Press Conference (Terry McLauren)

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
On being going into my sixth year, I kind of know the layer of
the land and everything and anything thatI can do to help them become acclimated
and be a part of our team, and we try to do that.
So obviously I don't know, theydon't ask me, and uh, but
my job is when they get hereto kind of help bring him along as
much as I can, because youknow, we'll go as far as the

(00:21):
quarterback goes. Good to see youtoo, no longer here. Yeah,
what was that that was going inthe Yeah, we were we were training.
We trained at Bamba Ritos together,so I got to see him for

(00:43):
the most part of the off season, and first of all, I was
happy for him. Obviously, weknow that this is a business and you
have to do what's best for hiscareer and his future as well. So
you know, obviously has familiarity withJoe Brady had one of his best seasons
with them, So you know,I think he's gonna be a big part
of their offense and continue to growas a receiver. You know, it's
a lost for our room because he'sa dynamic playmaker. He can play inside

(01:07):
and out and just his energy.Man, I think he really became one
of the favorite teammates on the teambecause he kept things light. But he
also was a really hard worker andand uh made plays when we 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 of like the guy you
I get to talk to and he'slike my best friend. But on the
other hand, I get to seehim, you know, continue take steps

(01:30):
in his career. Uh, he'sstill very young, so he has a
lot of good football ahead of himliterally offense and how be different for the
offense. Yeah, yeah, wehaven't honestly even started install yet, so
I haven't even got a lay ofthe land quite yet. I'll probably take

(01:52):
a look at just got our Ipass with h the last few days,
so I'll try to take a sneakpeek at what we have looking for.
But you know, I know withhim talking to zach Ertz, he does
a great job of trying to gethis playmakers involved, which I think we
have a really good group of guysfrom the running backs, the receivers,
and some solid tight ends as well. So I'm just looking forward to see

(02:12):
where I fit into that and youknow, I think with him, his
biggest things is making sure the playmakersare making plays and trying to fit the
scheme around that, which is alwaysgood to hear, good to see.
Two, this is what your offense? Yeah, yeah, it's definitely,

(02:38):
you know, an adjustment obviously whenyou're learning a new offense. And it's
kind of the same mentality I takeinto last year in years past, where
you kind of just want to takea day one approach, kind of erase
what you've learned in the past.But at the end of the day,
I think, uh, you know, schemes in the NFL are relatively similar.
Is just the names and the formationsthat may be a little different.

(02:59):
So just getting used to the terminologyand Cliff's offense is just gonna be something
that's adjustment for all of us.But the good thing about it is I
got some good time on my handsto really put some work in studying when
I leave this place, so Icould come in here when we have walkthroughs
and when we start to put ourhelmets on, we can really hit the
ground running. So so far it'swe haven't learned anything yet. But my

(03:22):
approach is the saying, try totake good notes in there, ask good
questions, and then study on myown at night. I know you like
to go yeah, h yeah,I think I got some really good work
down in Florida. Is just workingon my footwork, just being better at

(03:43):
the top of my routes, sharperon my speed cuts, dig routes,
out routes, and just being cleanerwith my footwork at the top of the
routes. I think, you know, with a little bit of zone covers
that we've seen in the past,with some teams kind of running more too
hot show you're gonna get a littlebit more of catch technique. Guys are
kind of sitting at the top ofyour route. So I want to be
better at being efficient to getting outof those routes when a guy's kind of

(04:04):
sitting at my depth, whether it'sa fifteen yard comeback or a twelve yard
crowl route, you know, beingable to get out efficiently so I can
keep creating keep the separation within myroute. So obviously I'm always still working
on my ball skills and making sureI'm just catching a lot of footballs in
the off season, but just reallybeing better at the top of the routes

(04:27):
and you know, Sharper out ofmy cuts is something that I think I
can improve on. Good to seeyou too. You know, you're obviously
one of the leaders of this teamand team captain, and with so many
new faces, new players, lockerroom, what is the challenge you're going
to have and the other leaders inthat locker room blend everything together because there's

(04:47):
so many new and different personalities.Now, yeah, I think I think
that's really started with coach Quinn inthe way he's really integrated everybody over the
first two days. I think wehaven't even gotten into x's and those quite
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

(05:08):
in an environment where everybody's the sameand continuing to have a competitive environment.
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 got someguys who have been brought in here who
know what it's supposed to look likeat this level, and for myself,

(05:30):
I just want to continue to adduh my value and be even more vocal
this year than I have in thepast, especially with possibly a new quarterback
coming in. I think that canreally help our offense. Have you know,
some more unity with the guys whoknow what it looks like, helping
bringing those guys, the younger guysalong. I don't know, if you
had a chance to watch, hedidn't want to use the word rebuild.

(05:54):
Yeah, all the new changes,the new coaching staff, players. Honestly,
I just think of it as aas a new year. Just talking
to Sam Cosmy, Uh, we'vebeen here for a few years, so
it's a lot of new faces.I think, you know, this is

(06:15):
probably the most I would say turnoverwe've had in the last few years.
So there's guys coming from all differentareas, walks of life, and but
I think the one thing is thesame. They're all coming in looking for
an opportunity to compete, take anotherstep in their careers and uh prove that
they're one of the best players atthe position. And I think coach Quinn
has emphasized that we're gonna have theopportunity to prove ourselves. Whether you're a

(06:41):
ten year vet or a second yearplayer, you know, this is a
clean slate for everybody. So Ithink it's just about getting on the same
page, enjoying coming in here andworking together, and also just pushing each
other in these workouts, and thenwhen we start getting on the field,
uh, really get that competition going. Try to simulate as we go along
in this off season process of howthe games are going to be. Hey,

(07:09):
how are you doing? Good tosee too, Yeah, I think
Coach Quinn has really assemble assembled avery unique group of coaches. There's multiple

(07:29):
head coaches, there's multiple quarter UHcoordinators have come from different places, and
so you have guys who have alot of football experience, some have played,
some have coached in big games.And then you bring in, you
know, the the talent that wehave defensively and offensively. And I just
think you can feel the unity andthe sameness in in the message that he's

(07:49):
trying to preach to our team,and it's we're gonna be tough and we're
going to be competitive, but we'realso going to have fun. And he
like I think he said in yourguys Is interview. He said he likes
to do, you know, hardshipwith good people, So I think that's
fun. You know, a guylike me likes to put my nose down
and grind and work. So Iknow him and I are going to continue

(08:13):
to hit it off, and youknow it's just my job to help bring
other guys along with me. Thankyou more. What does it look like
to take your next step as avocal leader? Yeah? What does that
mean to you? I think forme, I I've grown a lot in
my vocal leadership. I think Itry to always find the balance of when

(08:37):
to say something, when not tosay something. I think I never want
I've always wanted to be a personwhen I say something that means something like
you don't want to be You're givingall the motivational speeches, but you're not
backing up with your play, oryou're you're talking so much you kind of
your message gets drowned out. Andso it's kind of continued to find that
balance of when to say things andwhen to kind of just take a step
back. But I think I've I'vegotten a really good feel of how to

(09:00):
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 taken thosesteps in their career to do that as
well. So I think for meis just really starting in my position.
Group. I think we have stilla very young group, kind of inexperience

(09:22):
for the most part, but Ithink we have a lot of talent in
there, and it's just my job, in Bobby's job, and to continue
to bring that group up being partof this program and you know, just
contribute as much as I can.What was the native point for you to
decide as a RAMS. You know, I had some familiarity with Stafford,

