:19:18):
you see guys improving, getting better. I just think the details are really
important. You can pretend that leavingyour shoes a mess or your locker mess
isn't a big deal, and whatmatters is playing football, But I think
all those tiny details and things kindof add up and leak into the important

(02:19:39):
stuff like what you're doing on thefield. So if you can have your
toe behind the line, or haveyour locker and order and all these things,
they kind of stack up into performingwell and and playing well when things
count. So you know, Iappreciate that. It's it also hasn't been
a fight with the guys in thelocker room. They buy in, and

(02:20:01):
you know, it's a lot ofyoung guys, and I think they're hungry
to learn, hungry to compete andwin. Walkers please. You know,
it's just an example, whether it'swe talked about first day, have your
shoot if you could, if youcould spend the time on these small things
when nobody's watching. I think,like I was saying, it seems like
it might not add up too much, but I think in the long term

(02:20:24):
it does, and uh, itleaks into other things, whether you're doing
your right assignment on the field,being late to meetings or all these things.
If you hold a standard and youstay to that standard, I think
it benefits you long term. It'sit been like Ben Herbert, who has
there been anything in his training programwe're working with you that you feel will

(02:20:48):
benefit your later Yeah, Yeah,definitely, he's he's been great. He's
a no nonsense kind of guy,but he's not an old school in the
sense that he's bringing his way ofdoing things and that's the only way to
do things. He understands that guyshave been in the in the business for
a long time, Khalil me andwe have a way of doing things,

(02:21:09):
and all he wants to do isadd to that and help you get better
and perform the best you can.He's he stresses it all the time that
he's a tool for us, andyou know, he's been He's been great.
The guys love him. The energybrings is awesome, and I think
the stuff that we're doing in theweight room is great, a great addition
to stuff that I may may doon the side or whatever that is.

(02:21:33):
Yeah, I think we I mean, we had a presentation today with all
the certain measurables that are changing,and if you guys are in the meeting,
you definitely see how beneficial he's beento the team so far. So
obviously, staying healthy is a hugefactor to anybody's success. I'd say it's
plagued us a little bit for awhile. So yeah, I think he's

(02:21:56):
he's definitely incredibly beneficial. I knowat the end of last season you might
have been able to play. Yeah, No, I was not ready to
go last year. No, triedpracticing, tried coming back, and uh
it was it was not good.But yeah, it was. Unfortunately the

(02:22:20):
year wasn't going great and it justwas unnecessary risk for I mean, my
foot could have had some real realissues if I came back too early.
So yeah, it's been. It'sbeen. It's been a great off season.
My foot's feeling great, toes good, hamstring's good. I mean,
there was a list of things lastyear, my hand, so all those

(02:22:41):
things are good. Finger gout surgeryon my finger, so that's feeling good.
Yeah, it's it's nice to befeeling better going into year nine than
you have since maybe five six yearsago, which I've said, I've said
I've been feeling great last couple ofyears. I'm telling you it's a real
deal this time. But obviously anythingcan happen. But I just feel it's

(02:23:03):
fun feeling really confident in your bodyand being able to perform. So I
could just go out during practice andyou know, go balls to the wall
and do everything that I feel likeI need to to be able to prepare.
It's fun. My brother and whoeverI trained with my trainer Todd back
home, I think they'd be reallyproud of how I've been working this offseason

(02:23:28):
and it's just exciting. Pointing wasthe injuries on the Great Big Game?
You kind of you, I'm yeah, it was a bit of a build
up, a little bit of anoverreaction, but you know, it's just
tough. It comes sometimes like that, and I just felt felt really uh

(02:23:48):
defeated coming back, had a brokenhand. I'm like, oh, yeah,
I get to play boom for aseries foot pops. Thought I'd have
to get surgery, and all thesethoughts flooded through my head. Broke down
a bit, and yeah, itjust hurts. You know, you're losing,
You're getting injured. You've felt likeyou prepared really well in the off
season, and then the year beforeyou had groin surgery, so you know,

(02:24:11):
a lot of things build up.Yeah, you don't get a break
if you're injured. Everybody wants togo on. Fans are very nice,
but no, I just I'm gratefulthat I feel this way I'm still still
nicey Ripe twenty eight, so nottoo old yet. But yeah, I'm

(02:24:35):
just excited. I can't remember whatthe original question was at this point,
you get something about my body,how close you and Gift were, How
frustrating was it that you couldn't youknow soon for one of those last three
games. It was frustrating, ButI mean, Gift was had my back

(02:24:58):
the whole way, I think forGift, for any but for for the
whole team, just to show whatit means to me. It would have
been important for me to be outthere, but I literally could and I
tried to practice. Injured my footworse the very first play I was and
in practice, So no chance thatwas happening unless I wanted to throw my

(02:25:20):
next season away as well. Butno, I'm just I'm proud of him
for what he did with the team, how he handled it, and I
need to call him back. Actuallysorry, Gif. Yeah, I'm happy
he gets to stay close by withthe with the Rams, and uh,
I'm just proud of all we accomplishedhere together over the years and and we'll

(02:25:41):
be close for the rest of ourlives. Was the foot injury sprang?
Yeah, I sprained one area ofmy foot. Then when I tried to
return, I sprained another area.Was able to avoid getting surgery, which
is kind of the main goal.Yeah, it was. It was tough,
sou when it comes to the additionof but Dupree, when he felt

(02:26:05):
like he's kind of brought to theto the room and could bring on the
field. Yeah, it's when Iheard we got my brother some I don't
know, maybe my brother told me. I'm like, really, we just
got Bud Like that's no, that'sno small pickup. He's a seriously elite
pass rusher has had some trouble withinjuries as well, so I understand how

(02:26:28):
that is, but not only himas a player, but as a personality.
I heard Khalil just saying he's he'sa fun guy. He's a funny
guy and and to have that inthe room another vet is always a great
addition. But I'm just excited tohave him into Lee and to be able
to rotate like that and not dropoff at all when we come off the
field is huge. And map Tuley'sgoing into a second year. Just what

(02:26:50):
do you what are you kind ofwhat are some of the maturity maturity areas
you see from him. You know, I'm gonna say not much, and
that's a compliment because he was alreadymature in those areas. I mean,
he's on it everything, playbook wise, always doing his job, working hard,

(02:27:11):
just refining his technique and pass rush. I mean, we don't have
the pads on right now, sothe real work will will begin, you
know, in six weeks now.So, but yeah, I love Tulie.
I've loved him since the first dayhe's walked into the facility, and
I know he's just gonna continue toget better. You think of the addition
of Joe Old Yeah, yeah,I'm gonna need to beat him up a

(02:27:35):
little bit in camp, so he'sready. But no, I think anything
to protect our number ten is agood, good investment. So he seems
like a real solid dude. Haven'ttalked to him too much. Great build,
seems like he has good hands,good feet, strong. We'll see.
We'll see in a few weeks whenI lay a helmet in his chin,

(02:27:58):
how he holds up. But I'lltake it easy on him. No,
Rashaon's a beast. Did you knowcoach Harbond before he came here?
And if you did, just whatwere those first couple of conversations like that.
Yeah, probably have crossed paths withhim. Maybe maybe not. Actually

(02:28:20):
I think what was it his firstyear when I was a junior, So
he kicked his ass as usual atOhio State. No, no, they
just want a championship, so I'dsay they probably have the bragging rights right
now. I'm like the guy talkingabout his old high school. Oh I
remember we used to kicks. No, but no, yeah, no,

(02:28:45):
the rivalry is dead. I wasjust saying this morning, you know,
nine years and kind of forget aboutthat. I'm not a great alumni.
Sorry, sorry, coach, Butno, it's great. That's what's great
about the NFL is you just haveguys from all backgrounds. You could hate
their guts one one year, andthen you come on the same team and
your brothers and you're all working towardsone goal together. So our first talk

(02:29:09):
together was great. I just satdown with them, went up into his
office and chopped it up about lifemainly and his opportunity here and how much
it means to him. And uh, yeah, I think he's a special
guy. I think he's uh,the way he conducts himself, he's an
interesting cat for sure, and I'mstill still feeling them out. But one

(02:29:30):
thing you can't denies that he lovesfootball and his main goal is to win
football games. So and that's whatwe need. When you see him working
out with you guys and and pushingslaves and doing all this stuff, just
how interesting is that to see?Yeah, I mean he was a he
was a great player himself, andI think he's always been, you know,
built like that, lack of abetter term. But yeah, he's,

(02:29:54):
uh, he's part of the guys. You know, he's not this
guy outside looking in. He really, I mean he voiced that to me,
is that his favorite part of allof it is being with the guys
and and the connections he makes.So Yeah, to to see a guy
like that come in and embrace itall and kind of be part of it

(02:30:15):
himself is important. Your initials ofCoachman during the defensive Sam, Yeah,
it's funny you go from old gift, old gift to this little young guy
who's my age. I wouldn't wantto get thrown into a room with me
and Khalil if I was his age. But no, he's been great.
I love messing with him a littlebit. We a little sarcasm back and

(02:30:39):
forth. But no, he's great. He's uh, he's very talks very
fast, and I don't as youknow, so sometimes I gotta be like,
slow down, coach, come on. But no, he's great.
I'm excited, you know, toget closer as the years, as the
year goes on, and I thinkhe has he has a lot of passion

(02:31:01):
for the position, and all hewants to do is learn and and help
us to improve. So I'm excitedabout him, And I mean I do
miss Giff obviously, it was along time with him, but I am
excited to have a new face andkind of have that challenge for me.
You worked much with with Jesse's dad, since I know he coached linebackers in

(02:31:24):
Michigan. Did you ask about Jesse? Did you ask about doing? Okay,
you asked about Jesse. Oh mygod, I was talking about freaking
doing the whole time. You guysare so confused. No, sorry,
I thought we I thought I was. I thought you mentioned coach Ronie.
No, No, coach Mentor hasbeen great as well. Yeah, they've

(02:31:46):
both been great. Sorry, runthat back. No, he's been good.
Uh yeah, very knowledgeable guy.Same thing. I'm excited to get
to know him more as the yeargoes on. Have you worked, if
you worked much during the off seasonJesse st Yeah, Uh no, I
have not. I don't know ifI've said one word to him, but

(02:32:09):
more words to come down the road. Like you said, you've been in
year since twenty sixteen. Just whatare some of the stuff you just someone
on a ramble about the wrong guyfor fifteen minutes walking what Yeah, what

(02:32:31):
the hecks? Actually that's literally notthis person. Yeah, I figured out.
What's something that you you worked unduringthe off season? Something to improve
your game or is there something thatyou can Usually my answer is pretty consistent
that I just continue to try toprepare myself physically, whether that's my sprint

(02:32:58):
worker, agility work in my lifting, but yeah, just to get everything
feeling great. I dealt with thoseinjuries, so I had to kind of
ramp it up with my finger andfoot and all those things. But now
I'm I'm full full speed out there, and I'm just gonna continue to do
what I know will prepare me forthe season. And uh, I know

(02:33:22):
I'm gonna get plenty of technique workand position work when I'm out here.
So for now I'm going to spendthese five weeks really getting uh preparing about
a schematic standpoint. I don't knowthe ins and outs of what I'm gonna
be doing yet, so I'll waitand see soon. But just what everything
going on? See how to soundthe best fits? Here? We go?

(02:33:50):
Yeah, Drea, and welcome toSeattle. What are you looking for?
And I fight has a loaded questionfor real? For real? Uh,
you know it's our terms of youknow, pay system, teammates,
environment, city, all those kindof just like play into it. Besides
just the money thing. I know, financials always play a big role.

(02:34:11):
And I kind of steered you intothe direction you want to go. But
everything kind of plays into it.And how much did you reach out to
Shelby Drew, knowing some of theguys you knew the played here last year
to get a sense for what Seattlemight offer you? I mean, not
much right now, I'll talk toI talk to Shelby a little bit about
it, mainly no one, Drew, just congratulate me, Bob. Did

(02:34:39):
you come together pretty quickly? Iknow you kind of came your agreement on
that first Monday, and everything withthat of come together really faster. Now,
it was a long day. Seattlecame in almost out of nowhere.
We had like a good set ofteams that we were talking to, just
trying to finalize what was going on, what was the term is going to
be? You know, and Seattlecame in hot. They showed a lot

(02:35:00):
interest and uh, they're kind ofjust motivating me to come here more and
more. And how similar will yourrole be, you know, in terms
of playing what you did in Denver. I don't know that yet. I
kind of just mentioned previously. Idon't know my role. I don't know
the ins and out yet. Oncewe'll get you no through the protocols and
nfl PA, We'll we'll talk aboutno the schemes and everything, right.

(02:35:24):
Uh, so welcome. When youwere in Denver in the three four,
where did you find yourself most comfortableand most effective? And I played a
lot of different positions in Denver.I mean earlier in my year, I
played zero, I played three,two one. I mean I'm definitely more
comfortable in a shaded position, mainlybeing a three technique and five technique.
That's why I found myself to bemore comfortable whether I'm standing up or I'm

(02:35:46):
not whether it's runner or pass.Those seem to be my best my best
fits. And what is your impressionof Pete Carroll's defense and whole environment in
Seattle from a park from afar?It seems like he holds in on defense
a lot. Uh. I can'treally say too much about that yet.
I don't I know Pete Carroll verylittle, so uh, I'm just trying

(02:36:07):
to figure out more and I'll giveyou a better answer later. What's the
reputation around the league out of theSeahawks? Uh, you know hard nos
Hard had type of team definitely ona little more lack side as opposed to
being stuck up or military style,and which is definitely good because then they
this program is won a lot offootball games have been super successful for many

(02:36:30):
years, as long as I've beenalive, as long as I've been watching
football, and definitely this has beena good program. And Pete Carroll has
been a hell of a coach foras long as I remember, even back
in his college of days. SoI'm looking forward to experiencing that. John
Boyle, Yeah, I know yousaid you don't know yet, you know
what your but just what what kindof players who haven't watched Time of Denver.

(02:36:52):
What kind of player? Definitely ahigh motor. Definitely not a one
trick pon any type of player.I like to attack, you know,
whether it's a first or first throughfourth down, I like to attack.
I'm always trying to apply pressure.I'm definitely just a high mortar guy in
my opinion. Brady, are there, Brady Henderson for nice to meet you.

(02:37:18):
Yeah, this is not a teamthat really makes pig splash signings in
free agency. Did you think goinginto it that Seattle would Uh No,
not at all. Uh. Youjust it's kind of like being a cure
at the county store. You know. I've got a whole bunch of different
options coming at you, uh hearing, a whole bunch of different crazy things,
and uh, you know, youonly get to choose one. And
this is the place that that weboth chose each other. And I mean,

(02:37:39):
I'm loving Seattle so far, youknow, I like these colors for
real. Real, What what haveyou got to do with Seattle or see?
Since not much? Uh just kindof just drive around the city exploring,
get down to the market a littlebit. I want to get ont
of the Ferris Will do some morelike touristy type of things. You know,
I'm new to the city and Igot a lot to learn about the
city. Laric. Yeah, there'sbeen a lot of comparisons with you to

(02:38:05):
Michael Bennett. I was wondering ifyou know Michael Bennett at all and you
think those are accurate. I knowMichael Berrt then like nothing. I know
nothing about it but besides his styleof play. But I'm honored to be
considered in the same conversation as himand style of play. You know,
He's a Hall of Fame type ofdeep lineman that I've known about since I
was a kid. I mean,last time he played here, I was
in high school. So you know, it's cool to it kind of came

(02:38:28):
full circle a little bit watching himon TV and now I'm being kind of
compared to him in the way,you know. I mean, I'm not
touching the surface of Michael Bennett.You know, he's a Hall of Famer
and I'm not there yet. Soyou know, I just gotta keep doing
my due diligence to be a betterplayer. Carn Hey, Dreamont, welcome
to Seattle. I know you getto play several seasons for Vic Fangio and

(02:38:50):
three four style defense and Seattle's playinga similar system. Now, dating back
to last year as a defensive lineman, what do you think is most important
to be successful in that system?Maybe fundamentals or just playing style to be
successful. From what I learned,being gap sound and being patient has always
been the biggest thing, and that'show we've been successful when I was in

(02:39:11):
Denver, just kind of like relyingon each other. I know that sounds
kind of cliche, but like it'skind of like the the realm of being
in the three four defense. Yougotta really really rely on the guys behind
you and the guys on the sideof you to really make their to do
their job to make your job easier. Bob, Yeah, Uh, your

(02:39:35):
ploffs that you didn't start playing football, so you were junior in high school
and largely played basketball. So thenthat's what made I guess decided to go
play football then was away from basketball. No, No, I've always loved
football first. Uh, it wasjust kind of just playing it out.
You know, I love the hoop, but you know, football was definitely
about calling. Given I was atwo hundred and sixty five pounds power forward

(02:39:56):
and I was like sixty threes andchange. So you know, I out
of close the route that God gaveme. No, I'm not six eight.
Yeah, Well comes to Seattle andyou get quoted and looking at a
couple of articles that you listen player, and can you just talk a little
bit about that that role that wedecided to us you always kind of counted

(02:40:22):
out that us came through. Canyou elaborate more than that? Just from
a standpoint, like I always getlike over overshadowed, overlooked, whether it's
a in something, you know whatI'm saying, Like, I feel like
I do a lot more than whatcan be sitting by the eyes of the
inexperienced, you know, Scout andI do a lot of different dynamic things
that help make place for others.You know, I'm definitely an active player.