(09:43):
you know, I had him myrookie year, and you know, I've
seen the pieces to the puzzle andyou know, the ability to you know,
possibly make it all the way andI definitely wanted to be a part
of something like that. Thank youimportant, Hi Jonah, welcome to Los
Angeles and Jordan with the athletic congratulations. Thank you Jordan, and so we

(10:05):
respect the watch placement here on theon the back. I'm actually a lefty
though, so I got it onthe wrong one, but I'm kind of
ambidex 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,

(10:26):
showing up Kevin Dotson on the oppositeside of you at guard and then
Steve Bobbula probably moving to center.Your impressions of those guys. I know
you haven't you know, been downon the ground for that long, but
just from afar, what you makeof those guys and Rob Havens Sin and
Alerc Jackson on the outsides. Yeah, I mean We've had some cross taped
through the season, so I wasable to see like the work that they

(10:48):
do, and uh, you know, that's a powerful bunch. I came
out the same year as Dotson,so I had some familiarity with him through
college, and uh, you know, watching him, Steven Alaric and Rob,
you know that's a that's a goodgroup, kind of similar to what
we have in Detroit, and youknow there's there's some specialness there. So
I'm excited to be a part ofit. You know, Sean McVay has

(11:09):
praised a lot of the run gamethat you guys deployed, particularly kind of
getting a little bit more to theduo, the man blocking and the gap
stuff, as as a lot ofteams shift. We're still on the outside
stuff. Is there when you watchthat cross tape? Is there a crossover
in your mind of things that you'realready comfortable with that the Rams last year

(11:31):
started really installing and deploying behind someof these new personnel. Oh yeah,
I mean the gap scheme and theduo just in general is probably our bread
and butter and Detroit and Glad Isaid bread and butter over here, so
you know this is it's not goingto be too hard of a transition.
And you know things like that areright up my alley. And then finally,

(11:52):
you know Matthew Stafford. I knowyou had familiarity with him your rookie
year, but watching from afar whathe is able to do in LA and
you know we saw kind of getback to help being healthy last year.
As someone who is going to beprotecting him, how do you describe him?
How would you describe what he's goodat and what you need to do

(12:13):
to protect him. I mean he'sin Detroit. We called him the Wizard.
You know he can figure it allout and he can make anything happen,
and you know, I'm excited tobe able to protect him and you
know, let him make us lookgood and make plays happen. Thanks John,
I congratulations, Thank you. Adam. Hey Joan, I'm Adam with

(12:35):
Orange Tintye Register. Congratulations, ThanksAdam, appreciate it. Yeah, I'm
curious kind of what the process lookslike. You know, you agree,
it turns out two hours into freeagency. What do those two hours look
like? We are you talking toyou talk to anyone with the range personally,
it's like just one of those threehours look like for you. Actually,

(12:56):
me and my wife, you werejust sitting at home and like the
I guess twelve o'clock hit and wewere like we thought it was going to
be like a media and you know, mayhem and kind of sat there for
like forty five minutes and my agentwas calling me. It was like,
what do you think of Los Angeles? And I was like, doesn't sound
too shabby. And we talked aboutit, and you know, it sounded
like the right move, good weather, good place to be, good winning

(13:18):
culture, great staff, and youknow, just everything overall was just a
plus so we couldn't deny that.I know, it's kind of the nature
of the business. What is itlike THEO to make a decision like that,
by such a life altering decision likethat on such short notice. Yeah,
I mean it is. It ispretty crazy, you know, just

(13:41):
the amount of timing you have.But you know, you kind of have
a I don't know, I've beenon the outside looking in at this place
for a while, so I kindof had a general idea what's going on,
and a lot of familiarity within ourbuilding. Like Brad Holmes, you
know, he was from here,so I kind of got a feel of
the people that, you know,they they've been around and how they run
things. So I kind of gota good feel about how it would be

(14:05):
here. Thank you, Thank you, Stu They jonas Stu Jackson from the
Rims Dot comedy beneath you man,my fellow Jackson brother. What's up?
Man? Hey, what's up?Listen? That you spent most of your
football career, whether it be youknow, college or obviously the NFL now

(14:26):
in the Midwest or East Coast,So now that you're here, what's it
like just being out here and youknow, being in southern California. Now,
I will say the weather is beautiful, you know, it's excellent and
definitely going to miss the East Coach. You know, I've I've got a
lot of roots there in the Midwest, you know, I've started a lot
there, but nothing like new beginningsand no better place to be there here.

(14:50):
And I guess what did you noticeabout just this offense from Afar?
I know Jordan asked you about someof the specifics with schematic carryover, but
you know, beyond that, beyondMatthew Stafford would appeal to you about being
a part of this offense and beinga part of this team down those things.
Yeah, just I mean a lotof similarities on what we do,
you know, the gap scheme,play action and you know, having to

(15:11):
drop back. You know, I'mcomfortable in whatever we've had. I've had
eight this should be I think ninenow nine different offensive coordinators since I started
college. So I'm comfortable in whatever. It doesn't really matter. But like
I said, the pieces to thepuzzle were, you know, incredible,
whether it's the wide receivers, therunning back, the QB, the old
line, the defense, you know, it's it's a it's a pretty good

(15:35):
team over here, So I'm excitedto be a part of it. Thank
you so much. Appreciate it.Gary, Hi Jonah Gary from the Los
Angeles Times, Sarah, thank you, Gary. I'm curious. We think
what was it like to be partof you know, allianzation that enjoyed that

(15:58):
verge last season, and what ifanything are your memories? But playing against
the Rams? Is that wild cardgame work field? Uh? Yeah,
you know, being a part ofsomething, uh, you know and Detroit
where for so long that the citywas dying for a winner, and being
able to bring it there and andyou know, change the trajectory of everything

(16:19):
and and bring some light to thesituation. It was awesome and there's nothing
like it. But you know,when when you when you face the l
A. Rams, you know theygot they got a special defense, and
you know up front they they gotthe guys. You know, so you

(16:42):
did not fair. Will you talkabout the differences between left and right and
just I mean obviously it's different sizeof it, But is it schematically or
is it physically anything different? It'smore mentally anything though, like Lestide was
always my best side, I cancall it. But since I got to
uh always been playing right, butyou know, it's a it's a good

(17:03):
challenge for me and I can showpeople I can actually play right and left.
So it's a versatility thing. SoI'm happy about it. There.
You moved around a lot throughout yourcareer. Let it's jumbo side you'll tackle,
I guess in the sentence and playingbook and left on the right side,
you think you kind of benefit fromfocusing a little bit more on the
right center, Uh, a littlebit, but you know, there is
a new system that we have,like I can playing my mindset most on

(17:26):
the right, but also have mymind's on the left too, just in
case something does happening to like youknow what I mean, like Coltland or
you know Pete of course, butI'm always gonna be ready for the left
no matter what. How quickly haveyou felt like you picked up this new
system that you're working in there?Oh it's a we actually pretty up picked
up pretty well cause it's the samesystem that I'm used to back in the

(17:48):
hot stae cause we more like spreadthat at how I say, so,
you know it's pretty good. It'sso it's one of those like the draft
process off season as a lot ofpeople outside the building. Chain rangers get
the right tackle a lot. Yeah, alright now, A lot of people
in the building were like, wehave a right time. We people get
motivated by that. You follow it, like have you been men to do
it? Though I don't. Iread into it a little bit. But