(02:40:46):
I'm always doing something, whether inthe Runner Pass game, so you
know, I think that goes onanother sometimes and I'm looking forward to putting
people on notice. Thanks Brady.What uh what do you like to do
outside of football? From uh biggamer? I'm definitely I've been getting to
a lot of chests lately, sojust to expand my brain. Uh,

(02:41:09):
I try to get into reading,but if it's not sports related, I'm
really not interested in reading that much, but mainly just video gaming and chess.
And then when we write and sayyour name, do you prefer your
grandma? Uh? I mean youcan say, you can say Draymond Jones.
I mean, but like just Ifeel like personally, just call me
drey because easy, because people liketo f my name up a lot,
like a lot they call me DRAYMONDE. I don't know why you put a

(02:41:31):
Drakemonte in my name or Draymond Twhatever you want to say. What do
you think some of that I'll beable to bring out out of your games
you keep trying to, you know, just being more explosive, Probably more
yards for catch with the space thathe's putting us into. The more yards,
more yards have to catch, moreexposed to pick, more exposed to
play. So for for not justonly me, but she and Ak and

(02:41:54):
taste them. So I'm excited tobe able to be in the system.
I assume you think you guys canbe a lot more exposer than you have
been in the last couple of years. Oh yeah, of course. It
brings a lot of different things.You know what I'm saying the playbook,
but just accountability. I feel likethat's gonna lead us to success. They
said the language is a little alittle shorter it. Have you found that

(02:42:16):
the language that you guys use.Is it about the same or is it
it's kind of the same. Really, it's a long long plays, but
it's more understanding for sure. Ifeel like you could get to that more
understanding plays and I feel like that'sthat's the difference. Hater was saying the
other day, just kind of likecoming into this offense, I feel like
twenty years of breeze and just kindof how it was just kind of built

(02:42:37):
on top of each other, ontop of each other. It's like kind
of a lot to kind of takein. Do you do you find that
they kind of turn it down tosomething new, starting to like zero with
everybody. It's just a little biteasier to kind of get everybody on the
same. Yeah, I feel likeit's way easier. Like you said,
it was kind of more of aDrew Brees style the last playbook, So
all credit to them though they builtthat around him, around his players.

(02:42:58):
But like I said, it's ismore uh. This playbook is more uh
for uh, matchups and Uh,I feel like it's gonna be better for
us. How do you think it'sgonna really take advantage of your skill sets?
Uh? Just building around the strengthsthat I have. You know what
I'm saying, things that I cando and things that she can do.

(02:43:18):
Uh, things that our players cando. Is kind of focus on what
we can do and and building onthat. Uh. I feel like it's
playing to the player strengths. SoI feel like it's gonna help us a
lot. Been around the way thisoffense will have a lot more speed.
And how has that transition been sofar? I mean, like I said,
it's building around the players strengths.So of course we got speed uh
uh with me or uh she andati receiver. So uh, just building

(02:43:41):
around that. Uh. Like Isaid, playing to our strengths and be
able to capitalize off that. Feellike it's gonna help us a lot well
most of like uh the up tempoastrict and you know, getting a lot
of plays in a less time.Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah,
that's that's definitely gonna play a bigdifference. Like I said, coming
from the West coast, Uh,they bringing that stand for an offense here?
So I'm excited to be able tobe a part of that. For

(02:44:01):
you personally, what what's the nextlevel look like for you? What do
you what are you trying to accounlithis year? Just staying consistent, man,
a couple of upside downs last year, just building off that. It's
always always gonna work on the physicalpart, but being able to bounce back
after a bad game the mental mentalaspect. Uh, just learning learning that
last year and be able to buildon that this year is a huge part.

(02:44:24):
You know with Mike Gon, doyou take it upon yourself to kind
of be that voice in the roomor to take a step forward even further
as Uh, I mean it's notreally. I mean everybody kind of grown
in the NFL, So it's juston you to be able to have that
standard. Like I said, Ijust try to do that, lead by

(02:44:46):
example. I'm not really outspoken,but just lead by example, working hard,
trying to dominate every rep and hopefullythey follow after that yards after.
The catch is that you feel likethat's the strength of yours That maybe wasn't
ut a lot. I don't knowif utilizes the right word, but you
could show more. Yeah, it'sit's an offense that uh is built around

(02:45:07):
that. Uh, just catching theball in space, catching the ball over
the middle or even on the outside. Uh with with space and separation.
I feel like it's built around havingyards have to catch. So I'm definitely
proud to be in the system,like I said, and I'm excited.
But is that is that a mindsetto like being good at yards after the
catch? Like? Oh yeah,I mean of course. I mean you
don't want to get tackled by thefirst person. And my mindset is trying

(02:45:31):
to take every take everything to thehouse, you know, every touch.
So uh, I definitely got todo that more and definitely try to work
on that and practice. Keep agreat dude man, Uh some some that
I definitely needed. Some that herelates to me, uh just from backgrounds,
and uh he's a great coach,great leader, Uh, motivational and

(02:45:54):
uh. Like I said, I'mexcited to have him around and for him
to push me is everything that Ineed. So you're talking about like mentally
bouncing back, you know from toughperformances or whatever, Like, did you
try to fund your resources going tohelp you figure out how to do that?
Oh? Yeah, I mean it'solder guys, Uh tell me that's
naturals have bad games. But uh, just having a standard that I have

(02:46:18):
in my career as a head coachto have him on my staff in a
couple of places, so I gota chance to see him work firsthand,
you know, I got to seehim work firsthand as a player and then
as a coach. So the successhe had is not is not surprising to
me? Is there for you seeingwhere I the success had. Yeah,
I think we all do that.I think we come from a unique place
in a really small hometown in NewHampshire where we all take a lot of

(02:46:41):
pride to where we're from and andwhen anybody's successful coming out of there,
then you kind of take a littlepride that that's it's the upbringing that we
all had, you know, inthe UTH sports program that we grew up
in in in every aspect whether itwas football, baseball, basketball, those
coaches we had an amazing impact onus and that's why we are where we
are right now. Ryan said,he doesn't think of it as you working

(02:47:05):
under him, that's working with him. The fact is he's the head coach.
He makes me call him sir,though he just said can you do
that, they one, and Iwas like, all right, right now,
But I mean, he ultimately isthe decision maker. You've been a
head coach. How do you thinkthat's going to work. Do you think

(02:47:26):
there'll be any as close as youare, any kind of awkward moments the
right term. But when he's theultimate decider and you are working for him,
Yeah, I certainly understand my role. I'm not Alhaic, like I'm
not I'm not in charge here.Yeah. Some people get that reference.
Other people don't get that reference.But I'd certainly understand that, and and

(02:47:48):
I actually kind of relish it becauseI really love the scheming part. I
love the individual part. I lovebeing in the meeting room of the quarterbacks,
uh and trying to game plan.But everything we do here is collaborative.
You know. The one thing thatthat struck me when I walked in
this place is there's an amazing coachingstaff here, you know, And if
you get a chance to talk toLarry Johnson just about football, or Tim
Walton or Jim Knowles or Brian Hartlineor any of these guys that are on

(02:48:11):
the staff here, it's it's avery collaborative effort. I think everybody's on
the same page. You know,it's not our offense and their defense,
and otherwise it's it's Ohio State.You know, it's it's Ohio State versus
the twelve opponents that we're gonna playduring the regular season and then beyond.
So it's it's really collaborative. Andthat's the thing I like, just in
the short time that I've been here, is how collaborative everybody's been. You

(02:48:33):
know, we're all trying to makeeach other better and we're all trying to
develop this team. Touched on thiswhen you said, you know, you'd
like to do what you want todo and not My sense is you,
in your perfect world, you'd liketo scribble plays on a napkin and not
deal with boosters, don't deal withall the stuff that coaches, head coaches
have to deal with. Now,how much of a factor was that in

(02:48:54):
this decision? You can just dofootball? Now that that's not it?
I mean, I enjoy I mean, we've had some amazing I've had an
opportunity and everywhere I've been to meetsome amazing people that are associated with the
program. And there's people that frommy time at New Hampshire or my time
at Oregon. I was just withPhil Knight two weeks ago, you know,
I got an opportunity spent some timewith him and his wife, Penny,
who are dear friends of mine thathave been great mentors to me in

(02:49:16):
my career. And there's a bunchof people that a Ucla, Terry Donahue,
Andrea Donna who were awesome to me. Angela Mazzoni is a great friend,
Casey Wassman, Troy Aikman. Therewas a bunch of people at UCLA
that I really enjoyed, you know, being around and talking with. So
I think sometimes everybody wants to makea narrative of it's either this or that.
It's never that. It's never justall ball, it's never just all

(02:49:37):
recruiting, it's never just all boosters. It's a mixture of everything. But
I think the one thing that asthis position as a head coach kept moving
on is that if you look ata lot of them, they all become
more CEOs. You know, Ican't tell you how many coaches that have
called me since I made this decisionthat said I'm two years behind you,
brother, you know that are thinkingthe same exact way, and I think

(02:49:58):
it's all part of what we haveto do. I think we all need
to protect this game and promote thisgame, and I think there are some
rules that we need to get straightenedout so that people understand where what it's
about, because the game is stillabout the players, and I hope that
never gets discounted. You know,it's it's always been about the players,
and I think if we can keepthat at the forefront the people that are
making decisions on this, and Ithink Jean Smith is one of the best

(02:50:20):
influences in in the NCAAA, isto make sure we keep that the main
thing. The main thing needs tobe the student athletes. Com you know,
you're coming in at a time whereyou've been through some places where the
expectations are high. I understand we'realso coming into a juncture where, you
know, the three losses to Michigan, the not making the playoff last year,

(02:50:41):
the urgency is pretty high here.I guess just sort of what the
perspective do you have on kind ofthe stakes that there are for Ryan this
year and the decision that then hemakes to bring you in to kind of
help solve that. Yeah, Ithink the expectations can be no harder than
they are in your own brain,you know. And I think if you
try to worry about what other peopleare thinking in their brains, you're going

(02:51:03):
to get screwed up a little bit. So, you know, I talked
earlier the one thing about Ryan thatI know about him and has always been
he's the ultimate competitor. So he'sgot There's nowhere that has higher expectations of
Ohio State than Ryan does, northe rest of us that joined him in
our part of this and that areworking with him. So you know,
I don't think. I think sometimesyou can spend too much time thinking about
those things. You know. Whatyou really have to do is just as

(02:51:24):
there's a big sign as you walkinto this place, it says when the
moment you know, I think that'sa real thing that we have to do
as coaches, is to make surethat our players aren't worried about what's going
on in the future, or oraren't worried about what's going on in the
past, or worry about can theyget a little bit better today, you
know, and can we make improvement? And I think the one thing that
I've seen here, and I've onlybeen here for three weeks. But there's
a consistency to the players approach whenthey walk in this building every day,

(02:51:46):
which is it's unique. It's notlike that everywhere else. And it's one
of the things that I remark toMick when I you know, he said,
Hey, what do you think,And I was like, it's impressive.
It's impressive the culture of the playersthat are in this program right now.
But I think it speaks a lotto the leadership there. There's a
lot of older players on this team, and they've set the tone for the
younger players, and I think theyounger players have done a great job of
followship and getting right in line withthat. He's never hit it over a

(02:52:07):
play calling to someone before. Whatdoes it mean to you? I guess
he technically did it to Bill whenhe was here for a comple weeks.
But what does that mean to youto kind of be getting that responsibility from
him and he's calling essentially the offensethat you gave him. I guess in
some way. Yeah, I stillthink the play calling part will be a
collaborative effort, And by that Imean that if it's a good play,

(02:52:28):
I called it, and if it'sa bad play, he called it.
Because the great part is an assistantcoach, you can just hen point the
finger a little bit and just say, hey, you know, I wanted
to do this, but he trumpedme. So we haven't actually discussed game
day yet. You know, we'llsee how that operates. But everywhere I've
been it's been a collaborative effort.And all of a sudden, someone that's

(02:52:48):
calling the plays isn't isn't like pullsone out of left field that you hadn't
practiced and hadn't been part of youroffense and said, hey, let's do
this. You know, we're notrunning the annexation of Puerto Rico. You
know, we're not coming up withsomething special you know in the middle of
the fourth quarter that we haven't done. But I think it's the key to
really being successful on offense is ishow you game plan, how you put

(02:53:09):
it all together, and then howyou practice and train for that so that
you get a chance to execute it. Because the player's confidence comes become comes
from their demonstrated ability that they've donethis so many times in practice that when
they get out on the field thatthis is like that to them, you
know, And it's not that theydo it so they do it right.
It's they practice it so much sothat they can't do it wrong. So
you know, I think it's thatwhole part of it that is really the

(02:53:30):
key to being a really good gameplanning team, right, Doug Lane reef
King North Chip. When you hadthat feeling when you were coaching the quarterbacks
during bold, did you consider atthat point maybe resigning as the head coach
and thinking like this is this isnot where I am anymore. I'll leave
and then I'll look to see whatelse is out there. No. I

(02:53:50):
never thought about quitting anything. Soyou know, I just is there an
opportunity that I think I can thatfit, you know, And I think
that's to you know, it's nodifferent than when you're talking to a recruit
about them make a decision on wherethey're going to go to school. I
think that where they should go toschool is where the best fit is for
them. So, you know,I just entertained some opportunities and I always

(02:54:11):
felt I felt like this was thebest fit. But I never thought about
quitting or not coaching. I'm gonnacoach. I'm gonna coach, and then
I'm gonna die. But I meanThat's how I think I think about things
is I can't picture that. Iknow someone I was on the Nike trip
and they like, how much longerare you gonna go? When I said,
I have to go another fifteen twentyyears. I don't think about I
don't think about retirement. I don'tthink about any of those things. That's

(02:54:33):
just not kind of my mindset thatyou know, I love football in the
as long as I can be partof this game, then I'll be part
of this game. Just the waythings worked out with your departure from UCLA,
is there anything that you wish youhad done differently, or anything you
regret, or just that the circumstancesthat presented themselves. Do you think that
you handled that departure the best thatyou could have? Yeah, I mean

(02:54:54):
I got an opportunity to tell myplayers personally. You know, I think
in this day and age of theInternet where they read it somewhere else and
you have to text message him.You know, that was always important to
me that I wanted to make sureI talk to my players and explain the
reasons of what I was doing.I wasn't leaving to take a head coaching
job. Somewhere else. I wasn'tthinking that the grass is greener at another
university. Was just in my personalsituation, this is what I wanted to

(02:55:16):
do. I wanted to take anopportunity to go be a position coach and
coordinator, and that's how it fit. You know. What I was happy
is that I always thought to SeanFoster, I think the world of them,
and I think he's a special youknow. And the fact that that
they were they gave him the opportunityto take over there was you know,
it worked out. I didn't haveany say in that decision, you know,
I was gone, But I alwaysthought that Deshaun would be a great