(18:08):
also the same time, like theynot here of course, but I don't
really care what they say. Iknow what I can do, and the
team know I what I can do. So they trusted me right now and
I'm not gonna let him right down. How hard or how easy is that
to compartmentalize that and use that asfuel going forward rather than to kind of
meritate it, uh, I jI just keep receipts. Everybody knows that

(18:30):
one person I don't really care forhim at Also, it's all good,
but it's all love. I loveuh outside of this, But you keep
doing me? Keep it better,keep on these nights. See what I
can do there. You've been aoutspoken about your support of Zami, and
obviously it's just a chance now tobeat the dog. Wait, what is
it about him that you bought inso early? The reason why I bought

(18:52):
it so early cause us I wasat a house. They they always taught
us actually act so getting and exsince I got here, i'm'a always wanna
go get it and I gotta pickedlate, and I always wanna prove people
wrong. You know, I thinkprove people wrong all my life. I
don't wanna keep doing it. What'sgonna do which I guess poor? Just
like you, I'll put it inlike the set you feel like a community

(19:15):
year. You have nine day difference, nine day difference from my first year,
in my second year to now,like now, I'm my alright,
I know I can play. Iknow I can go against one of the
best, specially Alans, anybody elsethat we want to play this year,
and I know what I can do. So all I got to do now
is actually meet my potential and shoulddo it and help everybody else out the
team as well. You've practiced alot against Malcolm and he's really come into

(19:38):
his own. What is it aboutMalcolm that's helped him make that next step?
There? Man, Malcolm, he'squiet, he doesn't really say too
much. He comes to the workevery day, do what he does,
and he works hard. He doesn'tplait twice at anything. Yeah, he'll
get mad over a co rest wellsat the same time that like he has
a mentality of adult, like he'she don't really care what y'all think,

(19:59):
alright, anybody else thinks for real, So it's just like, alright,
let's keep going. That's how everybodyis on the team. How about tyrais
to you guys, that same mindset. He does have the same mindset,
put a little a little nervous,but uh nah, he nah. He
has definitely grown a lot from thislike the first year here until now,
like he has lea but he's he'sgrowing up a lot mentally too. Until

(20:25):
you guys are reimagining the offensive linea little bit with you out there right
side, uh uh, farm therenext to you on the on the west
side too, and then trapping theguys on the line here. How long
exciting is that to be part ofsomething that's that's kind of being you know,
having that trust but also being reinventeda little bit. That's great,
you know, but me and doingthose like they gonna keep placing us,
of course, but all the sametime, we gotta keep going, you

(20:48):
know, became just really and thinkabout what they did. All we gotta
do is saying about what what cameto do with people that are in fourteen
as well? Sorry, don't puta lot on them. Both sides the
right a little bit more. Howhow long are you guys working together?
So we're working pretty well. Youknow you said for us, we had
like a a little rocky moment alittle bit, but you know, me
and him, that's been great friends. You know, I treat like my

(21:10):
brother and I always will. Youknow. We talking every day about how
can we get better and help canwe help each other out on the on
the right side. So we thinkyou made a connection. You just played
like fright again? Do you doyou think of that? What do you
about the NFL playing like Wednesday,Christmas and all that stuff? They gotta
see us, then they gotta seeus first. I really care about that.

(21:32):
It's time for play. Russ knowsthat, Uh, we're competing against
each other every day. Him beingout there for me that you know helps
me getting better. Uh, uspushing each other. So I mean,
I definitely don't have the mindset ofyou know, me just you know,
sitting all year. So uh,you know I'm coming in every day giving
it all I got and you know, pushing him to be his best,
and he's you know, pushing meto be my best each and every day.

(21:53):
So I appreciate that you had arelationship before this. Yeah. Is
it kind of this kind of helpwith Grilli once 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,

(22:14):
up to this point in his careerhas been great. So just me learning
just a little details how he's souh articulous in detail within every rat every
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 you know, be able to learn
from him. Just how do youlook back over the time that's up?
It's just really good? So howdo you look back on the time in

(22:37):
Chicago? Yeah, I mean there'sa lot of ups and downs, but
all in all, I appreciate everyrelationship that I built all my teammates,
they know that, nothing but lovefor the city, for the fans,
and uh for my you know,old teammates and coaches. Did you did
you feel they did everything they shouldhave done to associate me. I'm not
really gonna, you know, harpon the past. It is what it
is. It's it's in the past. Now I'm here now. So like
I said, I'm grateful to behere and U grateful what it will be

(22:59):
a party? Why do you play, Jack Heavin? You're trained to the
clock, glog and talking like youknow you ain't to sleep that night or
you on the phone. What kindof happened after you get that? I
mean yeah, uh, I meanI've been dealing with you know, people
for you know, a long time. So my exit meeting, you know,
we were in the same situation lastyear with the having the number one
pick, and it was just alittle bit different this year. So I
mean, I'm not I'm not naiveto the fact that, you know,

(23:21):
I can read body languages and stufflike that, so it wasn't really just
a shock to where it's like,ah, I got traded, Like I
I I knew what was gonna happen. Beforehand. So I'm just glad I
got you know, traded to thespot that I wanted to be at.
So is it a really to toget the newest? Yeah, it happened,
I think, So I think whenyou're just you know, waiting,
cause I knew I was gonna gettraded, you know at the end of
the day, that's that's just whatit was. So it was just you

(23:44):
know, uh, just me waitingand you know, me you know,
trying to figure out where I'm gonnabe at and uh stuff like that.
It was definitely a relief to youknow, kind of be on the team
and uh know where I'm gonna beat us a really good situation because yeah,
yeah, I mean, you know, shout out to uh uh you
know posy Key, you know whowould communicate it to to him, you

(24:07):
know, through my agent, andyou know, I told him where I
wanted to be and this was theplace I wanted to be. So you
know he's uh, you know honoredthat, and I appreciate him for that,
and uh glad he was uh ableto put me in the spot where
where I wanted to be at.What needs to go right for you to
become the guy and you know,you kind of envisioned you and you came
out in the first round, butyou 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 goodspot. And what are the little things

(24:29):
that you think it's gonna take toget you to become the guy where you
call? I think me, Ijust gotta, you know, keep working
every day, like I said before, just being detailed and every drill not
taking a day off. And I'mjust good having rest here learning from him.
I was pushing each other each andevery day. So you know,
I think just controlling what I cancontrol every time I step on the field,
you know, just just fall outand uh played to the best of

(24:51):
my abilities and you know, letlet let God handle the rest. So
what kind of that has been onthe team has been helpful to you or
closest to you as far as gettingused to the team the organizations practice,
Yeah, I mean, uh,this is a new offense, so nobody
really has been in the offense before. But I mean there's a lot of
young guys on the team, soI think just that fact right there,
it's easier to communicate with people andkind of just you know, kind of

(25:14):
just built that relationship cause you haveso much in common already. So I've
already uh hung out with a handfulof guys on the team. I already
built those relationships and you know we'rejust gonna continue to grow get closer with
each other and you know, readyready to uh get to play this season
stuff. Justin what was it aboutthis team this situation that appeal to you,
Uh, just the culture I reallythink at Ohio State. I think
there's a video that dropped with youknow, Coach T. I I can

(25:37):
just you know, feel the energyand just you know, just the consistency
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 of pillfor me. And you know, our
defense is always you know, gonnatop tier and you can't you can't win
games without defense. So yeah,just just the culture Coach T and you