(02:55:39):
head coach and I'm really proud ofhim and happy that that he got the
opportunity to take that job right behindhim or actually have your reputation as innovator.
Was part of the appeal of thisis that you get to get in
the weeds a little bit. Uhmaybe not mad scientists, maybe too too
strong of a work because you're workingwithin the system. But was there an

(02:56:00):
appeal of I get to get myhands dirty here again and innovate and to
get back to that side of things. It was, but it was really
more important of who I get towork with, you know, and so
knowing you know, I've got Iknow a lot of guys on the staff
besides Ryan also, so you know, when I know what their mindset is
and what their values are and howthey do things, and so I want

(02:56:22):
to be a part of that.But there's a part of that. Yeah,
yeah, how much of a teacheryou get labeled in the innovators.
The teaching is a part of this. How much is how a teacher are
even how patient are you? Yeah? I think we're all teachers. I
mean, education is the transportation ofknowledge, you know, So it really
doesn't matter what the coach knows.It matters what the players understand, you
know. So you have to beable to make sure that while you're implementing

(02:56:46):
things is what resonates with them andhow does that come back to them.
So, you know a lot ofour teaching styles that we've learned is more
the Socratic method of there's a lotof questions, you know, and a
lot of check for understandings just tokind of find out where the players are
coming from, because it's what theyknow that that's ultimately gonna win games,
not what we know. You knowthat we're not playing the games. We're
not stepping across those white lines,you know. And your job as a

(02:57:07):
coach is to create an environment wherethey have an opportunity to be successful and
then get out of their way andlet them go do it. So I
think the teaching aspect is huge,and we continue to research, you know,
some of the latest trends in teachingto make sure that we are transporting
that knowledge to our players. Thesecond roll left Steve Helwagen twenty four seven
Sports. Yeah, coach, justcurious you got five scholarship quarterbacks with differing

(02:57:31):
levels of experience from age and everythingelse. Not to annoyed him, but
just want to ask specifically about WillHoward coming in after starting part of two
years at Kansas State. He justseems to promote this idea that he's a
football player, you know above allelse. Just how impressed are you with

(02:57:52):
his makeup, his experience, whathe's bringing to the table walking in here
right now? Yeah? Really impressed. You know that you don't have to
to Will for more than five minutesto kind of know where he's coming from.
He's really focused, you know,he knows he's got a short window
left in his college career, andit really wants to capitalize on what that
is. There's a maturity to Will, you know. I really I've had

(02:58:15):
experience, My experience in in thisthing since the transfer portal opened in college
football is some of the best playersI've had an opportunity to coach. Award
transfers. Sometimes when you're a truefreshman and it's five years out, you
know, it's like, hey,I got a ton of time, you
know. And sometimes when you're atransfer, is that I've got nine months,
you know. So there's a senseof urgency I think when you're dealing
with with transfers, and I thinkWill has exuded that since he's been here.

(02:58:37):
But the other thing that I justin the short time that Will's been
here is how quickly he's fit inwith the entire team, you know,
and how much the rest of theplayers respect him. You know. He
was one of the Gold Award winnersfor his work in the weight room in
this offseason, so that says alot for him coming in here as a
in a short time, being ableto win a weight room award, you
know. To start off, youguys to have a number one internally,

(02:59:01):
externally at the end of spring orI guess just let it play out,
how do you I? I thinkit always every time I've been involved in
these, I think when they're organicis when it's the best. Uh.
I don't think you can anoint somebodyor force the issue because the players know
the players would understand. They seeit every single day, you know,
and there's a team chemistry part ofthis thing too, So we're not gonna

(02:59:22):
force the issue a but I've alwaysseen it play itself out. So I've
been fortunate that there's always gonna besome quarterback battles at at some point in
time. At every school there's aquarterback battle, you know, and then
and really you gotta let them playit out on the field, and that's
where it has to That's that's whereit has to be decided. Just a
couple more Hey, welcomes than youwere excited to have you here. I'm

(02:59:43):
kind of to talk about the innovativepart. Ryan said that that's something that
he's always loved about working with you, and now he wants you to bring
that here and how it would fitwith Ohio State. Do you have any
idea what that's gonna look like yetor is it just way too up?
I have no idea, you know. I I think part of it is
is you're trying to put the playersin position to make play. So a

(03:00:03):
lot of that comes from getting tounderstand the players and what their skill sets
are and how we feature what theirskill sets are, you know, and
and the one thing after day one, I can tell you that there's a
lot of skill set out there,you know. So that's that's what gets
you excited, you know, That'swhat That's what you jump out of bed
in the morning and you're excited togo to work because of the talent that
you get to work with. Butthe one thing that's the most impressive is

(03:00:26):
the work ethic that goes along withthat talent. You know, it's not
just empty talent. It's is yougot some kids who want to I mean
all of them since I've been here, want to work. So that that's
what gets you excited. But Ithink assessing what the skill set is you
know, that we have available tous on the offensive side of the ball,
is vitally important. And then ourjob is to put those guys in
positions to make place lots of pressureI mean, you've experienced what's like to

(03:00:50):
coach national championship, how over teamsthis program right now and moving into a
situation where you got to win quickand now, So does that feel like
pressure here for you? Or isa little bit of excitement or well,
I've always subscribed to his Pressure iswhat you feel when you don't know what
you're doing. So if you don'twant to feel pressure, then you should
know what you're doing. So,you know, I think it's it's part

(03:01:11):
of that, and I think partof our job with our players in terms
of the education process is getting themto understand that too. Is that you
know, it's it's about your preparation, It's about you and your development.
It's not about that you can't begoverned by what other people say. It's
it's what's my mindset and how amI intrinsically motivated? And then how do
I really compete against myself on adaily basis to get a little bit better?
You know, we got a littlebit better today because we get out

(03:01:33):
on the field today and got achance to do some football. And then
the challenge is when we get backon the field on Thursday, can we
be a little bit better than wewere on Tuesday. And if we're doing
that, then we keep stacking gooddays on top of good days, and
I think we'll be in good spotand welcome. Thank you. I'm gonna
ask about the pros and cons ofcoaching from the box and coaching from the
field. It's interesting to talk tosome offen, some coordinators over Tom Herman

(03:01:54):
talking about it, he swore hewanted to coach from the box. Saw
the game so much better, sterileenvironment, not all the chaos on the
field. Some coaches you talk tothe like, I want to be on
the field so I can look atmy guys in the in the eye.
Where are you as a as acoordinator? Honestly, And I've thought of
this a lot. I thought ofit a lot during COVID because we had
the empty stands, you know,so I had thought about just walking up

(03:02:15):
into the stands for a little bitbecause I had a better vantage. I've
always believed you can see the gamebetter from up above, but I believe
you can feel the game better fromthe field. So if there was any
way we could get a zip wirewhere you could do both, you know,
coach called from there and then zipdown of the field get a chance
to talk to him, because it'sa different deal when you're talking to the
quarterbacks on a phone, you know, than being able to look in their

(03:02:35):
eye and kind of see where theyare with it. And part of it
is the field part of it.I remember when I coached Ryan once.
We were playing ukon and he gothit hard going out of bounce and he
just walked by me. And Iwas a play caller, and he was
like, run the next play,and I just kind of looked at him.
I saw the look in his eyesbecause I don't think he could have
thrown it, you know, hewas still trying to get his win back.
But you wouldn't know that if you'reup in the booth, you know,

(03:02:56):
and you call a pass play fromup in the booth and you're like,
how can we complete that? Well, he just took a shot going
out of bounds. So it's thatfine line that I don't have an answer,
you know. I think I thinkit's feel on the ground and it's
see from up above. Maybe inthis day a technology, they'll figure it
out, but we'll see how thatthat that operates, and whatever Ryan feels

(03:03:16):
is the best for the team iswhat we're gonna do. So your teams
at Oregon were obviously you know,we're playing at this assid pace and running
a bunch of players for a minute, and yep, maybe not act by
a past pretty fast. What ruledo you see tempo and having an offense?
And in the state ye in collegefootball and has maybe changed. I

(03:03:37):
think the game is always evolving,you know. I think when I left
in two thousand and twelve to goto the National Football League, Oregon was
the only team that was playing reallyreally fast and had shiny helmets. And
when I came back in twenty seventeen, everybody had shiny helmets and everybody was
playing fast. So I think thegame is always going to go up and
down, and there's gonna be differentcycles it goes through. I think tempo

(03:04:01):
is part of an offensive, butI don't think it's an offense in itself.
I think it's more of like ifyou go to dinner, it's a
side order. You know, it'snot the main course, but it's it's
always good to have it. SoI think there's times when you'll use it,
but you're you're not going to useit extensively. The entire game.
Just like you're not going to throwthe ball every single snap in the game,
you're not gonna run the ball everysingle snap in the game. You

(03:04:22):
know, there there's there's not agame of absolutes anymore. I think the
ability to be diverse and and haveit as a tool in your two box,
so to speak, uh is reallyhow we would look at using it.
Here are now more familiar with itthan I think. So, you
know, I think when you firststarted going tempo, there were people in
the NCAA they want to outlaw theywant to make an NCAA role that,
Yeah, you couldn't do it,you know, and I'll I'll give coach

(03:04:43):
Shaping credit. I mean, Ithink obviously Nick was the first one to
do it. He wanted it outlawed, and then all of a sudden he
adapted it and said, all right, we like this, you know,
so we'll keep it in. Butit's I think people have it doesn't matter
what you do. There's there's cyclesto this game, and then once people
catch on to that cycle, thenit moves. You know, It's no
different than for three defenses and threefour defenses. You know, what is

(03:05:05):
the rage? When the when theGiants won the Super Bowl. They were
there were three four defense and everybody, everybody says we have to do that.
What people didn't understand is they hadCarl Banks and Lawrence Taylor. It
didn't matter what defense they were running. I know, Gym's back there and
Jim played against the you know itwas. They could have been a four
down defense and those guys would havebeen great players. But it's not the
scheme. I think that the coachesthat do it the best way is they

(03:05:26):
insert their players and put them inthe best position to make plays. And
now, now will Temple be partof it, It'll be part of it,
but it's certainly not going to bethe main course. Sorry. Last
question, Oh, thank you verymuch, Jerry. Uh Number one of
there was the great moment there wheny'all were warming up, when you were
you were talking with Tim Walton andCaleb Downs comes up and conversing and as

(03:05:48):
you're in this kind of a twopart question, but number one, what
was just your take on the talentyou saw on that field today on both
sides of the ball. Where wherewould you rank it? Yeah? Uh
oh, I'll right, and I'llbe very transparent as I was telling Tim
and Caleb what a great offensive playerI thought Caleb would be. Yeah,
yeah, could be and should be. But I'm not the head coach,

(03:06:13):
so I always turned stretch as aas an offensive coordinator, I'm always looking
at the defensive players like I coulduse him. Oh what could I do
if I had him? Life ifyou do it right away, so you
know, being accountable, you know, doing the extra stuff away from the
f uh the facility. That stuffmatters at the end of the day,
cause all the expectations and all thatpressure, that really doesn't matter if you

(03:06:35):
do those things, you know,So what are your expectations for a year
two in this offense? I'll justkeep going. You know, the name
of the game is just execution.You know the times where we executed at
a high level at times we wonthose games, you know. So that's
just the goal is just to executeand be able to be on the same
page bill chemistry right now, soyou know, when the time when the

(03:06:56):
ball rolls, you know, veryvery we're ready to lot around at a
high level. So I mean that'sthe goal, and that's that's you know,
there's goals on top of that,but that's the that's the foundation right
now with TIA's foundation work. Soc J. I know that, I
know that it's still pretty early,But how has it been so far getting
to work with Diggs and how ishe fitting in? So far? He's
been fitting in great. You know, he's come in with uh, his

(03:07:18):
head down mentality, just working.You know, he's helped me out a
lot. Just you know, hecome comes from a from a a a
good system over there where when hewas with the Bills and they did a
lot of things with him and reallyjust offense and tell me how like Josh
played and things like that, thingsthat you know, we do different than
We've had this a plenty of conversation, you know, So he been he's

(03:07:39):
come in and and been a leader, which which I'm proud of him for.
And you know it just really's hasbeen unselfish and uh, I wanted
to see other guys eat and thatwas his main things, Like he wanted
to be around other dogs. Andyou know, he he he stepped into
that role where there's a dog everywhere. Every he looks right, he looks
left, there's gonna be a dog. So and he wanted that and that's
what you know, we we breakto the table and he's been nothing but

(03:08:01):
just amazing so far. And II'm very excited to work with him as
a teammate, as a being.What's it like to have your friend Tank
back with you? Guys? Whatwas it like to go from the camon
of emotions from hearing about it tonow when it's over and your back out
there, will you'll unpluny. It'samazing. You know, it's ss just

(03:08:22):
a testament to him and you know, one of the god we serve.
And then two, uh, justthe work that he's put in. You
know, he's been uh you know, he came back before it was even
schedule. He can get cleared.And then on top of that, you
know, just coming back after thatfreak accident. And you know, I
think that we serve a God that'smerciful and that's that's purposeful, and he

(03:08:43):
knows that, and he stepping intoand me and him we have those conversations
about our faith and then cause likethis football stuff, it it seems like
it's everything, but it's not.You know, we're we're people, and
we we go through a lot offthe field. People don't know. And
you know, as his brother.I have to be there for him,
like just like he's there from whenI go through what I go through.
So I mean, I'm just proudof him, man, Like the word

(03:09:03):
proud is even probably enough to likestate the the feelings that I have for
that guy. Man, he's myone of my best friends that I've n
you know, gotten a known overthe years in this in this world of
football and past that Man, Ifeel like I'm going to since I've been
three years old, you know,I think for like our connections kind of
like we grew up together, andyou know, I just got a lot

(03:09:24):
of left for that guy, andyou know, I'm very excited a him.
He's been snapping that practice and doingreally well and you know, to
knock off the rest that quick showshow much work he's been in. How
much more comfortable are you walking upto ots this year to read the last
year things kind of a little bitslower. Just what's the biggest difference to
you? Yeah, it's night andday. Man, It's really like I
feel like I'm running the show andI've got a lot more uh responsibilities from

(03:09:48):
Slow and from the Beacon, fromdry Bill and really our whole officeive staff,
and you know, I'm the captainof the ship and I gotta run
it the right way. And Ifeel like I've you know, stepped into
that role just you know, andnow not only holding out accountable, but
also you know, hold myself accountableto those moments like I don't let anything
slide, uh, cause that's that'sthe point of winning and losing. So

(03:10:09):
I think from last year to thisyear, like I've gotten a lot better
with like controlling my emotions, controllingmy ball placement, knowing what's NFL opened,
knowing my food work better. There'sreally every little thing I've taken a
step and then on the other sideof the ball, you know, just
everything slowed down. Seeing coverage Demiicodoes a good job of blitching me,
and you know, working on theirdifferent coverages or different looks to start too

(03:10:31):
high, go to one, goback to to motion like as man,
go to cover too like all thatstuff to keep me true and honest.
And you know, I think I'vetried to do my best with my off
season study to you know, bebetter, and I feel like I've done
that and had a good ota sofar. So got to finish with that
mini camp, but It's been definitelya big transition of just more comfortability from

(03:10:52):
last year to this year's call thatyou you always had like real talent to
receiver room and then last year youhave the talent to receive a room.
So you've had the experience of havingto feed a lot of guys, obviously
adding digs even Joe mixing coming outof the backfield. How much would that
experience from those you know, collegeand last year help you with being able
to make sure that everybody's being fedthe way they are. So if you

(03:11:13):
can, you have the best possibleoffer. If you guys like get board.
Yeah, I mean I don't thinknothing changes, you know. It's
like, uh, I tell Itell guys, cause I get that question
a lot from I got people justwalking around just anywhere askra game whatever,
And I was like, man,it's football. You know you're open,
you get the ball, so uhand my thing is you gotta pick your
poison playing us, Like who yougonna double, who you gonna cater to?

(03:11:35):
Who you like? You got fivedogs who are who are able to
get the get the ball in eachgive and play? You know, so
I think it's fine. I knowSlow has done a great job of being
more creative and you know, hasa put different personnel packages out there,
guys in different positions that going frominside and outside, you know, And
you know, I'm I'm very excitedto work with with Coach Low again.

(03:11:58):
He's done amazing so far. Youknow, Ota is and will continue to
do such. But yeah, man, I think that past experience of playing
with Marv Jax, Garrett, ChrisJamo, America Julian like those type of
guys, they'll tell you too,Like I know they'll probably have said it
before, but they'll tell you likethey made me better and I made them

(03:12:22):
better. You know, that's myjob is to make everybody around me better.
So I'm excited, man, hasbeen healthy competition, Like I know,
Garrett, I've seen his interview theday he was talking about Ohio.
See how like the receivers like ifGear made a play, Chris is like,
nah, watch this like it's thesame thing here, which is you
know, really cool to watch.And you know, as the quarterbacks meet,
Davis in Case and Tim were thesame way too, So healthy competition

(03:12:45):
is the best way to grow andget better. And I think that that's
what it's about. You see howexcited Diggs gets for Tank when he makes
it play, and Metchi gets forexcited for when Nico makes a play,
and Tank gets excited when Rob makesa play. You know. So it's
amazing, and you know we gotNoah coming back to which is gonna be
amazing. And I'm excited been thereand a ton of guys. There's a
ton of talent, Steed showing up. Really, everybody's really been doing Jay,

(03:13:09):
Wayne, Johnny you know so andman it's been fun, uh Nick,
and got you some some mixture talenton the office side of the ball.
Well what do you think about theadditions that he made on the defensive
side of the ball. Yeah,man, it's been great. It's been
good on good like Demig talks aboutiron Shop and iron you know, it's
been a lot of smack talk,a lot of just uh just good competition,

(03:13:30):
you know. And then it startswith me and his ease, you
know, him being the leader ofdefense. I'm a leader at offense.
And you know, playing him lastyear. Man, he always showed up
on tape when I watched the Titanslast year. So it's cool to like
see like the stuff he thinks weyou can see him at my locker,
me at his or us before practiceafter practice talking about plays and you know,
so, I mean it starts withus, and then when you add

(03:13:54):
Danielle, somebody who's a vet whoplays really hard, who's gonna help?
Will you know? Them? Twodogs? He got team in the in
the middle, uh with Archery andand Sosa and y just a ton of
guys, man, you know,in the back end, got young guys
showing up. Kaitlyn's doing really wellin the back end along with Petrie and

(03:14:15):
Jimmy, along with Kamari. Kamaris shown up. Steen's playing well as
y'all seen. Uh. So,man, it's just been dogs on dogs,
you know, like and that's that'sthat's that's the best teams I've ever
been on. Has been the closestteams personally, but also the most competitive
team. So it's been dope season. See that he broke out last year
and he go broke out last yearand he go gainst the contract Eccentrion,

(03:14:35):
he's here to twenty twenty seven.What does that do for you? Just
knowing that you haven't familiar target towork with for the next few years,
you know, it's just something thatI'm first of all, I'm just proud
of that guy. Uh, mybrother Nico. He's shown up and shown
out, you know when you know, when his number is called, he
always makes to play. And youknow, he's just a special He's a

(03:14:56):
generation talent. Man. He's he'slike, alright, age is Andre Johnson
in my opinion of just how fasthe is, how he gets in and
out, his brace, his releases, how strong he is. And I
think last year was just a uha preview to what it's took come for
him. And the one thing I'mproud of him for is just the work
has never stopped. He's constantly hereworking on his body, constant in here
working on his hands. Is hismobility in the weight room, you know.

(03:15:20):
So for me, I mean justhaving a a true uh. I
think we have like five number ones, you know. So that's kind of
cool to have. And I've hadthat before in college and I'll have it
again and it's gonna be fine,man. And Nico he's gonna he's he
loves to see everybody else eat too, so man, his his love for
his brothers has a change, andyou know, it's it's a It's a

(03:15:41):
special feeling to see somebody who deservesto get paid and you know, get
what they d d wait what theydeserve, and you know, I'm just
really proud of him. What doesit mean for you to have another opportunity
to work with Artisola Andrew Rotte Johnson. I don't know if you remember that
was a moment going into the playoffslast season. Where do you live and
know if either one of those guys, Yeah, I mean for both of

(03:16:01):
them to come back was very special. I think we both we all have
a better feel of how to workwith one another. And you know,
the talent I am on the fieldand the play caller that Bobby is.
And then the comment Coach droved is, you know we all work together and
that and you know, slow asI'm in his office almost every morning just

(03:16:22):
going over stuff and watch the filmwith him, going over things that we
need to go to get better at. And he always has his phrase,
you know, working for the endat mind, and you know he holds
me accountable when you know it couldbe easier just to like let me slide,
cause you know I'm out there stillmaking plays, but he's like,
nah, you need to be betterhere, here and there, and you
know that's just shows what type ofa leader he is. And you know,

(03:16:45):
it's an honor to be able towork with him again. And same
for me, like to him like, hey, flow, I'm not really
feeling this play or I want toadd this player to try to see if
we can get better here in thisin this practice where you know, I
think we can really good at thistype of player. And he's very very
accepting when it comes to that.So it's been cool to work with both

(03:17:07):
of them, and I'm very excitedto get another year on our belt.
What was it like, uh,teacher football internationally and the the r the
reception that you got from the peoplethere, it was it was amazing.
You know. Uh, first ofall, shout out to Beijing, Shanghai
and Tokyo, you know for acceptingMeta Micah with open arms and just the

(03:17:28):
hospitality and the uh, just theculture man there is just amazing. They
wanna learn about football, you know, and it's it was cool just to
see like them already have like thefoundation of it, but wanted to grow
from there. And you know,I think football is a family sport and
like those people are our family nowand you know, the Olympics come into
where it's gonna be international with flagfootball. I think it's super dope.

(03:17:52):
And to be able to get youknow, to be able to put our
feet into those those uh door wasalready you know, it's kind of cool,
you know. So I mean,I'm very grateful with my team with
uh uh Bernie and David for settingthat up and even like the guys out
there who who gave us top notchhospitality it w It was just amazing,

(03:18:15):
man, the whole experience. So, you know, just my first time
really out the country and just beingable to like go to the Great Wall
China and all that stuff and stilldo what I love to do, you
know, working out when Micah itwas cool and uh he has a lot
of crazy takes, but you know, I I got love for that guy.
But it was fun. Man Johnand Jonathan Dad, what's uh,
what's it like having kids stuff downhere with you? And what's your relationship

(03:18:39):
being like with him? Oh?Yeah, Kay's my brother. Man.
You know, I've been through takingthing with him and he's somebody who I
I often look at as like likeour moms are like the same or our
families are super close in college.I think he's like my blood brother who
like somewhere walking down of the line. I don't know how words, but

(03:19:01):
I just he's already like there forme. He's always, you know,
I don't know, man, Kateis just like that guy. He's a
brother that you just you know,letting him know I'm available for him.
You know, I think it canbe something as little as just the steps
on field goal blot or field goalprotection. You know, I've been doing
it for thirteen years. It's stillcrazy, I'm still doing it, but

(03:19:24):
uh, you know, Uh,those are the type of things I'm just
giving guidance to. And then youknow, off the field, it's you
know, what to expect around thecity. Where should you be, where
you should be, how you canhelp yourself, you know, the little
things. Yeah, what are youlooking forward to your contract? You know

(03:19:46):
I'm looking to be here. Youknow. Uh, the value is what
we decide. But you know,I think for me, I want to
be you know, valued at myposition. You know, I I understand
I came up a rough season,but I don't think it's a step down
of where I can play. Youknow, I think when I'm at the

(03:20:07):
top of my game. I'm stillyou know, top five player in my
position, and you know, Iplayed a run in the past and I
bring leadership and you know that's notanything I discover. Can you do you
plan to be here for Mini CAMPRAand the start of tre in the camp?
Yeah? How difficult has it beenthe last two weeks to not be
here? I mean you said inyour blodcast the first time you've never not

(03:20:28):
been at Yeah, it w Itwas difficult, But like you know,
the thing I got very frustrated withwas just when people questioned my communication with
the team. You know, Iuh was communicating with guys left and right,
and you know, front office,coaches, teammates, and all I
care about is how I am withmy teammates. I don't want them to

(03:20:50):
ever think I don't care about themor how I'm not in it. And
you know, you can say whateveryou want about me. But besides that,
but or I'll always dedicate anything Ican't do it, and I don't
want that to every question. Isaiahsaid that it felt like sometimes you were
hold up somewhere watching film. Youtext her, yuh say hey you missed
this, or you wanna be that. Well, like the first day,

(03:21:11):
he was batting all up Russ's passes. So I had to let him know,
you know, I, uh,you gotta take advantage of that.
You gotta make sure guys are youknow, uh know that you you still
care and you you still wanna bea part of this. Uh, you
know, just watching practice, there'sa couple of little things we're doing different,
whether I'm communicating with dumbbar or otherpeople you know Soviet Ye, so

(03:21:35):
you're that You're also talking with himand you you've given him pointers during the
off season, just constant communication.How do you see him grow as a
person, you know, as faras how he's approaching things, how you
getting ready for this season? Promsis what he uh you know. I
think the thing with Keanu is he'smore comfortable, you know. You know,
it's not his first time around thetrack. You know, it's actually
like he can you know, uhcatch his feet under him. You know.

(03:21:58):
I always think when you're in yourrookie season, you're going from bowl
game. I don't even know Wisconsinplaying a bowl game. Sorry, Wisconsin,
I don't even know. But youknow, personally, I just think
when you go from Bowl game totraining for the Combine to you know rookie
mining camps. OTA's the you knowmini camp, I mean the training camp

(03:22:18):
the regular season. You really don'tget a time to really catch yourself.
You know, he understands the playbook. Now you can be more vocal,
you know, and I think whenmy absence, the other guys absence,
you know, you need guys likethat to step up and be ready for
those opportunities you had. You hadduring the season was a more thorough What

(03:22:39):
was just tightened down everything, youknow on my left side cause I was
overcompensating a little bit, but youknow it was it wasn't anything that lingers.
You know, I'll say this,uh, a growing is not like
an a cl It's not like anything'sthat we're gonna ge affected again. And
you know, you know, I'mfeeling good, able to do everything squat

(03:23:01):
and heavy with power and speed,so you know, it feels good to
get after again. What do youthink of what the team is able to
accomplish yours off season in terms ofbringing guys like Russian and things, you
know, I I think they're allgood acquisitions. But you know, you
never want to be known as apaper champion, so can't win the off
season. I think the work getsdone out here on the field, gets

(03:23:24):
done in the classroom, Wow,it gets done training, uh, you
know, and then you see whereyou're at in training camp, and then
you build on that. You know. I think we got the right guys
in the building. It's just aboutputting a complete team on the field.
Camp. How teper colleagues to separatethe business part of the game in the
actual football player. Uh, youknow, you you always wanna you always

(03:23:48):
have to treat it like a businessbecause you know one day it's gonna end.
Uh, and that's been job.Uh. It's not like in college
where you know you got four yearscan and te well now you you don't
even know what an il and knowit's scrap but the transfer portal portal.
But you know, you have toI still have love for this game,

(03:24:11):
and I still work my tail offand I still put everything into it and
that's not gonna change. But youhave to know, uh, what you
bring to the team and what yourwhat your value is. Okay, I
mean I wanted you to feel tobe out there with your teammates today emotionally
great, you know, we gota new uh, we got a new
training staff and still learning the thewarm up a little different. Uh,

(03:24:33):
but uh, you know I lovedit. Uh, you know, just
getting after it, learning new guys. Uh, going through the same drills
I've been doing by myself. Uh. I actually like having more people around,
cause like kind of go stir crazy, cra crazy. When it's just
you and another guy, You're like, damn, I gotta go back up
for another rep already. And soyou know, it's nice to be up

(03:24:56):
here and get a chance to,you know, be with my guys.
Were you confident and be able toget done with your emotion? Oh,
I'm gonna we'll try to remain prettyneutral, cause you know, I don't
wanna be too either way. AllI know is I wanna be here,
but we'll see what happens. Wasmy last year here, I I I

(03:25:20):
I've had a great career here,but uh, I'll look forward to play
next year. Can you with thatsecond surgery? You said it this time
was on the left side. Itwas the first time around on the right
side, right side during the season, left side, and that was just
tightening down my corner. My cormasaw it wasn't the same as my ad
doctor. You know, you canask doctor Bradley, uh, doctor doctor

(03:25:43):
Zuckerbron who uh did the surgery aswell. You know, I if anything's
gonna help me and it'll make mea lot stronger for hearing up. Can
you say you were training with anotherguy? Who have you kind of been?
Tyson? Oh? Uh? I'vebeen training with him for the last
eight years. We've allways trained together. We got a trainer up north,
uh shadow of Cole Haley, who'smy guy, traded trained trained, Uh,

(03:26:07):
Heath Miller, Brett Keesel. Themultitude of guys that I alway respect,
and we've just been getting after cans. Very few guys historically thirty five
that paid big contract that you thinkthat's held against you. I think there's
not a lot of history behind it. But you know, for me,
I I look at as I'm notlooking to be like anybody else. You

(03:26:31):
know, my game is different fromeverybody else in this league. You know,
I like to think, you know, I can play the run in
the past, and then that's whereI'm different. You know. I remember
last year Mike t just brought tomy attention. You know, the thing
that's really cool is you watch powerlifters, and you know, my game's built
on powering technique, and those guysgo into their forties and so you know,

(03:26:54):
that's what kind of research I'm doingbehind the scenes. But you know,
I I We'll see what happens.The it's there's not a lot of
history, but I'm here to makehistory and I'm here to you know,
win another super Bow year and youknow, have a great season. Do
you have a set goal for yourselfor how many years you wanna play in
the NFL? Or did you justtake things year by the year? You

(03:27:16):
know it? It was it wastough answering that question right after the season.
I will say this, guys,I I can't keep answering that question
right after the season. That isnot fair to the season, that's not
fair to my family. Uh youknow, but in my mind, I
got three years and I wanna maximize'em. I wanna play at a high
level, and I wanna go deepin the playoffs. And you know,

(03:27:39):
we got a good team and I'mgonna do my part to be ready for
all those situations. If you planon practice when you reports with troub or
is your possibility that you might pullin and enforce theituations. I I have
not even thought that far. I'vetaken it day by day. Uh you
know uh uh. I told myagent and we talked about it. I
mean we were cool coming down here. You know, I'll be here for

(03:28:01):
many you know, and then I'llbe the retraining pand you know, I
don't know what the work entails,but right when we get there, we'll
we'll cross that bridge or remain stealerfor those three years. You know,
there was a conversation between me Omarand Mike t And there's certain guys that

(03:28:26):
are one helmet guys, you know, and I want to be one of
those one helmet guys. And youknow, there's a there's a hunger and
desire that I was doing a littlebit of carrying the ball. I was
Xavier Johnson. So learning from himand guys like that, it's it.
It makes me more comfortable. ButI could do I feel like I could
do anything on the field, andI'll do anything to play so fast and

(03:28:46):
to do with meet throwing the ball, running the ball, catching the ball,
blocking, Anything I'll do is goon the field. I believe with
that coach Date specifically talking about howif you are where do you think that
driving from? It just comes fromwhere I'm from, South Florida. I
feel like everybody down there, wecompete to the max. There's no other
place that competes like South Florida.There's dogs all around the South Florida.
So, I mean, it's justever since I was seven years old when

(03:29:09):
I started playing, It's just itwas instilled in me to just compete and
be that dog. Speaking of SouthFlorida, what about German? I mean,
I played with Jeremiah when I wasten and eleven, and then we
played against each other a couple ofyears of high school. So I've seen
him. The growth he's made overthese years is insane. The way his

(03:29:30):
body has changed is crazy. Andnow seeing out here today is just like
everything has come full circle. Youknow, he's what, he was the
best player in the country last year. And for him, for me seeing
him grow up and things like that, it's been really good to see fresh.
It's such a stacked room. MarvinHarrison Junior played, which is a

(03:29:50):
true fresh, but seems like hemight be the exception to the rule.
I feel like Jeremiah is just Imean, he's definitely he's a different caliber
when when you when you watch himand how smooth he is and the physical
abilities he brings to the game,I feel like he has to play some
way. He has to he hasto play because he's just better the team.
Jeremiah Nohore and now you're like youguys podcast this year, three years,

(03:30:26):
they're gonna get the best receiver receivingroom from the country. You know,
we've been holding that narrative for solong now, but we're gonna continue
to do that. I mean,we have conversations with like as us because
we're we all play for the sameteam. As you said, we just
want to be the best and weknow when it's our time to come,

(03:30:48):
we're gonna do We're gonna do thatand definitely get a national championship. How
special is that for you? Youguys get It's very special because you would
have never know in OT seven whenwe were there, all on the same
field together on the same team.Who never thought we would have been at
the Ohio State University, all playingon the same field at the same time.