(25:59):
know, of course the team itself. So it wasn't an issue that it
was a situation where they like literallydays before, had gotten a guy that
they said this is gonna be ourstartup. Nah, I mean I wanted
to come here before Russ got hereand after too, So it was it
was more so the team, notyou know, not worried about who was
here, none of that sense.So your first thoughts in Pittsburgh when he
got here? After the city?The people? I mean, yeah,

(26:21):
I will say this. I thinkPittsburgh has one of the or has a
lot of nice people. That's onething I've noticed. Like I've taken a
few ubers to the airport and I'vehad full thirty minute conversation with the uber
uber driver. So yeah, justjust people, uh you know, their
generosity, they're their niceness. I'mgoing out and people don't even know who
I am. They're just being sonice to me. So I think that's
one thing I've noticed. And thenI started going on the walks this past

(26:42):
offseason, so just the different viewsof the city, the bridges and stuff
like that. It's pretty cool tome. So where do you know the
offense is? Knew, it's justday one, but from what you've learned
so far, how do you feellike Arthur Smith's offense is going to put
your skill sets on the sure?I mean yeah, I think, uh,
you know, he's he's had experiencewith you know, doing third quarterbacks
a lot of quarterbacks in the past, Ryan Marcus, of course, Desmond

(27:03):
and Tyler in the past past fewyears. So you know, he knows
how to play to his player strengths. And you know, of course he's
new here too, so he's gottafigure out, you know, what guys
do, uh, what things thebest way, and you know, we're
just gonna keep building and getting betterevery day. But I definitely you know,
trust him to you know, puteverybody in the right spot to uh
have as much where where he's gothis two cents on it, which is,

(27:25):
you know, always the best twocents 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. Sothat'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 bounce mythoughts off of. And now, you
know, just a year you said, thirteen months, now I feel more
comfortable just you know, bringing certainthings if you know, you never you
never wanna come off too strong.But I'm a curious guy. I got

(27:48):
a lot of questions. I like, I like football, I like to
talk and talk the games. Soyou 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, eighteengames, they trying to make it twenty.
You know, it's like it soundlike a little a little fever dream
to be honest, but but uh, if we can find a way to
k you know, stay up rightout there and keep keep Aaron on his

(28:10):
feet, you know, I'm I'mexcited for that and uh everything that comes
with it. But uh but yeah, like I said, man, that's
it's it's harder said than uh orharder done, and said, I guess
you know, it's one of thosethings. It's like that's a lot of
games, you know, all ofa 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 your receive theroom now positions you guys have made when

(28:30):
the want healthy and everything like,yeah, you know, I'm excited to
see it at at full health.You know, you've I haven't got to
see all the all the guys outthere at once, and and you know,
it's one of those positions where everyday is something might happen to nick
up. You know, it's justa a tough position to stay out there
at all times. But I feellike we got a great group and and
the number one thing is how canwe stay healthy? How can we you

(28:52):
know, I'll be out on thefield, and I think having depth like
this and the group we have isgonna help us. Having guys that can
do different things, that can gocatch ball over the middle, all types
of things that it's gonna take someof the strain off off all of us.
You know. It's it's a goodgroup. So I'm excited to,
uh, you know, get outthere. I feel like we haven't had
the whole whole thing together. Butyou know, come season time, Moroland,

(29:12):
it's gonna be exciting about your wholenumber. Yeah. Yeah, like
a yeah, man, he's uh, it was a brute And then once
he catches that ball, I mean, he's he's got great instinct of where
the defense is gonna be at,how to make someone miss. Yeah,
man, just just play here.Forever, you know what I mean talk
about his plans, so you know, you you wish transitions like one of

(29:37):
those fairy tale like you but butagain, either way, you know,
we talked about it. You know, that's that's the how goes, you
know. But obviously you know he'she's he's been one of the biggest supporters.
Again, everybody leads in their ownway, you know, not everybody's

(30:00):
the guy's coming around like and that'snot everybody, right, Like I feel
for me, that's me specifically ongame day with the O line and after
we do one on one like that'smy Like, well, Hump did like
like that's my like big vocal time. I feel like I've talked to Hump
about this, you know, justrecently talking about how what I want to

(30:23):
do for the room is I wantto bring that Hump energy that he brought
right So last year, of coursesome traits been doing for years, but
the year I spent with him,he brought a lot of the energy and
excitement and the happiness in the roomwas just his natural energy to where I
only had to focus on me,you know, I didn't have to make

(30:47):
sure other other guys are you know, feel some type of way when it
came in here because Hump brought that, but out the Hump's not here,
but I saw what he did forthe room. I want to be that
guy. To me sure one's ampedto go to practice. Everybody's hype.
Weren't taking and field team one period. You know it's a low day or
something. You know, it's ait's a day, But like, I

(31:08):
want to make it feel like yourparents a tripper right now. I want
to bring that because that's what meand Hume did to each other. We
wannahpe each other's other dudes like dudeswere about to get walked. We're lit.
So I want to do that.I want to bring that energy.
I want to make bring more guys, you know, to do that.
You know, I wanted to dothat from day one, you know,
I kind of I wanted to dothat from day one, from just talking

(31:33):
to him, and obviously it's thattime. I spend the off season before
OTA started just being in myself,just thinking about what the room needs,
you know, because I know Iknew new role as one of the leaders,
you know on the offense, isthat we need a guy like that
that's gonna make sure, the oldline is picked up ready to go.

(31:56):
Every day, everyone's held accountable.Little things are happening to practic and people
aren't saying anything. And how Imay lead maybe different than somebody else may
lead. You know. I liketo a practice at least like to leave
with positivity, you know what Imean. So, but he the energy
I went beyond just the hype up, the dalon and stuff too. So
that's kind of how I wanna bes goal mine literally my whole life.

(32:21):
I wanna be a NFL team captain, like specifically the NFL. I wasn't
a captain of high school. Iwasn't a captain of college. But I
made a joke when I was inhigh school. I was like, there,
I feel like I'm not gonna bea captain til I gets to the
NFL. Yeah, but that wouldbe awesome, you know. But you
know, if it happens, i'dbe great. But not either way,

(32:44):
I wanna assume a role as acaptain from the respect of the guys on
the team Dividual award today. Andto get back to that word, yeah,
I mean I can't say that.I mean, I guess the biggest
thing is that I felt like Ihad felt like how you used to in
the past. But it didn't takejust the first day OTAs. It took

(33:07):
training left and right once the seasonended, because I didn't know what it
was gonna be sure, so ittook a lot of yeah reps just to
get back to feeling like myself forday one OTAs and then that whole first
week. But now like today,specifically just changing some small things with my
feet that I did day talking abouta line coach about some things I can

(33:29):
do with my feet to get tothat to sell at that traditional angle that
I love to set on. Felteven I thought I felt, I thought
I felt great already by my okay, and I felt even better okay,
So I'm even more excited tomorrow.Now I'm getting my feedback than how I
liked it the right side and onthe left side, So I'm excited.
I mean, obviously, I feellike in the league, whether I left

(33:52):
or right, you're still going againstpremier guys. So obviously you have high
expectations for your left hand or righttackle. But there's a death definily,
uh, like the the level ofenergy and like the expectations definitely take and
the human spect cause now connected theblindside that stuff, that's the tackle roles,
you know. So so yeah,I would say in terms of communication

(34:15):
as far as just even outside thefacility and just stuff like that, like
really creating that the tackle quarterback bondeven more off the field, I think
has been something that's even been cool. I got a text one day and
it's like, hey, like youplay left, and I was like,
yeah, you know, yeah,I've been training both. I've been training
both, you know. I Iasks after the season, They're like,

(34:37):
honestly, you know, we'll talkto you some play in the season and
I just gotta text me, likedepending on what happens with with the free
agency then. So I was like, you know what, I had a
whole season right tackle. So ifI get the word, I'm going I'm
standing right tackle. I don't justdo what I did before. I'm build
on that bus. I was like, I might as almost trained the left

(34:58):
tackle now as a I'm gonna bea left tackle, and I'd rather do
that than training on the right timeand get the call hey you're the left
tackle. I'm like, oh,I didn't even switch my feet yet,
you know what I mean. SoI'm like let me just prepare in advance,
and I say, yeah, thisguy. You know, I think
occasionally on third down there would bea lot of twists. I would just
know like it's automatically coming. AndI think that was my mindset for like

(35:21):
the first half of the season,Like I didn't have to go into a
game and was surprise like, ohmy gosh, they did that. I
kind of figured like, okay,like this is this is the type of
rush mint again, like this ishow this guy usually rushes. But I
get the vibe this is how theends like the rush you know, tackles
that are you know, first yearguys who got the premiere patch on.
I already knew what it was gonnabe, already knew of every stunt and

(35:45):
honestly just knowing that it's kind ofan advantage too. So you're not you're
not you're not old. They broughtthe twist of my side. Again,
it was never Aaron Donaldick. Youknow, they're coming out to mines like
three plays in a row and twominutes. I knew that it was then
win to happen, you know whatI mean. I'm watching more than everybody
else, and he rarely goes outthere on occasional third downs on the d
M. He's gonna pick me,you know what I mean. So in

(36:08):
fact fact it's kind of also kindof advantage in the way, but it's
also exciting, like, Okay,I'm gonna get the hardest. Look.
You know, those are real,real reps, you know the bank.
So really, I'm not really thekind of process. And I was like,
hey when they tell me, Iain't like I se any process were

(36:29):
about how you might approach this andand what do you think is meaning the
key element? You're getting the mostout of those because you got two guys.
This ain't my first udio, No. I know a lot of people
look at say, well, thisguy only been on the field for three
years Western Tuckey and Oregon. Justbecause I didn't have the title of a

(36:52):
running back coach where I was atthe Memphis, I never carried myself that
way. I was carrying myself asa running back coach. I approach every
day that way. So at mephiswe had Darren Henderson, Patrick Taylor,
Tony Poller, Kenny game Weell,Tonyo Gibson. I've seen talented backs and
I've seen them be able to functionwith one another. So I hear that
all the time about Well, Ithis ain't my first rodeo. Same thing

(37:15):
out there in Oregon. We hadBucketrivern Norwich and George James. You go
look at their numbers. They allfunctioned well together. We learned how to
play as one. So this ain'tmy first rodeo. So and Plus I
know those two kids cause I recruitedthem when they was in high school.
So I'm up for the challenge andthe responsibility of it. Got right behind
it. Dan Hope Carlos, justwhat is your kind of coaching philosophy?

(37:37):
How do you get the best outof your running backs? I get the
best out them because I love theyoung men. My main focus is to
change the hearts and minds of them, and they'll play for me. I
had just got through reading Coach Trestle'sWinners Manual, and it's somethingay that I
took from that book. You haveyour purpose and you have your goals,
all right. My purpose is toserve and pour into the young men.

(38:00):
My goals as a football coach,all of them are take care of themselves.
So that's one of the ways I'mjust real relationship base and I'm very
detailed at this position. I knowy'all heard me say before, and I'm
gonna keep saying. This is theworst coach position in football. It's terrible,
guys hire anybody to coaches position andrecruiters. CARLS Locker is not a
recruiter. I'm an elite relationship builder. But I coached this position. I'm

(38:22):
a ball coach, so that's whoI am. So I'm gonna pouring to
these kids. I think they kindof seeing it now. And I jumped
in day one. I'm ready tocoach and phrase you never saw fat cookies?
Where did that phrase come from?Kind of always but this boy,
let me tell you about that boy. I've been called everything but the name
the child of God by the peopleat the other places I left. So

(38:44):
that I've been getting. Pillsbury needsto give me a deal because I've been
getting. I been getting some DMthe texts, some of them have been
so funny. The salt Beatch couldget. The thing came from just having
a frame of mind, a mentaltalth ughness. It had nothing to do
with guys getting in the portal andanything. Now most people say I'm a

(39:05):
salt Beats cookie for leaving there,But actually I'm not because it takes great
strength to make a decision to leavea place. No, a weak minded
person wouldn't be able to make thedecision that I made, So it took
great strength to do that. SoI'm telling you, if I literally in
my DMS, it's some it's somegreat comedians out here that have been sending
me like tons of cookies out likeit's funny. Right behind him, Tony,

(39:29):
how have you going about the assessmentof the talent in the room?
Uh, over the past week ortwo? How much is that unfield off
field? Like, what's the processof getting to know who you have as
players? Well? I broke downwell me being a guy that loves the
running back position. And I alreadybroke those kids down cause I recruit them
out of high school. You know, Cue is from where I'm from in

(39:52):
Montgomery. I was one of thefirst guys to offer him just watching him
great contact, balance, creative runner, great hands and trey. I recruited
him out of Virginia exceptional short air, your bursting quickness and things that I'm
gonna help him get better on.And then I recruited James Peoples out of
t out of San Antonio, Texas. I knew what he was gonna what

(40:13):
he was gonna be TC and Sam, those two kids, I'm getting to
know and I'm gonna help them improvethat game. But we got different runners
in there. I like to callmyself, I'm in love with this position.
So I get to break down runnersand help their game. So talented,
talented room, very talented. Uhfar back uh Jerremy Birmingham podcast couch.

(40:37):
How do you swear that that thatsaw past cookies are actually the best
cookies to Philip brittin Nix and orthose are way better than the crunchy chips
and white things that a terriory?I mean, do you do? You
have to first find a balance thereor somewhere. Well, for me,
I'm actually not eating any cookies.Nah, I'm just saying I'm not eating
any cookies this year. I gaveit up for a fast or no sweets

(40:58):
for me for the whole year.That's something I gave up. So they
the term the South bast cookie term. Look, guys, I actually took
that from I represent the high schoolcoaches of Myths, Tennessee. I actually
took that from a guy that coachSlocum. He used to always say that
South bast cookie. I actually stolethat from him. I give him credit
for it, and I tell himall the time he said, you I

(41:20):
should have branded that, cause youdone took it and ran away with it.
But that's just where that come from. So that that I was standing
as you get to Ohio, standand you start to look around the country
at me, Oregon's a big place, that's a a a major job with
How how do you think that whereyour Hoppity logo or the jas Brandon blacko
when you get out out of thelittle free and trail, How does that

(41:42):
change the way that you feel you'reeither received or or does it add a
different level to to just feeling likeI could go anywhere and get anybody in
the country, and does the changestthing for me? This is a great
place. Oregon is a great placetoo. But guess what whatever I put
on, I know what I'm goingto represent for me? I n I

(42:05):
N I know who who put mehere? Uh? I know I represented
something higher, you know, LikeI told you, I know what my
purpose is. My purpose is topoorting the people. So whatever logo I
have on, I'm still gonna bedoing the same thing. So this is
a great logo, great logo,but I wear another logo every day.
It's across I see around my neck. I know what I represent. So
that's the greatest logo I could everwear. So it don't matter what other

(42:29):
logo I have on. I gotthat one on. I'm going to any
house and be a recruit. Uhuh deep right camera tick Robinson the athletic
So which you you mentioned the timein Memphis and themis for about going back
you mentioned there? Who you learnedfrom that time that you that you take
over to managing to grow and kid? What did I learn from them?