(03:31:09):
So it's definitely special in them todream come true. How did your
body changed the offseason, how doyou. I definitely think my body has
changed a lot, and it's changedthe ways of like my body. Papper
sentences went down a lot, andI just feel like I overall feel better
when I like do long runs andstuff like that. So I have a

(03:31:30):
good, really good stamina right now. So I just hope to keep that
up winded this year as you wereafter a fifty seven years touchdown in your
first catch. Yeah, yeah,yeah, I feel like it was just
adrenaline rushing. I feel like Iwas more so a celebration, was more
tired than the run. Actually,everybody jumping on me and stuff like that.
But it was definitely a cool experienceexperience. Is there anything outside?

(03:32:01):
It feels like there's a little bitof South Florida and maybe like a good
track stoppers. Yeah, he likeyou guys do like do you see that
in the corner? I feel likeif the if there were anybody to be
from South Florida, a cornm itwould be the uh ig be Davidson Nigolson
guard and looking over to the counterpartyard, it's a great thing to say.
What what about Carson's skills might justallow him to shift over one spots

(03:32:24):
was last year. Why did hebe a successful He's athoutic, he's able
to run the ball, he's eathim as well, which is all find
your favorite things working in the space. That's uh, it's a huge thing
to have. And uh he's justtrying to come up into the red guard
spot. Now. It's how manykind of other guys I got some bad
time Florida, But uh he's doingget a good John today. Let's say
we can do it too the summerand get into the fall camp. After

(03:32:46):
Sam scuored his touchdown Forislockhan was talkingto him and then he kind of made
his way over toward you grab hisshoulder head like what was going on there?
Oh yeah, yeah, I meanobviously, Uh, the young guy
scores a touchdown on the shoe,he kind of blocks out of everything as
I'm trying to coach locks on hisname, trying to get his attention back
to get some coaching. Uh itwas it was nothing too crazy, cause
like I said, now we handleboth to the rec around here, and

(03:33:07):
so just to make sure you know, uh, obviously it's a great thing,
right, I'm just going to touchdown. It's a great thing. Everybody
when you've seen the score, butyou sometimes see some coaching a lot of
quarterbacks running the ball up today.I don't uh that part of the day.
I mean, I think that justmakes uh the offense even more bounced.
You know, you can I's playedleven on elevens ten on eleventh.
So it's just another guy to accountfor, another guy you have to uh
move outside of the box. Anotherguy after the ends of leaves. The

(03:33:30):
rest of the heaven's open for moreuh options than you know fan. So
it's a it's an awesome thing.You know, personally I want to slide,
but but uh it's it's still cool. See how difficult did that make
it last year when you your lastcouple of years when you really ever had
that. What does the running foryou abay to run there for a quarterback
game? None, It wasn't difficult. It's just a U style offerense.
You know. Coach Kelly comes inwith uh his philosophy and what he wants

(03:33:52):
to cues to do and the accusedof actually do on the spring, So
uh, we're just gonna keep buildingoff that. Obviously, UH used a
couple of good things, some somegood runs by all the cues, but
just building off of it and seewhat we think you're better done. I
think you open today in the tformations and creative like that. What's it
like working with Chip Kelly and howis that helping the offensive line's creativity?

(03:34:13):
It's it's it's really fun going throughwalk throughs. Obviously I only get the
sort of run to play the insideout of my found but you know,
we go back on film like wewere, but it's, uh, everything's
a lot everything's a lot more fun. All the guys are buying in,
all the guys are coming a lotmore fun. So Coach Kelly brings us
on his own juice to look,we have what's going on and just uh,

(03:34:33):
every day, every guy, everyoneimproves off of it. So do
you feel that improvement up front foryou guys in the offense link and you
feel like that's helping you guys rightnow? For sure? Yeah? I
mean, uh, we have alot more experience in the line, A
lot more guys have a year ortwo under their belts. What did your
impression of him? What does hedo well that you're like, okay,
yeah, this is this is owncoaches, you board boy, you can

(03:34:56):
hit it. Right after your visit. I mean when you came down here
just their thought process that you couldcommit. Did you come down with an
open mind or did you kind ofhave a feeling that this was gonna be
the weekend the you way. Icame down with opuman, I didn't know
about the momame and really then Igot here, I found the family.
I'm here with a player. Whatwas that moment like for you talking to
the coaches telling me there, tellingyour family? Just what was that like

(03:35:20):
for you? But it was great? I have a mom, my dad,
or my husband in the room ormy community. What was that reaction?
Well, my everybody already know exceptfor the day times. So what
was coach last year? When youthink of like just to comment or the
yeah, just an Ohio state back. You know, whether it's physicality,

(03:35:41):
like what what are the first thingsthat come to mind when you think of
you don't hi share or any now? Speed of power? Yes on and
tlady got it? Yeah? Thereis that something that I mean, you
feel like you have to you knowwe're going to Is that something that you're
like, Yeah, that's the kindof back I am. I'm just gonna
be next to mine in allis.I mean, that's how back I am.
But you go out and pop.Yeah, well, what are kind
of a few of those things thatyou're like, Yeah, I need to
work hard, like go over thecourse of the next few months, A

(03:36:03):
just everything, make sure I keepall the details, ball security. Yeah,
what a coach. I'll tell youthat he likes about your game is
between the tackles, your speed orwhat is he like to right? So
he said you like marrow the backfieldgame, saying he liked that. I'm
not talk what's kind of your mainI mean obviously as an in state kid
committed to this class. What's yourpitch now to other recruits to be like,

(03:36:26):
this is why you should join OhioState. Shorty, it's a real
family. I'mosphere everybody get them on, everybody talking to everybody, knowing each
other. What'd you say once youget us? Bring him too. I've
always looked up to Bill Jackson watchingthis film. Do you uh that's funny?

(03:36:50):
Do you think that your boy stylecan hear his foods? Because we
like it just the way that hereally posed as Now I'm saying that you
want to go into Yeah, Ithink I can. I think be the
power to Yeah, I think Ibelieve Who are the main guys that you're
you're talking to right now to jointhe flow? I'm really talking to everybody

(03:37:11):
to listener and that all the commutingand any guys that you want to join
the class, anybody at the topof your list. Not I'm sorry if
you've already got asked this, butcoming up here as a as a recruit
or as a commitment s here?What what did you want to show today?
What did you want to get outof this experience? It wasn't show
nothing to prove. I just wantedto have just one working with love.

(03:37:31):
How did you feel like that went? Obviously he's still relatively new here,
but he seems to bring a littlebit of a different energy than than some
of these camps in the past.I feel like it went good here.
Do you sense that energy? Imean, when you're out with him,
it's feel intense interview. He's differentthan other guys though, right, I
mean kind of how would you explainhis coaching than some of the other running

(03:37:52):
back coach you've may have worked within the path. It's just intense,
tense, like go go go.Did you talk to coach? Talk on
when neither had organ I did,okay, so when when didn't he didn't
organ and get him ultimo like Ruffordaround like half of the season like Notti
tractic. Okay, So I meanis it was? He kind of the
same guy that he is now,so just just in a new uniform basically.

(03:38:18):
Then you guys obviously added Isaiah tothe class, and there's no secret
they would like to add another one. What are your thoughts on being in
a class with three different run andknocks like that? I have no problem
to being able to pass the another. But what what do you like about
Isaiah? I don't realize you've nevermet him, but he just damn it
on the person when you committed.Who were some of the guys that they

(03:38:39):
started to from anybody in particularly aboutafter they come up. I'm not really
put the linebackers taking on rest.It is you just control away coming back
here, just getting in that Ienjoy. Its been great, just you

(03:39:07):
your life to change in your walkout the door. Who were in just
decided, ok I'm committing and nowfive star number one play a crazy us.
It's actually really great, I eversay, it's just even getting the
offer from here you know my life. That's dissy step great. I appreciate

(03:39:30):
this story. I mean, obviouslyyou've got a couple of wore you did
hear it. I'm sarious about howyou put so higher and state how you
it's a pretty he started pretty good. But I mean in terms of the
guys, don't you want to join? How you're busy? Charge you?

(03:39:54):
Sure? Great? Great? Becausewhat you want out of a quarterback like
a white you're missing a specifically,Yeah, this is what we want characters

(03:40:35):
Rochester, Thank you brothers using coachday very very much. Time to thank
you very much. Thank you onceagain, you're missing. We talked to

(03:40:56):
mass and Kelly about that us whatyou like. It's the first time I
meadow know. We just find itreally well. And yeah, what do
you think we can bring into thecop you know? W Yeah, like

(03:41:16):
the locks of tables? What's beenlike for you? Justcluding up California?
Being out a fund today, that'sa little honestly like helping ads like different
being in one state recruit here whenyou were just it's definitely different. So

(03:41:39):
just flying here, sure, anew generation of recruits where I don't think
anybody outside looking you know, thequestions the strength of your commitment, Like
you're locked into out of state.You send it over and over, but
you're making visits around the country,You've seeing other schools. It's almost a
totally different mindset. How do youtake these other visits? And how do

(03:42:03):
you communicate with Ohio State A backthem and what's being the messages State?
I just let it know that youknow, Uh, I'm always locked in.
You know, I'm just still enjoyingthe process being in the group.
You know, this is only havingone time the siblings enjoy Uh, the
other schools. I tell them,like, yes, it canna be really

(03:42:24):
hard to try to get to theflip cause that's it's Ohio States where I
would be. So what is itthat made you wanna take those of us?
What wi chase house? The rehabprocess going so far, it's going
grave mine just taking them one dayat a time. At what stage are
you? I know they said theywanted to see probably in training camp and
we would know a little bit more. I guess at the next week when

(03:42:45):
you see a doctor for what whatstage are you? Yeah, I'm back
up training doing everything lifting. Howcrazy? So I'm back in that stage.
Do you have a timetable, likewhat would you be ready for training
camp? Or like what is yourexpectation? Uh? Right now, just
take me one day at a timestanding in my play. But but so
my numbers called him ready And howimportant for you hasn't been to I guess

(03:43:05):
stay around the team while you're inthis process. Uh? Great, man?
Uh, you know, definitely gettingin touch with the guys, you
know, knowing a lot of slot of the guys already, a lot
of the old State boys here.So it's been great. Are you encouraged
by how you feel so far afterthe procedure? Do you? Oh?
Yeah, what your expectations work fromwhat people told you? How would how
would be cuse? Oh yeah,nah, I f I feel fine.

(03:43:26):
Shit, I just ran ten fifties. Shoot, I'm I'm getting back in
shape. Shoot, getting in theweight room, about to get strong again.
So yeah, I'm I'm, I'mi'm'a be ready. What potential do
you see with this defensive line?Yeah? I man, No, you
definitely stacked. I see a lotof great things. Uh, you know,
we've worked together. I think Scott'slimit. Some conversations have you had

(03:43:50):
with some of the veterans like Cammany other people on the G line.
Yeah, just uh going to Camjust aks'e about certain things terms with
how he sees offenses just whole timehe's been in the league in terms of
formations and how he picks up onlittle pretty singap reads things like that.
Chase, I think Makeing said,you know you dove into the deep end

(03:44:11):
of the cool h. How Iguess m much important for you to be
disinvested with his team in and howmuch are you enjoying that investment? Yeah?
Nah, it's real cool, butI uh I love it here.
Uh. Only thing I had toget used to is that heat. H.
But uh it's it's real cool.Great teammates and everybody welcome you with
open arf. So it's a greatexperience. Chase, I you gonna get
work, you answered the Sorry?Is uh training camp day one? Is

(03:44:35):
I a realistic expectation. I'm justfocusing on today? Are you running it?
Yup? Marshawn is in the theoh house they got just having him
back in the building, just talkabout what's happening. Oh yeah, uh
yeah, b uh big brouh.You know it's uh definitely excited to play
with'em. We always chatted obviouslyon different teams, but I'm definitely excited

(03:44:58):
to to play with'em. That'syou know, that's gotta be big for
me. Was that one of theguys making the decision that you you kind
of talked to about what this lockerroom is like, yeah, Marshaan uh
Tyrane, But yeah, I meanit was we got a lot of great
guys. Let's see you look atthat, you know on paper, you

(03:45:20):
know, I feel like definitely oneof the most talented defenses in the league
for sure. Now it's all aboutjust putting it together and you know,
coming together as a team. Thereresearching that one hundred years ago, you
know, folks have the idea ofbuilding a stadium over sixty thousand people,
and that's because of what Chick Harleywas doing. And you know, they
had a wooden bleachers over here andall these people started coming in and the

(03:45:43):
idea of bringing in a stadium thatwere sixty thousand people at the time was
like, this is crazy. Whatis college football turning into? And they
instead of going to the state orgoing to the school the community, they
went to the community to raise themoney they raised over at the time over
a million dollars. Well night.You fast forward one hundred years and the
conversation still might be like, whatis college football doing right? And in

(03:46:03):
this situation then I l we hadto turn to the community for help,
and Bucky Nation showed up again ina big way. So although the landscape
is changing, I don't know ifyou know, one hundred years later,
if it's that much different. It'sjust in a different time, in a
different you know, set of issuesthat we're working through. But I think

(03:46:26):
it's exciting. I think there's alot of positives to it. I do.
I think that we're taking the nextstep with the revenue sharing to try
to institutionalize some of it, whichwould be big for us. Real BILLI
Billites. Yeah. Every years question, it seems like this year's team has
fewer questions off the line address specifically, if you look ahead to really more

(03:46:54):
than a month, what are thereal questions that you have in your mind
about position? I would say onoffense, you know, we've got to
square away the quarterback, as youknow, I feel like, you know,
the offensive line on the right side, we've got to solidify that.
I feel like we got to buildyou know enough depth at receiver that we

(03:47:18):
feel like we can put in fiveor six in the game and feel good
about it. On defense, Ithink we're still looking to figure out,
you know, who are going tobe the guys inside, you know,
the third, the fourth, thefifth, defensive interier, a linement that
we're going to put in the game. And then same thing just just I
would say depth, a little bitof safety just to kind of see who

(03:47:39):
those next guys are. They're goingto step up and so we know it's
going to be a long year.We're going to need everybody and and so
in a lot of those areas it'sdepth. Uh, special teams wise,
you know punter is going to beyou know that that is significant. You
know we just brought in Nick andyou know, so there'll be a battle
there. So I'd say those areprobably the areas we're focused on the most.

(03:48:05):
Ryan just to fall from the offensiveline, there was I think a
school apology. Guys, might welook for a transfer in that post spring
window. Did you guys do that? Did you guys not find the guy
or were you just confident the guysyou have, just like you know in
January, if if we're going tobring somebody in is to fill a hole.
We're not just going to bring somebodyin to bring somebody in, Like

(03:48:26):
at all positions, we'll always lookto see what's out there. We did
evaluate some of the guys that wereout there, and you know, you
know, we felt like coming outof it as we evaluated it. You
know, there was a couple ofguys that you know, we checked on,
but but ultimately like based on wherewe were and some of the young
guys that are coming up, youknow, we felt like we saw some
progress in the offensive line in thespring. So you know, it wasn't

(03:48:48):
there wasn't as many folks in theportal, you know, in after the
spring. So we looked at it, we identified it, We did our
due diligence, but you know we'regonna go with through. We have now
second room. Bill Anders right,you're bet. It was interesting that you
have two of maybe the top fiveors of guys in sport and then a
bunch of guys who haven't plenty uhmaybe similar that. I don't my question,

(03:49:11):
but did you consider trying to addthere? Understanding that probably the difficult
to sell. We have such talent, how the Prince somebody had these experiences,
like what were those conversations like andhow did you sett along being comfortable
with you know, Trey and quinWell. Like you said, you know,
I think we're we will get someexperience there with those two guys.
And then you know, we feltlike coming out of the spring that James

(03:49:33):
and Sam both did a nice joband you know, we're gonna have to
play them and they're gonna have toyou know, take on a little bit
of that. You know, wehave you know, started having conversation with
Caleb Downs. I was part ofthe recruiting process of possibly you know,
doing a little bit of running backas well. It's something that he wanted
to do. So we've been havinghim in some of the meetings and some
of the individual drills as a possibilitythere if you know, needed so down

(03:49:56):
the road to continue to build depthat that position. But you know,
I think, you know, wefeel like, you know, if you
have you know, four strong runningbacks going into it, then you know
that's gonna be that's gonna be enoughto carry the season. I do think
that the quarterbacks will run the ballmore this season, so that should take
some carries away from them. Butto your point. You know, James

(03:50:18):
and Sam are gonna have to stepup to the guys that we can count
on. Save that for another day. Yeah, just fall up on that.
Is he capable of stepping in andbeing running back? Obviously, we'll
see, we'll see. We talkedabout the recruiting process, you know,

(03:50:41):
the first time around and more specificallythe second time around, and so he's
you know, he's been around alittle bit just to get a feel for
it. We did very little inthe spring. We did I think we
pitched them an option or something likethat in the spring just to kind of
get them going. But we'll see, we'll see where that goes. We
don't have a specific plan right now, but we do want to introduce him

(03:51:01):
to that just the same thing likeLorenzo Styles has played your seer where he
did that in Notre Dame. Youknow, he's out there a little bit
just kind of learning. It's healthy. You know, you're seeing it from
the other side of the ball.This time of year, you can get
away with that a little bit,a little bit in the preseason. Where
it goes, we'll see, butyou just never know. And we're trying
to put some contingency plans in placebecause it could be a long season.
Yeah, this is my forty firstyear covered hose Day. I don't remember

(03:51:24):
ever expectations like this in the summer. There were some of them were almost
as big. Sure do you sendthat too? And what is that pressure
like as you're working through a summer. Yeah, And people have asked me
that I go back to the expectationsevery year the same. I mean,
it's just the truth. When openingpress conference and said you got to beat
the team up north, and whenevery game after that, that's just the
expectations. And when you come upshort, you know you've got to figure

(03:51:46):
out a way to get those thingsfixed. I think we have done that.
But the expectations are the same everyyear. Pressure is the same every
year. I just like the pressurewhen you've got a really good team behind
you. So that's what we gotright now. And you know, we
know it's going to be a longseason. We know we're working towards.
But I will say this about thisteam, Well, well, we've been
talented. That's there's been times inthe past we've been talented. I don't

(03:52:07):
know since I've been here, ifwe've been this talented and this experience together
with guys that have played a lotof football, fourth and fifth year guys,
and that doesn't matter. We'll goextor Stephen play. Since you brought
maybe maybe this is his talks becauseit's summer timas so you can now just
have a conversations. Maybe we're makinga big out of nothing long term situations,

(03:52:30):
but we've seen it around college footballleague guys playing both sides of the
ball. I'm doing it quite wellright Travis is doing it out in Colorado
and Kaylyn Dallas has been apartment turns, so we see what he could do
with the ball. But there's alsothe stamina aspect of that was getting through
a sixteen game season. So I'mnot saying it's any forty snaps or something
like that, But what about hisathleticism what he brings to the table,
and let you know that if youwanted to explore it a real game,

(03:52:52):
he could last and still be aneffective seek. Yeah, you know,
we'd have to see all that hedid it in high school. But we've
got some really good running backs ina room, so it's not something that
we're planning on doing. But uh, we all we are gonna you know,
work on a little bit Caleb.Caleb enjoys that part of it.
We did agree that that was somethingthat we were going to look into.
Where it goes, I don't Idon't really know right now, but I

(03:53:13):
know that he has the capability todo it. He has the athleticism and
do it, and you know,we'll kind of see where it goes,
see see how he does, andyou know, maybe hand the ball Tom
a little bit in the preseason becauseagain it's going to be a long season.
We have to make sure we havecontinuency plans in place. But I
know it's something that he enjoys havingthe ball in his hand. So even
during their first time around the recruitingprocess, we even't talked about him coming

(03:53:35):
in as a as an offensive player. Ultimately we think his ceiling is highest
on defense. But you know,but I also agree, I think that
having you know, guys going inother side of the ball and just see
it, listen to meetings is reallyhealthy for their development. So we're going
to do that. Regardless. Yourdefensive recruiting right now is maybe for the

(03:53:58):
long and it's been in the yearspast, and I think we differus questions
about it in the past, butis this a product of seeing it over
the last couple of years and nowit's not just telling you guys, hey,
this might look like this, they'reseeing it in real time. Yeah.
You know, we talked about itwhen Jim first came in, and
I think Tim walls an unbelievable jobas well in the back end, and
you know, Matt stepped right inand James and Larry. I think they're

(03:54:20):
all doing a great job. Butlike you said, you know, it's
one thing to talk about it.That's theory testimony is just look at this
is this is what we're doing.And then I think you're seeing a lot
of guys just excited about playing inthis defense and they see the capabilities and
the flexibility too. You know,right now the way we play, excuse
me, the way we play rightnow is based on you know, we
have four really talented defensive linemen thatare really good, and we got a

(03:54:43):
lot of depth to those positions.But there's also flexibility with some of the
things Gym's done in the past thatyou know, we're definitely looking at and
some of the recruits that we're lookingat who brings some versatility, pass rusher.
You know, we had that jackposition and those type of things.
So that's exciting as well. AndI think you're seeing a the recruits,
you know, really get fired upwhen they get here. People. Yeah,

(03:55:05):
coach, first couple years, youridentity was was very very from a
standpoint and air it out type team. Look at the keep best talent and
the playmakers you have there. Hasyour identity changed? I guess what do
you think the identity is of thispoint point four? Well, we'll see
as we go, but you know, we know what we need to do
to play in the big games.That's never changed. And we have to

(03:55:28):
be able to stop the run,run the football, take care of the
ball, and there'll be opportunities tothrow the ball that'll happen, but you
know we're gonna have to, youknow, do those things to win close
games and and play situational football.But I think, you know, you
won't really get a feel for whatthe identity of the team is until we
get into probably the beginning of October, you know, and I think we
all have ideas of what it couldgo. But you know, now that

(03:55:50):
we're playing in a playoff format justlike a lot of those NFL teams sometimes,
you know, they don't really quiteunderstand their identity until they get about
halfway through the season. I don'tthink it'll take that long. But you
know, we're able to play somegames and kind of work through some things.
And I don't think our defense isgoing to change a bunch in terms
of what we did last year.I mean, it's a lot of the
same guys back could look a littledifferent on offense. Have you got time

(03:56:11):
for two more? Go to DougLimers? Okay? Right? You lose
an important recruiting staffer to promotion atMichigan just the second time, so Mu's
gone to Michigan this offseason. Howdo you react to something like that?
Is it something that someone like thatwould take information that was learned here that

(03:56:33):
could help the Michigan or burt Ohighest stages the reaction. Yeah, all
good questions. And you know,I just I want to talk about the
guys that are here, you know, the staff members that are here,
the coaches that are here, theplayers that are here, the ones that
are Buckeyes. Joe didjit with thescheduling change that was announced yesterday? How

(03:56:56):
why did they come together? Didn'thave anything to do with the expanded the
playoffs may different. Yeah, youknow, I don't know all that came
in came with it. I knowit got presented to me a while back,
and you know I was on boardwith it. So yeah, I
mean I think, you know,we do have to look a little bit
different at our scheduling as we moveforward, based on the way the format

(03:57:18):
is at the end of the season. That's quickly about the linebackers. Got
in here a little bit late.How do you feel about your linebackers?
Cody seems like he always eas withthat MS is like he's lucking as a
starter. CJ. When do yousee his role being Sonny? When you
see his role being Gay and allthis guys? Yeah, good versatility all
those guys, Rvel Reese, Likeyou said, CJ, Gabe, Sonny,

(03:57:39):
Cody. You know, I'm missinga couple, I'm sure, but
like that was that y Rvel?Yeah, I mean these guys are very
versatile guys. You can see thelength on them, and you know they
do a good job in terms oflike fitting the runs they could. They
have enough length, you know,to cover and zone, but they'll also
blitz and that's something one to reallywork on this offseason is getting better at

(03:58:01):
blitzing, you know, and hopefullywe can even take the night next year.
We got Jeremiah J. J.Smith J J. How'd you feel
out there today? You got agreetime? I heard the TV team came
out, don't three and old poolplay? When you come to these kind
of tournaments, what kind of techniquesdo you like to work on us you
think that you're going deep run someshort stuff from crossing routes. What do

(03:58:24):
you work on when you're out oftournament like this? Really just getting back
in the goose doing the beat.So really just working on our releases.
Uh, that's fast. I've beenI've been a chuck. So just bringing
back. Now we know you pulledthe trigger on Ohio State, obviously you're
gonna take visits kind of make surethat you're you're perfect on your decision.
What was it about Ohio State andBrian Hartline and Ryan David? It made

(03:58:46):
you feel comfortable to made early?Really they sent me my first visit,
but I think the first you canoff you offer me first year? But
it just what's up? What's up? What's what they say? Was?

(03:59:07):
Really? They they they gave me, uh, really just a kid that
I'm a tough artist. I wasn'ttough artist. I'm trying to help them
now. I know you got someof your SFE family up there. You
got Brandon n s, you gotCardinal Day. What does it mean to
potentially be able to wake up withthem in a year and be able to
kind of run back what you guyshave done in South Florida Express in Columbus,

(03:59:30):
Ohio, it'd be great we gothere to Ohio State take over.
It'd be grateful, a great forthe first round. Yeah, you're a
super humble kid. I've been reallyimpressed by you today. Is there anything
that you want Ohio State fans toknow about you? You know again,
I know you're just your all work, all work, a work. But
what are they getting when they geta J. J. Smith to come

(03:59:52):
to Ohio saying kid coming in thejob, don't what I want to do,
They'll just come. That's perfect,man, God bless you. I
appreciate you, my man alsome watchingyou today, Thank you so much.
Smith. And then later tonight I'llprobably come back and watch the film again.

(04:00:13):
But at the end of the day, it's just trying to be around
football, be around the facility.How much of your film watching it is,
like solo would diffen just you buyyourself watch and stuff. How much
people earlier We've had more safeties comein throughout the spring, more guys try
to learn the system and learn thegame. But I mean, at the
end of the day, you gottado what you gotta do to put yourself

(04:00:37):
in the best position to win.So myself, I'll watch film at home
too by myself, but when I'mhere, there's always other players around me
that are trying to or to getbetter, just like I am. Are
you only watching yourself? You watch? No? I watched the NFL teams.
Watch good NFL safeties that are playingright now, Javon Holland, Hant
swine Wifield, go, guys likethat that can that I can emulate and

(04:00:58):
try to see how they play.And then also just watching other players here,
other players that do things well here, just just learning from them,
trying to see how they play thegame, trying to get better. Caleb,
what are some of the big differencesthat you've seen so far between what
you went through at Alabama and sofar you've come through up here. A
lot of it's the same. Alittle differences in the defense and how they

(04:01:20):
operate and how they see things.But at the end of the day,
football's football defensive defense, So everybodygotta get to the ball and make the
type of we think coldos Oh.I love the city. I love uh
High Street, I love being inthe city. I love going to the
restaurants here. The food's great here. So uh, I ain't got no
good place for me to fay because it's like you have the campus of

(04:01:41):
ASUDD and then you also a bigcity. It's it's different than Alabama because
Alabama was a college town and Tessalusais not as big of a city.
Here, there's a lot of peopleto see, a lot of different businesses
that you can be a part of. So just trying to learn the city
and learn what everybody has to offerhere. He'll you probably noticed that when
Kid probatly made his decision to goback to Alabama, then that starts a

(04:02:05):
whole level of speculation as the areyou were you taken back by that?
Did you feel like you needed tomake a declaration off of that? Uh?
I mean, at the end ofthe day, no, I didn't
feel like I needed to say anything, cause at the end of the day,
I was still here a practice,I was still here with my teammates.
So I mean, I feel mymy actions speak for themselves. I'm
I mean, I don't. Idon't need to say anything about that.

(04:02:26):
Kayden and I talked to him whenhe did it, and I congratulated him
on his decision. I mean,that's when he feels his best, list
when he feels his best, andI support him. But I'm here.
You guys have her in this newgeneration of you have that sort of freedom,
You have that sort of control overyour career in a way that other
people didn't. Is it's something thatyou you have to kind of take with
a certain seriousness that you're making thatright decision. You care at all times,

(04:02:48):
I think ev I mean it,in life, you have to make
decisions based off of what you feelsbest for yourself. So that was a
big decision for him, And ifhe feels that's what's best for himself,
then I support it. But atthe end of the day, for collegeuble
athletes, I think that's the bestthing because the coaches have the same right
to do what they do. Coachcan come here for a month and leave,
And I mean then he's just leavingthe player at high and draw.

(04:03:11):
So I mean, if they're gonnahave the ability to do it, why
would the players not have some typeof say in their in their life?
Can have you? You made theimpact oppos last years in the freshmen?
What do you think you can doas assault week the year under your belt?
Yeah, I think I can growand what I did well last year

(04:03:33):
and increase on the qualities that Iwas not as a leade at during during
the season. So just being betterin coverage, being better in the post,
being better in my tackling, beinga better communicator with my teammates,
all that I think I can offerto the team. And but at the
end of the day, it's gottabe a team collective to go do what
we wanna do. What do youcome in? This office? Is a

(04:03:54):
lower being last what do you whatdo you think those being a big part
of many stuff? Was elite lastyear? It should be when you beat
this year. Yeah, they werea very elite defense last year. And
watching all the film from last yearand the whole season, they played a
great season. They played a lotof good defense. Excuse me, which
your question just the idea of beingpard I'm a big part. I'm not

(04:04:15):
an league defense. Uh. Imean I can only do my part.
I can only do my one toeleventh and do my job every play.
I can't. I can't try todo more than that, and every other
player just has to do their joband we'll do what we need to do.
Okay, we'll be talking about yourfield watching habits. Was that the
same in high school? And whatdid that look like for you on a
regular high school My high school coachwas one of my favorite people in the

(04:04:37):
world. Uh, Freeman Davis.Me and him watched film together a lot,
but that was more so just myselfwatching film and trying to grow.
So I would say I had alot of the same habits and has trustferred
over to college. But a lotof that was me and my high school
coach stating the game together another movie. You around everywhere here, but you
know, it seems like you're atthat free safety spot as opposed to the

(04:05:00):
strong Seaton spot you played at Alabama. Just what said transition? Like,
do you feel that does that evenmatter in this kind of defense? I
th I mean it's the same spotreally to the it's the safety to the
field safety playing in the most space. That's what I'm used to. But
at the end of the day,I I feel like I can play to
the boundary. I can play thedim money position, I can play nickel.
So I mean, at the endof the day, you gotta make

(04:05:22):
plays wherever you're at. Calen.What have you been? What have your
thoughts went on? Jeremiah Snoot avery elite athlete, very instinctual player,
has a great ball skills. Shoulduh should have a big impact this year.
Anybody you can compare him what you'veseen? Nah? J Jason's on

(04:05:46):
so jaesus He's only it's his ownman. Uh. Who else's caught your
eye? At work? Receiver group? Kayle that uh? Is he elite?
In your opinion? Uh? Iwatch a Mecca Buka a lot and
co when I was in high watchingthe games, and then last year watching
some of his film. He's beenan elite receiver then and he's a leade
receiver now. And Carlote has hada great spring as well. Yeah.

(04:06:09):
And then you you personally, Uh, after the UH Steve Appreciation Day on
Saturday, you were mobbed about asmuch as anybody what is what? How
have you felt the receipt meaning theautograph seekers at Saturday? Now? Uh?
Have you felt the reception here?Uh? For you over the last
several months, but especially like Saturday, I think it's been very welcoming.