(42:52):
Just building a just teaching the kids. We live in such a selfish world
now, and I can tell kidsall the times, gotta be much more
to football. The ball gonna goflat one day. As I always say,
what being in that room there atMemphis, it wasn't four five teaching
them how to be about being one? I tell you them in all time,

(43:14):
it doesn't cost you anything to celebrateanother man's success. So teaching them
how to be one, and thenonce they learned to be one, they
functioned in They feed off one.Another. So that's what I learned from
being there at Memphis Road Carols.Third of your career in law enforce,
I kind of influenced you as acoach and kind of ship where you are.
Oh well, I just got throughtalking to somebody about that today.

(43:37):
When I first got in this professionand I got my own room in Western
Tech, I was asked, No, how was I gonna be able to
handle my room? I said,Man, I had a part with fifty
one inmates. You talking about mehaving got six or seven guys? Are
you kidding me? I'm talking aboutme having to do traffic stops or going

(43:59):
on domestic virus calls. It's simpleeasy. You know, people don't know
what you care. Also know,you gotta have a certain demeaning about yourself.
So when I walk into a room, it's the reason why I go
train every morning. This is oneof It's the same thing when I was
a police officer. You look acertain way kind of deter people from doing
certain things. So reason why Igo train every morning. I'm gonna look

(44:21):
just as good as my boys look. So uh, it helped out a
lot. In other words, Uhfrom Rol right Austin more the podcast,
Carls, Welcome to Columbus. HWhat would it mean to I don't know,
revolutionize the way running backs are coach? What does that take? I
ain't even know. I'm not gonnasay revolutionized some good. It's some good

(44:44):
running back coaches out here. Everybody'sdifferent. It's some great coaches out here.
I just want to head guys whosay that on these jobs to not
just hire guys. Just know allcoaches on your staffs should be great recruiters,
not just a running back coach.We coach a bus position. We
developed players as well. I justwanted the coaches to realize, Hey,
you know what, let me lookand be thorough about this guy that I'm

(45:07):
hiring for the job. Is heteaching the position? Is he developing the
position? Because you're not gonna hireanybody just coach quarterbacks, are you.
Well, it shouldn't be like thatfor the running back position either. And
I'm only passionate about it cause Iplayed it. I love it, So
it's the only position I want tocoach. Could I coach the other positions?
Yeah? I played dB in collegetoo, but I love the running
back position, so I just wantedto see it coach well May podcasts.

(45:30):
Yeah, a million questions. Allthat's a couple number one. When you
when you, when your wife whatever? You got the message stuff, are
we moving again? What was Whatwas her reaction? Nah? She she's
just now guy that give us gaveus a new assignment. She w it
was never like we're moving again.Let me tell you guys something I grew
up. My mom was in themilitary, so I lived everywhere. I

(45:51):
lived in Panama of South America.I'm used to picking up and moving.
I lived in Fort Rodley, Kansas, Montgomery's home if it was my second
home. So I'm I'm used tomoving now. My wife it was different
for her, but she just knewguy that gave us a new assignment.
So it's time to go. Whatdid what did coach they tell you when
he heard you that he wants outof you. That may be different.
It's not slaming somebody else. Butwhat did he say he wanted you to

(46:15):
bring to the running back room.I think he did his research on me.
He said he wanted the guy todevelop the position. That's not taking
a shot at the coach that washere who I'm friends with, And he
said they want somebody to really getthe guys going, Uh, I can
only be me, And I toldhim that cause I'm gonna be me every

(46:37):
day now cause see my mindset,this is when I step in this building,
I got one mindset that's to domy job so well that the living
dead or unborn can do it anybetter. So when I leave it,
that's what my mindset is. HopefullyI'm here for a long time, but
only God knows that. So,but that's my mindset every day that step
into the ward, hate Son,that's my mindset. I'm gonna do my

(46:58):
job so well that living dead,you know I'm born, couldn't do it.
Anything about it. So that's whatmy mind said. Is suppose we
got time for one last question.Bill Rabinowitz, Columbus Dispatch, Carlos.
First of all, is it truethat nobody calls you Carlos, nevere calls
you Locke. That's the truth.Yeah, I prefer to be called a
lock in particular. But I wouldn'tsay everyone doesn't really know how to handle

(47:20):
it properly. You see it currently. I mean, it's just it's a
variable that's new and how to handleit. There's not a transcript on on
how to handle that variable. Soyou just guys just try to do what
they think is right. That's allthey're really trying to do. And I'm
not saying that right or wrong,but he was trying to do the same,
and uh, you know, Ithink at the end of the day
he realized he man made the wrongdecision and we connected on it. We

(47:43):
talked about it, and you know, it was a great opportunity to to
write or wrong. And uh,obviously we're very glad he's here. I've
always believed in him. We believein him, and he believes in himself
and that's part of the just tryingto understand what's my path, right.
So uh but yeah, it's beengreat. Steps have been made. He's
growing, but he's nowhere near wherehe knows he's capable of being. And

(48:07):
he's just probably impresive Ceremiah. Ilove the way he lives. I love
the way he approaches things. Ilove the way the questions he asks.
I love the way he makes mistakesand then correct mistakes. It's very veteran,
like, I mean, there's somuch ball he has to learn,

(48:27):
Like he literally does things that aregood. I'm like, do you know
why that worked, he goes,coach, I have no freaking idea,
So like I'm trying to teach himall of that why it worked, so
then you know, the consistency atwhich it works just goes to the roof.
And so but I'm very you know, excited and proud of the conversations
we're currently having, and I'm excitingit for them to keep going so hard

(48:47):
for you working. I love workingwith Chip Chip is. I love talking
ball, I love the viewpoints,I love I love the veteran that he
has, you know, and uhI love now like I love all of

(49:08):
it. I think that you know, early on the biggest impact, you
know, just you know, feelingperspective, I think in the run game
has been awesome, you know,and then you know, off of the
run game some of the actions oror relief throws or all that kind of
stuff. I love where it's at. I love working with them, and

(49:36):
I would say that I sleep alittle better, all right. Uh No,
It's it's really a great combo becauselike you know, we're obviously we're
doing a lot as a group.It's not just Chip and I so uh
but you know, obviously Chip hasan image and a view on things that

(49:57):
I never had. So to havethat experience and have that viewpoint, I'm
just trying to absorb as much asi can, but then also highlight some
things that we've really done a goodjob of and make sure those you know,
nothing's really changing, We're just tryingto enhance. We're not changing,
We're enhancing. So where the thingsfit is perfect, you know, I
think, uh, you know,the rest of the dynamics of search hip

(50:20):
can talk about. But it's beenit's been awesome, so I'm excited about
it. We talked to a mecca. You're talking about moving from slot to
the house side. You know howgood we've been in the slot. Is
that a difficult move for you guysjust coaches to know how good a guy
is on one spot, but knowthat maybe for his long term future.
And then no, I wouldn't sayit's anything on his future, because he's

(50:43):
capable of doing whatever you want toget done. But I'd say that it
says more about the room. Ithink it's it's the growth of you know,
Brandon and the growth grow of Brysonthat's really you know, allowing my
mind to say, hey, mechbe prepared. You're gonna move around a
lot. You're gonna come out ofthat slot. You're gonna be outside.
We're gonna create mismatches out there.I mean, his ability to move around

(51:04):
is critical. But I would saybetween Mech and between Carnell Takes's ability to
move around a lot, it's gonnaprovide a lot of flexibility for our room
and uh and those top you know, six seven guys that are really doing
a good job right now, progresslike this spring for like a because there's
no times that t one of thosethings. I'm true where U has balanced
how much work does a need versusyeah, heavy heavy emphasis on what work

(51:28):
he needs, you know, versusanything else. Uh, I rely on
him. We have great dialogue backand forth. It's a two way to
it's a two way conversation. Andfrankly, there's gonna be times we're like,
hey, Mech, what do youwanna do to You wanna go outside?
You wanna go inside? And Idon't care. So, uh,
we're not there yet. We willbe there, but it's just more about,
you know, when the room isready to start mixing things up.

(52:05):
I would say, there's got Imean, I make sure I'm bringing guys
that are able to do all,but I have not asked them to yet.
So the only guys that in ourroom currently I've asked to do that
has been Mecca and Carnell, andthose are probably the two guys that I
would, you know, think heavilyon doing moving around a lot. I'm
not putting that on anybody else rightnow, not saying they can't, but
at this point, having two guysbe able to swing, you probably don't

(52:28):
need much more than that. Ineed guys being experts at what they're good
at, so it it helps theoffense still be great at everything and be
an expert at something, and wecan use that to our of them.
I like them. Yeah, it'sa bunch of good dudes just just got
here, so we're gonna keep workingand I like I like our edge guys

(52:49):
that we picked up, and I'mexcited to work with them. Know much
about how against. I think he'ssuper skilled, rusher, good length,
and he's more athletic than I evenrealized. And I think guys like him
when they come to our scheme arethe best is brought out of him.
So I'm excited to see what potentialhe has. He's year nine, so

(53:16):
I feel like you, as ad lineman, you can keep improving all
the way through ten years in thisleague. So I'm excited to see what
he's got. How old did youknow soors so when he was assistant here?
And have you gotten to know hima lot better? What's the relationship?
Maybe right now? I know himpretty well. He was always just
a good dude around the facility.He did our ball meetings, so he's

(53:38):
good in front of a group.He's a good leader. He knows the
scheme really well, which is good. I was happy to see him promoted.
He called me in the offseason.We talked. I just congratulated him,
and I think he's gonna bring somethingsimilar to what we had with the

(53:59):
Meek. It would be good.Do you know Brandon Stanley well at all?
I mean, obviously Joey platform don'tknow too much about him. I've
obviously heard from my brother, butI don't even think i've said high yet.
I haven't ran into him yet,but I'm sure i'll get to know
him. When you say it lookssimilar to Niko the energy or system maybe

(54:21):
a little different energy, but Ithink just knowing the system from the front
to the back. I think heknows how it ties in, and he's
been around with some really good coaches, so I think it'll be pretty pretty
seamless, and I think we'll befiring on all cylinders. Three months removed

(54:42):
from the Super Bowl now, Sohow have you? I guess digested it
and I guess physically everything good togo. Yeah, I feel really good.
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
at uh a little slower, buteverything's great. I'm feeling as good as

(55:07):
I felt. I'm excited to actuallyget some practice in. Last year was
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 good. With

(55:31):
the Super Bowl unfortunately, I knowhow to bounce back from tough losses,
so it was rough for a littlebit, but no, just annoying when
people bring it up. Since thelast season, we've seen a Rock on
TV commercials and on the stage withKluke Coombs and throwing out the first pitch

(55:52):
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 leaderships
down the way he carries himself anydifference at all. I think he's definitely
getting a little more vocal within thebuilding. And uh yeah, I mean,
I don't think he's ever gonna change. I don't think he's somebody that's

(56:14):
going to change even when he getspaid next year. So he's he's a
man of faith and he kind ofreminds me of Scotti Scheffler, but except
for just super humble and really goodkid. And yeah, he's definitely famous.

(56:40):
I don't just from watching Armstead getreleased obviously meant so much to the
defensive line into the team. Imean, Colin John were pretty open that
they were willing to talk about tradingDeebo or are you all does that just
another what's that feel like in thelocker room when those sort of joels happened.

(57:02):
I didn't even know that happened andI wasn't here, but you're talking
about this offseason alarms and alarm erleast, 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 through that, but I think you just have to

(57:28):
understand that it is a business andthe team's going to try and get as
good as it possibly can with orwithout you, and you have to look
out for yourself. That's why yougo through holdouts and do certain things that
seem selfish in the moment, butit is what it is, and when
everything's settled, we're gonna come togetheras a team and try and go get

(57:49):
one Nick. What's the overall feelingaround the group right now? Like,
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 thepast is in the past and we're ready
to go. You talk to me. You talked to be at all about

(58:09):
handling the business part of this.He's going through something similar. We chat
a little bit, but not toomuch about the details. I just told
him to keep his head up andtry and stay positive through it all.
First impressions when you heard about yourschedule would be in that Aaron Rodgers' first
up, It'll be fun. Yeah, it's gonna be gonna be a good

(58:32):
one. Excuse me kind of alludedto this, But the fact that last
year you had to have that holdout for said that affected you somewhat early
in the season. If you hadn'thad that experience, would you be here
right now? I mean, wasthat part of the motivation for being here
early just to have the opposite lastyear? Might be No, I don't

(58:57):
think that's one of the reasons.But I just talked to Kyle and he
kind of asked me, h.He kind of stated how he felt about
why it would be good for meto be here and asked if I agreed.
And I agree. So it's notlike I'm missing too much. I
think I'm out here. It's alittle less workload than I'm doing back home,

(59:21):
so it's kind of a good activerecovery thing for me. And I'm
getting football stuff, football working specifically, so that's good. I'm not it's
not compromising my training at all andI get to meet all the guys.
It's it's positive. Let Oh,no, he's he's there. He's got

(59:45):
a new regime over there. First, I actually thought I was coming next
week until recently, so I wasgonna have one more week at home.
But we're both in California. Everythingyou could share about tons reasons, reasons
that you agreed with here. Uhyeah, just the things I already stated,

(01:00:12):
Just getting around the guys and justgetting the football stuff honed in a
little bit before camp starts. Youhaven't been afraid, You've been afraid to
speak out on player safety issues andthings like that when it comes to playing
service and things like that. Theeighteen game schedule has been kind of discussed
again here recently. What what isyour kind of take on that possibility.

(01:00:37):
I don't know how many. Imean, it's I guess it's easy to
appreciate when, uh, you kindof see it working and you see guys
improving, getting better. I justthink the details are really important. You
can pretend that leaving your shoes alla mess or your locker mess isn't a

(01:00:59):
big deal, and what matters isplaying football. But I think all those
tiny details and things kind of addup and leak into the important stuff like
what you're doing on the field.So if you can have your toe behind
the line, or have your lockerand order and all these things, they
kind of stack up into performing welland and playing well when things count.