(04:06:30):
I appreciate everybody, and like Iappreciate when I go to class, seeing
people that know me and just beingable to meet them, being able to
say that I'm glad to be here, being able to say I'm glad to
be here to everybody that came upto me. Yeah. So I'm just
I'm very appreciative of it. Doyou feel their expectations for you? You
know what I mean that? Uh? I mean people mass a versatility then,

(04:06:50):
so I'm happy about it. There. You moved around a lot throughout
your career. That there's Jumbo's sideyou tackle, I guess in the Sayings
and Cleaning book the left on theright side. Do you think you kind
of benefit from focusing a little bitmore on the right set? Uh?
A little bit, But you know, there is a new system that we
have, Like I can find mymindset most in the right, but also
have my mind's on the left too, just in case something does happening too,

(04:07:11):
like you know what I mean,like Cotan or you know, Pete,
of course, but I'm always gonnabe ready for love no matter what.
How quickly have you felt like youpicked up this new system that you're
working in that, oh it's awe actually pretty up picked up pretty well
cause it's the same system that I'mused to back in the hot stae cause
we're more like spread back at howI say, So you know, it's

(04:07:31):
pretty good. One of those likethe draft process off seasons. A lot
of people outside of the buildings chainamager just getting the right tack. Yeah,
a lot of yeah, alright now, A lot of people in the
building were like we have a righttime. A lot of people get motivated
about that. You followed it likeif you had mentioned doing it, though
I don't I read into it alittle bit. But also at the same
time, like they not here ofcourse, but I don't really care what

(04:07:54):
they say. I know what Ican do, and the team know I
what I can do, so theyinterested me right now and I'm not gonna
live m lay down. How hardor how easy is that to compartmentalize that
and use that as fuels going forwardrather than to kind of maritate it.
Uh, I j I just keepreceived. Everybody knows that one person I
don't really care for him at Alsothat's all good, but it's all love.

(04:08:16):
I love uh outside of this tokeep going, he keep it better,
keep on these nights, do whatI can do there. You've been
a outspoken about your supporter of Zamiand obviously it's just a chance now to
be the dog. Wait, whatis it about him that you bought in
so early? The reason why Ibuy it so early cause us I was
at a house they they always taughtus at you act go getting and asking

(04:08:41):
I got here. I'm'a always wannago get and I gotta picked late.
And I always wanna prove people wrong. You know, I think prove people
wrong all my life. I don'twanna keep doing that. That's a long
to which I guess more just likewe don't paying like the set you feel
like a community year that you havenine eight difference nine they different from my
first year, in my second yearto now like now, I'm my alright,

(04:09:03):
I know I can play. Iknow I can go against one of
the best special ants anybody else thatwe want to play this year, and
I know why I can do so. All I got to do now is
ast meet my potential and should doit and help everybody else out the team
as well. You've practiced a lotagainst Malcolm and he's really come into his
own. What is it about Malcolmthat's helped him make that next step?
There? Man, Malcolm, he'squiet, he doesn't really say too much.

(04:09:26):
He comes to the work every day, do what he does, and
he works hard. He doesn't lilittwice at anything. Yeah, he'll get
mad over a co rest bols.At the same time that like, he
has a mentality of adult like he'she don't really care what y'all think or
anybody else thinks for real. Soit's just like, alright, just keep
going. That's how everybody is onthe team about Ty raising too, that

(04:09:48):
same mindset. He does have thesame mindset. A little nervous, but
uh n nah. He has definitelygrown up a lot from his like first
year here to now, like ashe has m but he's he's growing up
a lot mentally too. I'll tellyou, guys are reimagining the offensive line
a little bit with you out thereright side up farm there next to you

(04:10:11):
on the on that side too,and then drafting the guys on the line.
You know, how exciting is thatto be part of something that's that's
kind of being you know, havingthat trust but also being reinvented a little
bit. That's very good, youknow. But me and doing those like
they gonna keep a placing us,of course, but all the same time,
we gotta keep going, you know, became stil and think about what
they did all we gotta do.I'm saying about what what came to do

(04:10:33):
with being better in forte time aswell. Sorry, don't put a lot
on them both sides. Finish peopleright a little bit more. How how
long are you guys working together?I'm one hundred percent now. And it
was like a walk in the park. It's like a sprained ankle. You
know. It was very easy,you know, because I had the knee.
The knee was pretty hard, youknow, and the achilles was I

(04:10:54):
would say it's easy, you know, just because that's just my mentality,
and it was. It was prettyeasy to be But you know, I've
had these injuries and it's been stormlike the past two years, you know,
having haveing like good, great games. The next thing you know,
hurt and then you know, sogot got the injury prone out there,
you know. But I think thestorm is over with, you know,

(04:11:18):
you know, and I think I'mI'm gonna gonna take off now, you
know, and there will be nosetbacks and the injury prone thing will be
gone out of the window again.Yep, I'm sorry, You're gonna be
back. I am. I amexcited. You know. He does a
lot of great things, and he'sa great person, and we have a

(04:11:41):
great relationship. It's gonna be it'sgonna be a fun year. We're gonna
have a lot of fun. We'regonna do a lot of great things.
So I can't wait here waiting.The injuries you've had, Is that just
bad luck? Is every Is thereanything you've can attribute to beyond just misfortunate?
Yeah, it's just unfortunate, youknow. But God has a plan
always, you know. I don'tknow what the plan exactly is, you

(04:12:05):
know, I don't know, butwhatever plan it is, it's for me
to be here. You know.I had a great rookie year. I
didn't really have the volume as otherpeople my rookie year, but I still
had a great rookie year. Sixyards of carry, you know, things
like that. I think it waslike nine touchdowns ten including the playoffs,

(04:12:26):
And so there's always been like,all right, guy, let me show
my talent shine a little bit.Like even when I had the knee.
So I had the knee, right, A lot of people don't know like
I didn't get hurt again whenever Igot you know, got cleaned up.
So I went down in twenty one, right, had the injury, the
knee injury, and then came backlater the next year and I played the

(04:12:48):
first few games and it just feelthere was a lot of scars issue in
there. So I had to getit cleaned up. I didn't get hurt
again. I could have played thewhole year, but I got it cleaned
up so I can feel like me. And so after I got that cleaned
up, the first two games backfrom the injury, I had over one
hundred and twenty yards rushing right,and then went on had great, great

(04:13:09):
ending of the year, you know, one hundred total yards in the playoff
game we lost, which I hatethe most. Stays, don't marry me,
I don't want to win. Butthen come back the next year hurt
again, like torn Achilles. Sotwo really unfortunate injuries. But that's just
God's plan, you know. AndI think that the storm is now over,
you know, and I do thinkthat I'll be able to shine my

(04:13:30):
light to the whole world. Areyou concerned that you have that label you
can't stand too? I could careless, because I do. I know
this out there because as it shouldbe, it should be. I got
hurt two major injuries back or notback to back years. But you know,
so I haven't been on the fieldas much as I should. That's
true, that is true. Butit's not like I'm having these little little

(04:13:56):
dinky injuries and sitting out. It'ssomething I can control, literally, So
that's why I'm not bothered by it. Like, yeah, I am injury
polle. You could say that,you know, but I do think that
the Chargers are getting a guy that'sgonna be healthy from now on, you
know, God will it, andit's gonna be great. And I do
think that it's gonna be It's gonnabe a great. However, many years

(04:14:18):
here, when you've been feel you'vebeen highly adopted, Yeah, five pointy
years for very average for your career. Like knowing that when you're out there,
you're very adopted. How much confidencedoes that give you? That really
all you needs is not all theconfidence in the world, you know,
the way I work. I wouldn'tsay just from the numbers, but just
the way I work, my workethic, you know, and my relationship

(04:14:41):
with Jesus is like I have themost confidence when I step out there because
I do know, like if hegrants me the health, it's over with
is I don't think I would beyou know, I think it will be
a great year or whatever a coupleof years. However, many years he
grants me great health, you know. And I think just the work ethic,

(04:15:03):
my prayer and all that stuff,that's what helped me have that confidence.
With the numbers will be there andthey might be higher after this year,
you know what I'm saying. Andit's crazy to think about because I
had six or six yards per carry, you know. So we'll see you're
looking forward to the running behind thisline put together? Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah. I played with Brandley,I played with him, you know,

(04:15:24):
I know the Slater, I knowall the I know all the guys,
you know, and I'm excited.I think it's like I said,
earlier. It's a talented group.You know, we just got to put
together win some games because that's whatI came here for. That's it all,
or I wouldn't I wouldn't say partof the recruitming. But like whenever
I decided I was gonna sign,it was great to have him in the

(04:15:45):
rooms. Yeah, we're great.We're we have a great relationship. That's
he's like my brother, so Ithink compliment each other very well. You
know, he can do a lotof stuff too. You we got a
lot of people think he's just power, power, power, but I think
he has some other parts of hisgame two which it'll be great because I

(04:16:07):
feel like I could do everything andwhen one get tired, we can roll
it in, keep rolling win somegames. So when you the two of
you get going, how do youthink that's gonna look for? What will
like? What will be that partnershipkind of back there? I know that's
a hard question. How do Ithink I think it'll look beautiful? You

(04:16:27):
know a lot of people call thisa passing league, but I think you
gotta run the ball to win thesuper Bowl. You know, if you
look at the teams who win theSuper Bowl, they can run the ball,
they can control the clock, andso if we're both good, it'll
look great, beautiful. How wouldyou describe the Gregor running the offense?
I would I would describe it as, you know, a great offense.

(04:16:52):
I think he gives a quarter he'sgoing to give the quarterback a lot of
options. He's gonna get the runningback a lot of options, he's gonna
give the receiver a lot of ouryou know. And I think it'll be
I think it's gonna be great.His offense is going to be amazing.
When we talked to him, youknow, I was like, why are
you able to build something good rushingoffenses throughout your career in every way you've
been And you said that one partof it is just you got a call

(04:17:15):
place. You got a call runplace as a running back. You know,
how much confidence, how much exciteddoes it give you? You know,
you have to play caller that's gonnastick with it and allow you and
the offensive line to get it.Gives me a lot of excitement. You
know. It's gonna be Like Isaid, it's fun to play at his
offense, you know. And Ithink he does have some good things in
the past game too, But likeyou said, he sticks with the run,

(04:17:38):
and that's that's the identity. YouYou want an offense that has an
identity, right, you won't belooking everywhere else to find your your identity
you want, you want to haveit. And so I think his offense
has that, and the guys hebuilds and puts in there, it complements
that identity. So I think it'sgonna be great. You mentioned your hundred
percent now, so you'll be fullgo for training. Look, I ain't

(04:18:03):
gonna answer any of the fo ifit's up to me. Yes, Look,
because I had this problem like threetwo years three years ago. I'm
thinking I'm full go. I thinkI'm ready to go, and the next
thing, you know, I'm onpup like, hey, look some story
above my prey pay grade. Sobut I don't know, hopefully I can
start. I think I'm ready tostart, you know, at the beginning

(04:18:26):
of training camp. But that's notup to me. As I've learned,
I'll tell you, I wouldn't saythat. I think I've been I've been
in some great organizations and I thinkthis this organization is a great organization,
and the training staff is great,and so they just want what's best for

(04:18:47):
me, you know, and they'rethey're taking care of me, which that's
what you want in an organization,and so that's where that comes from,
which I appreciate it, Like Ireally appreciate that, you know, because
I'm the type of guy, likeI work really hard, so maybe sometime
I'm blind to you know, thedanger of something, you know, So
I appreciate it. But like Isaid, if it's up to media,

(04:19:07):
I'm out there. But never know, with any frustration for you during the
heading into free agency, you know, dealing with with rehab and not you
know, having on a full seasontape or production to go out there was
there any part of that where you'relike, God, you know, had
hit the open market with a differentsituation. You know. Nah, I
like it. I like, howwould I say this? I like it

(04:19:34):
the hard way, but not,you know, I like it the hard
way. I like it. Ilike trial and tribulations. So I mean
the dice that I was given therole was I was coming off of our
Achilles and that was that was thelowest plan. So it was beauty in

(04:19:57):
that, Like I was comfortable.I was caught like there was multiple teams
you know I wasn't. It wasn'tlike I didn't have any other team.
But I was comfortable and sitting backand just enjoying the process, letting myself
get fully healed. So whenever thatteam, whoever I would sign with,
who now is the Chargers, isgoing to get the best me, you

(04:20:18):
know, And I think people allaround the league know that, like,
Okay, this guy, Okay,it's a high risk, high reward type
thing, right, not even ahigh risk hi low rice because you it's
a business, right. So Igot hurt last year, so not as
much money needs to be throwing there. But I think everyone around the league
knows that whenever I am on thefield, the numbers don't lie, and

(04:20:40):
so they know that, and alot of teams were like, all right,
here, you can give you this, but we want you to be
healthy. So when I'm healthy,it's gonna be great. This is the
chance that I've been giving here.I'm so grateful and I know that's gonna
be. They won't be they won'tregret it. Like some people all like

(04:21:02):
you a couple things injury, butit's two cents I've heard. But me
being who I am, you know, I'm I'm I'm gonna throw my two
cents in there, you know.So that's just uh, it's been awesome,
man. We he's he's you know, a resource for me, just
a person that I can always bouncemy thoughts off of. And now,
you know, just a year yousaid, thirteen months, Now I feel
more comfortable just you know, bringingcertain things that you know, you never

(04:21:25):
you never wanna come off too strong. But I'm a curious guy. I
got a lot of questions. Ilike, I like football a lot,
I like to talk talk the games. So you know, come to find
out, he's the exact same.So we uh, you know, we
get along well, and you knowwe're gonna keep keep building that relationship.
Sometimes in this league, playing youknow, eighteen games, they trying to
make a twenty. You know,that's like it sound like a little a
little fever dream to be honest,but but uh, if we can find

(04:21:47):
a way to k you know,stay up right out there, keep keep
airing on his feet. You know, I'm I'm excited for that and uh
everything that comes with it. Butuh but yeah, like I said,
man, that's it's it's harder saidthan uh or harder done. And said,
I guess you know, it's oneof those things. It's like that's
a lot of games, you know, all of a sudden take a lot
of hits. They take a lotof hits where they're not looking, and
it's just how can we keep himhealthy? Yeah? Yeah, are you

(04:22:07):
when do you think I get youa super room now? Positions? And
you guys have made one monty healthyand everything like, yeah, you know,
I'm excited to see it at atfull health. You know, we've
I haven't got to see all theall the guys out there at once.
And and you know, it's oneof those positions where every day is something
might happen to nick up. Youknow, it's just a a tough position
to stay out there at all times. But I feel like we got a
great group and and the number onething is how can we stay healthy?

(04:22:30):
How can we you know, I'llbe out on the field, and I
think having depth like this and thegroup we have is gonna help us.
Having guys that can do different things, that can go catch ball over in
the middle, all types of thingsthat it's gonna take some of the strain
off off all of us. Youknow, it's it's a good group.
So I'm excited to, uh,you know, get out there. I
feel like we haven't had the wholewhole thing together. But you know,

(04:22:52):
come season time, ma roll andit's gonna be exciting. What about a
guy that's in your old number.Uh yeah, yeah, Malakai yeah man.
Oh uh. He helped me alot, even felt like the first
day, just trying to help meget used to to write tackle. He
got in my feet, used towrite tackle, Like my first day of
practice, I'm like, dude,I still feel you feel a little off.
I don't feel as balanced to mystands. And he showed me the

(04:23:15):
small technique thing to do with myfeet, which I still do even even
though I left tackle. Just caupspart of my routine. That was part
of my process and getting in mystands. So stuff like that that he
taught me from day one and obviouslyin practice was fun. Just compete with
him, you know. It's justto meet at the back of the pocket
and to dap each other back toevery rep like that was competing, you

(04:23:37):
know what I mean. So that'smy guy. As much as you love
him on your the West side,how bittersweet is as a certain matters because
it would happen to him. Yeah, that's the thing. That's not how
it was definitely not how I nin And that's how I thought about the
transition would go. You know,I thought it would be you know,
homesoone timing, but a cardinal hiswhole career. You know, you know

(04:24:00):
you want to play or forever,you know what I mean when I was
talking about his plans, so youknow, you you wish transitions like one
of those fairy tale like to yourtime now. But but again, either
way, you know, we talkedabout it. You know, that's that's
the how it goes, you know. But obviously you know he sees he's

(04:24:25):
he's been one of my biggest supporters. Again, I affect everybody leads in
their own way, you know,not everybody's the guys coming around like,
that's not everybody, right, LikeI felt for me, that's me specifically
on game day with the O lineafter we do one on one like that's
my like, well Hump did,like that's my like big vocal time.

(04:24:48):
I feel like I've talked to Humpabout this, you know, just recently
talking about how what I want todo for the room is I want to
bring that Hump energy that he broughtright so last year, of course,
some traits been doing it for years, but the year while I spent with
him, he brought a lot ofthe energy and excitement and the happiness in

(04:25:12):
the room was just his natural energyto where I only had to focus on
me, you know, I didn'thave to make sure other other guys are,
you know, feel some type ofway when they came in here because
Hump brought that. But out ofHump's not here, but I saw what
he did for the room. Iwant to be that guy to make sure

(04:25:33):
everyone's amp to go to practice,everybody's hype. Weren't taking the field team
one period, you know it's alow day or something. You know,
it's it's a day, But like, I want to make you feel like
parents a tripper right now. Iwant to bring that because that's what me
and Hump did each other. Wewill hype each other up dudes like dudes
about to get walked through there litSo I want to do that. I
want to bring that energy. Iwant to make bring more guys, you

(04:25:56):
know, to do that. Youknow I wanted to do that from day
one, you know, I kindof I wanted to do that from day
one from talking to him, andobviously it's that time. I spend the
off season before OTA started just beingin myselfish thinking about what the room needs,
you know, because I know Iknew a new role as one of

(04:26:19):
the leaders, you know on theoffense, is that we need a guy
like that that's gonna make sure theold line is picked up, ready to
go every day it was held accountable. Little things aren't happening to practice and
people aren't saying anything. And howI may lead maybe different than somebody else
may lead. You know. Ilike to a practice at least like the

(04:26:40):
lead with positivity, you know whatI mean. So, but he the
energy yet went beyond just the hypeup the deal line and start too.
So that's kind of how I wannabe, s goal mine literally my whole
life. I want to be aNFL team captain, like specifically NFL.
I wasn't a captain of high school, wasn't a captain of college. But

(04:27:03):
I made a joke when I wasin high school. It's like there,
I feel like I'm not gonna bea captain to like get to the NFL.
Yeah, but that would be awesome, you know, but you know,
if it happens, i'd be great, but not either way, I
wanna assume a role as a captainfrom the respect of the guys on the
team. A vidual award today Andto get back to that word yeah,

(04:27:26):
I mean, I can't say that. I mean, I guess the biggest
thing is that I felt like ithas felt like how it you used to
in the past. But it didn'ttake just the first day OTAs. It
took training left and right once theseason ended, cause I didn't know what
it was gonna be true, Soit took a lot of yeah reps just

(04:27:48):
to get back to feeling like myselffor day one OTAs and then that whole
first week. But now like today, specifically just changing some small things with
my feet I did say talking aboutOline coach at some things I can do
with my feed to get to theto selling at the traditional angle that I
love to set on. Felt evenI thought I felt I thought I felt

(04:28:11):
great already, but my okay,I felt even better. Okay, so
I'm even more excited tomorrow. NowI'm getting my feedback to how I liked
it the right side and on theleft side. So I'm excited to teach.
I mean, obviously, I feellike in the league, whether I
left or right, you're still goingagainst premier guys. So obviously you have
high expectations for your left hand orright tackle. But there's definitely uh,

(04:28:33):
like the the level of energy andlike the expectations, definitely taking a human
spect cause now connected to the blindside, that's the that's a de tackle role,
you know. So so yeah,I would say in terms of communication
as far as just even outside offacility and just stuff like that, like
really creating that the tackle quarterback bondeven more off the field, I think

(04:28:56):
has been something that's even been cool. I got a text one day.
I's like, hey, like youplay left and I was like, yeah,
you know, yeah, I've beentraining both. I've been training both.
You know. I asked after theseason. They're like, honestly,
you know, we'll talk to you. So play in the season and I
just gotta text me like, dependingwhat happens with with the free agency then.

(04:29:19):
So I was like, you knowwhat, I had a whole season
right tackle, So if I getthe word, I'm going I'm standing right
tackle. I don't just to dowhat I did before. I'm built on
that bus. I was like,I might as almost trained the left tackle
now as if I'm going to beleft tackle, and I'd rather do that
than training on the right time andget the call, hey you're the left
tackle. I'm like, oh,I didn't even switch my feet yet,

(04:29:41):
you know what I mean. SoI'm like, let me just prepare in
advance. I was like, yeah, let's god. You know, I
think occasionally on third down there wouldbe a lot of twists. I would
just know like it's automatically coming.And I think that was my mindset for
like the first half of the season. But like I didn't have to go
into a game and with surprise likeoh my gosh, they did that.
I kind of figured like, okay, like this is this is the type

(04:30:03):
of rushman again, like this ishow this guy usually rushes. But I
get the vibe, this is howthe ends like the rush you know,
tackles that are you know, firstyear guys who got the premiere patch on.
I already knew what it was gonnabe, already knew of every stunt,
and honestly, just knowing that it'skind of an advantage too, So
you're not you're not you're not old. They brought the twisted my side again.

(04:30:23):
It was never an Aaron Donald.You know, they're coming out of
minds, like three plays in arow two minutes. I knew that it
was then win to happen, youknow what I mean. I'm watching more
than everybody else, and he rarelyeven goes out there on occasional third downs
on the d M. I waslike, all, you know, it's
gonna be He's gonna pick me,you know what I mean, So fact
fact, it's kind of a it'salso kind of an advantage in a way,

(04:30:45):
but it's also exciting, like,Okay, I'm gonna get the hardest
look. You know, those arereal, real reps, you know the
bank. So really, I'm Ireally didn't kind of process that. I
was like, hey, when theytell me, so, let me know,
I'm just gonna training. I wastraining all left, so ta's.

(04:31:06):
I guess if I they didn't hearanything about t's, I woulda came in
like so you know what I mean, cause just like I'm cool training both
continuing, I would have been cooltrained both continually. But I feel like
anybody, any position will be likeOkay, like you wanna as soon as
possible, get your feet kind ofsettled at settled at your hands. So

(04:31:29):
then certain kind of what well lookat, say, well, this guy
only been on the field for threeyears westernn Tucky and Oregon. Just because
I didn't have the title of arunning back coach where I was at the
Memphis, I never carried myself thatway. I was carrying myself as a
running back coach. I approach everyday that way. So at Memphis we

(04:31:49):
had Darren Henderson, Patrick Taylor,Tony Pollock, Kenny gang Well, Tonyo
Gibson. I've seen talent the backs, and I've seen him be able to
function with one another. So Ihear that all the time about well,
I this ain't my first rodeo.Same thing out there in Oregon. We
Buckerevery Norwich and George James. Yougo look at their numbers. They all

(04:32:11):
functioned well together. We learned howto play as one. So this ain't
my first rodeo. So and plusI know those two kids cause I recruited
them when they was in high school. So I'm up for the challenge and
the responsibility of it. Got rightbehind the damn hope. Lens Carlos,
just what is your kind of coachingphilosophy? How do you get the best
out of your running backs? Iget the best outum, because I love
the young men. My main focusis to change the hearts and minds of

(04:32:36):
them and they'll play for me.I had just got through reading Coach Trestle's
Winners Manual, and it's some daythat I took from that book. You
have your purpose and you have yourgoals, all right. My purpose is
to serve and pour into the youngmen. Now, my goals is a
football coach. All of them aretake care of themselves. So that's one
of the ways. I'm just realrelationship based in a very detailed at this

(04:32:57):
position. I know y'all heard mesaid before, and I'm gonna keep saying.
This is the worst coach position infootball. It's terrible. Guys hire
anybody to coach his position and recruiters. Carls Locker is not a recruiter.
I'm an elite relationship builder, butI coached this position. I'm a ball
coach, so that's who I am. So I'm gonna pouring to these kids.
I think they kind of seeing itnow, and I jumped in day

(04:33:19):
one. I'm ready to coach.I'm gonna use the phrase, you know,
soft batch cookies. Where did thatphrase come from? Kind of what
was played this boy? Let metell you about that boy. I've been
called everything but the name the childof God by the people at the other
places I left. So that I'vebeen getting. Pillsbury needs to give me
a deal because I've been getting I'vebeen getting some DM the texts some of

(04:33:41):
it. Some of them have beenso funny. The saftbatch cookie thing came
from just having a frame of mind, a mental toughness. It had nothing
to do with guys getting in theportal and anything. Now most people saying
I'm a saltbat's cookie for leaving there, but actuality, I'm not, because
it take great strength to make adecision to leave a place. No,

(04:34:03):
a weak minded person wouldn't be ableto make the decision that I made,
So it took great strength to dothat. So I'm telling you, if
I literally in my DMS, it'ssome it's some great comedians out here that
have been sending me like tons ofcookies and out like it's funny. Right
behind him, Tony Urban, howhave you going about the assessment of the
talent in the room, uh overthe past week or two. How much

(04:34:26):
is that on field off field?Like, what's the process of getting to
know who you have as players?Well, I broke down well me being
a guy that loves the running backposition, and I already broke those kids
down cause I recruited him out ofhigh school. You know, Cue is
from where I'm from and Montgomery.I was one of the first guys to
offer him just watching him great contact, balance, creative runner, great hands

(04:34:52):
and trey. I recruited him outof Virginia exceptional short of your bursts and
quickness and things that I'm gonna helphim get better on. And then I
recruited Jack these people's out of tout of San Antonio, Texas. I
knew what he was gonna what hewas gonna be. TC and Sam,
those two kids I'm getting to knowand I'm gonna help them improve the game.
But we got different runners in there. I like to call myself,

(04:35:15):
I'm in love with this position,so I get the break down runners and
help their game. So talented,talented room, very talented, Uh far
back uh. Jeremy Birmingham Podcast Couchhow do you swear that that that soft
past cookies are actually the best cookies? The Philip Britton Max and Boring those
are way better than the County chipsare ways through the genial terman. I

(04:35:36):
mean, do you do you haveto first find a balance there or somewhere.
Well, for me, I'm actuallynot eating any cookies now, I'm
just saying I'm not eating any cookiesthis year. I gave it up for
a fast or no sweets for mefor the whole year. That something I
gave up. So they the termthe soft beast cookie term. Look,

(04:35:56):
guys, I actually took that fromI represent the high school coaches of myth
Tenancy. I actually took that fora guide named coach Slocum. He used
to always say that soft best cookI actually stole that from him. I
give him credit for it, andI tell him all the time he said,
you I should have branded that,cause you done took it and ran
away with it. But that's justwhere that comes from. So that that

(04:36:18):
now was stating. As you getto Ohio Stadium, you start to look
around the country. I mean,Oregon's a big place. That's a that's
a major job. Really, howhow do you think that Hrey, you
opposite a logo, under ran theblocko? When you get out out of
the pit and trail, how doesthat change the way that you feel you're
either received or or does it adda different level to it to just feeling

(04:36:41):
like I could go anywhere and getanybody in the comty. And that's the
sangest thing for me. This isa great place. Oregon is a great
place too. But guess what whateverI put on, I know what I'm
going to represent for me, IN I N I know who who put
me here. I know I representedsomething higher, you know, Like I

(04:37:02):
told you, I know what mypurpose is. My purpose is to porting
the people. So whatever logo Ihave on, I'm still gonna be doing
the same thing. So this isa great logo, great logo, but
I wear another logo every day.It's across I see around my neck.
I know what I represent. Sothat's the greatest logo I could ever wear.
So it don't matter what other logoI have on. I got that
one on. I'm going to anyhouse and be a recruit. Uh uh

(04:37:26):
deep right, camera tiqu Robinson andthe Athletic So which you you mentioned the
time at Memphis and themis four NFLrunning backs you mentioned there who you learned
from that time that we that youtake over to managing the world. And
kid, what did I learned fromthem? I just building a just teaching
the kids. We live in sucha selfish world now, and I can

(04:37:48):
tell the kids all the times,it's gotta be much more to football.
The ball gonna go flat one day. As I always say, what being
in that room there at Memphis is, it wasn't four five teaching them how
to be a bout being one.I tell you the man all time,
it doesn't cost you anything to celebrateanother man's success. So teaching them how
to be one, and then oncethey learned to be one, they function

(04:38:11):
and they feed off one another.So that's what I learned from being there
at Memphis and let him in roadcross hearted. Your career in law enforcement
kind of influence you as a coachand kind of shaping where you are.
Oh well, I just got throughtalking to somebody about that today. When
I first got in this profession andI got my own room in Western Tech,

(04:38:32):
I was asked, no, howwas I was gonna be able to
handle m my room? I said, Man, I had a part with
fifty one inmates. You talking aboutme having got six or seven guys?
Are you kidding me? I'm talkingabout me having to do traffic stop.
So going on domestic you know,violeence calls, it's simple easy. No,

(04:38:53):
people won't know what you care.Also know, you gotta have a
certain demeaning about yourself. So whenI walk into the room, it's the
reason why I go train every morning. This is when it's the same thing
when I was a police officer.You look a certain way kind of deter
people from doing certain things. Soit's reason why I go train every morning.
I'm gonna look just as good asmy boys look. So it helped

(04:39:15):
out a lot. In other words, uh from Earl right Austin Ward the
podcast Carls, Welcome to Columbus.What would it mean to, I don't
know, revolutionize the way running backsare coach? What does that take?
I ain't you know. I'm notgonna say revolutioniz. I said some good
it's some good running back coaches outhere. Everybody's different. It's some great

(04:39:37):
coaches out here. I just wantto head guys who say that on these
jobs to not just hire guys.Just know, all coaches on your staff
should be great recruiters, not justsome running back coach. We coach a
position, We developed players as well. I just want the coaches to realize,
Hey, you know what, letme look and be thorough about this
guy that I'm hiring for this job. Is he teaching the position? See

(04:40:00):
development the position? Because you're notgonna hire anybody just coach quarterbacks, are
you. Well, it shouldn't belike that for the running back position either.
And I'm only passionate about it causeI played it. I love it,
so it's the only position I wantto coach. Could I coach other
positions? Yeah? I played dBin college too, but I love the
running back position so and I justwanted to see it coach well ten May
podcasts. Yeah, a million questions. Oh that's a couple. Number one

(04:40:22):
when you when you when your wifewhatever? You got the message stuff?
Or are we moving again? Whatwas What was her reaction? Nah?
She she's just new. Guy hadgive us, gave us a new assignment.
S W. It was never likewe're moving again. Let me tell
you guys, something I grew up. My mom was in the military,
so I lived everywhere. I livedin Panama of South America. I'm used
to picking up and moving. Ilived in Fort Riley, Kansas. Montgomery's

(04:40:47):
home, Memph. It's my secondhome, so I'm I'm used to moving
now. My wife it was differentfor her, but she just knew guy
that gave us a new assignment.So it's time to go. What did
uh? What did coach Day tellyou when he heard you that he wants
out of you? That may bedifferent. It's not slamming somebody else,
But what did he say he wantedyou to bring to the running back room.
I think he did his research onme. He said he wanted the

(04:41:11):
guy to to develop the position.That's not taking a shot at the coach
that was here, who I'm friendswith, and he said, they want
somebody to really get the guys going. Uh. I can only be me.
And I told him that cause I'mgonna be me every day now.
Cause see my mindset, this iswhen I step in this building, I

(04:41:32):
got one mindset that's to do myjob so well that the living dead or
unborn can do it any better.So when I leave it, that's what
my mindset is. Hopefully I'm herefor a long time, but only God
knows that. So, but that'smy mindset every day that step into the
Wizards hate So that's my mindset.I'm'a do my job so well that living
dead or Umborn couldn't do it anybetter. So that's what my mindset is.

(04:41:53):
It's a coach. You got timefor one last question? Bill Ray
beniowit's Clumbus Dispatch Colos. First ofall, it's a true that nobody calls
you Carlos, never calls you.Lock is the true. Yeah, I
prefer to be called Lock.