(01:01:22):
So you know, I appreciate that. It's it also hasn't been a fight
with the guys in the locker room. They buy in, and you know,
it's a lot of young guys,and I think they're hungry to learn,
hungry to compete and win. Youknow, it's just an example,
whether it's we talked about first dayyou have your shoot, if you could,

(01:01:45):
if you could spend the time onthese small things when nobody's watching.
I think, like I was saying, it seems like it might not add
up too much, but I thinkin the long term it does, and
it leaks into other things, whetheryou're doing your right a sound on the
field, being late to meetings,or all these things. If you hold

(01:02:06):
a standard and you stay to thatstandard, I think it benefits you long
term. It's it been like workingBen Herbert, who has there been any
anything in his training program or workingwith you that you feel will benefit you
later. Yeah, Yeah, definitely, he's been great. He's a no
nonsense kind of guy. But he'snot an old school in the sense that

(01:02:28):
he's bringing his way of doing thingsand that's the only way to do things.
He understands that guys have been inthe in the business for a long
time, Khalil me and we havea way of doing things, and all
he wants to do is add tothat and help you get better and perform
the best you can. He's hestresses it all the time that he's a
tool for us, and you know, he's been He's been great. The

(01:02:51):
guys love him. The energy bringsis awesome, and I think the stuff
that we're doing in the weight roomis great, a great addition to stuff
that I may may do on theside or whatever that is. Yeah,
I think we I mean, wehad a presentation today with all the certain
measurables that are changing, and ifyou guys are in the meeting, you

(01:03:12):
definitely see how beneficial he's been tothe team so far. So obviously,
staying healthy is is a huge factorto anybody's success. I'd say it's plagued
us a little bit for a while. So yeah, I think he's he's
definitely incredibly beneficial. What were you, like fully fully recovered. I know
at the end of the last seasonyou might have been able to play.

(01:03:36):
Yeah, No, I was notready to go last year. No,
tried practicing, tried coming back,and uh it was it was not good.
But yeah, it was. Unfortunatelythe year wasn't going great and it
just was unnecessary risk for I mean, my foot could have had some real

(01:03:57):
real issues if I came back tooearly. So yeah, it's been.
It's been. It's been a greatoff season. My foot's feeling great,
toes good, hamstrings good. Imean, there was a list of things
last year, my hand, soall those things are good. Finger cut
surgery on my finger, so that'sfeeling good. Yeah, it's it's nice
to be feeling better going into yournine than you have since maybe five six

(01:04:21):
years ago, which I've said,I've said I've been feeling great last couple
of years. I'm telling you it'sa real deal this time. But obviously
anything can happen. But I justfeel it's fun feeling really confident in your
body and being able to perform.So I could just go out during practice

(01:04:41):
and you know, good balls tothe wall and do everything that I feel
like I need to to be ableto prepare. It's fun. My brother
and whoever I trained with my trainerTodd back home, I think they'd be
really proud of how I've been workingthis off season, and it's just exciting.

(01:05:02):
The pointing was the injuries. Iremember the Green Bay game, you
kind of yeah, it was abit of a build up, a little
bit of an overreaction, but youknow, it's just tough. It comes
sometimes like that, and I justfelt felt really uh defeated coming back,
had a broken hand. I'm like, oh, yeah I get to play

(01:05:24):
Boom first serious foot pops. ThoughtI'd have to get surgery, and all
these thoughts flooded through my head.Broke down a bit, and yeah,
it just hurts. You know,you're losing, you're getting injured. You've
felt like you prepared really well inthe offseason, and then the year before
you had growing surgery, so youknow, a lot of things build up.

(01:05:45):
Yeah, you don't get a breakif you're injured. Everybody wants to
go on. Fans are very nice, but no, I just I'm grateful
that I feel this way. I'mstill still nice. Ripe twenty eight,
so not too old yet. Butyeah, I'm just excited. I can't
remember what the original question was.At this point, you get something about

(01:06:12):
my body, how close you andGift were. How frustrated was it that
you couldn't you know soon for oneof those last three games. It was
frustrating, But I mean Gift washad my back the whole way, I
think for Gift, for any butfor the whole team, just to show

(01:06:34):
what it means to me. Itwould have been important for me to be
out there, but I literally couldn't. I tried to practice, injured my
footworset the very first play I wasand in practice, So no chance that
was happening unless I wanted to throwmy next season away as well. But
no, I'm just I'm proud ofhim for what he did with the team,

(01:06:57):
how he handled it, and Ineed to call him back. Actually
sorry, I give Yeah, I'mhappy he gets to stay close by with
the with the Rams and uh,I'm just proud of all we accomplished here
together over the years, and andwe'll be close for the rest of our
lives. Was the foot injury?Was this guy blest foot sprain? Yeah?

(01:07:18):
I sprained one area of my foot. Then when I tried to return
and I sprained another area, wasable to avoid getting surgery, which is
kind of the main goal. Butyeah, it was it was tough when
it comes to the addition of whatdupree where he felt like he's kind of
brought to the to the room andcould bring on the field. Yeah,

(01:07:41):
it's when I heard we got mybrother some I don't know, maybe my
brother told me. I'm like,really, we just got Bud Like that's
no, that's no small pickup.He's a seriously elite pass rusher has had
some trouble with injuries as well,so I understand how that is, but
not only him as a player,but as a personality. I heard Khalil

(01:08:02):
just saying he's he's a fun guy. He's a funny guy, and to
have that in the room another vetis always a great addition. But I'm
just excited to have him and Tuleyand to be able to rotate like that
and not drop off at all whenwe come off the field is huge.
And now Tooley's going into a secondyear. Just what do you what are
you kind of what are some ofthe maturity maturity areas you see from him.

(01:08:27):
You know, I'm gonna say notmuch, and that's a compliment because
he was already mature in those areas. I mean, he's on it everything,
playbook wise, always doing his job, working hard, just refining his
technique and pass rush. I mean, we don't have the pads on right
now, so the real work willwill begin, you know, in six

(01:08:49):
weeks now. So, but yeah, I love Tuli. I've loved him
since the first days he's walked intothe facility, and I know he's just
gonna continue to get better. Youthink of the addition of Joe Old.
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna needto beat him up a little bit in
camp. So he's so he's ready. But no, I think anything to
protect our number ten is a good, good investment. So he seems like

(01:09:15):
a real solid dude. Haven't talkedto 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,
how he holds up. But it'llI'll take it easy on him. No,
Rashaun's a beast. Did you knowCoach Harbond before he came here?

(01:09:41):
And if you did just what werethose first couple of conversations like that.
Yeah, probably have crossed passed withhim. Maybe maybe not. Actually I
think what was it his first yearwhen I was a junior, So he
kicked his ass as usual at OhioState. No, No, they just

(01:10:01):
want a championship, so I'd saythey probably have the bragging rights right now.
I'm like the guy talking about hisold high school. Oh I remember
we used to kicks. No,but no, yeah, no, the
rivalry is dead. I was justsaying this morning, you know, nine
years and kind of forget about that. I'm not a great alumni. Sorry,

(01:10:24):
sorry, coach, But no,it's great. That's what's great about
the NFL is you just have guysfrom all backgrounds. You could hate their
guts one one year, and thenyou come on the same team and your
brothers and you're all working towards onegoal together. So our first talk together
was great. I just sat downwith them, went up into his office
and chopped it up about life mainlyand his opportunity here and how much it

(01:10:48):
means to him, and uh,yeah, I think he's a special guy.
I think he's uh, the wayhe conducts himself, he's an interesting
cat for sure, and I'm stillstill feeling them out. But one thing
you can't denies that he loves footballand his main goal is to win football
games. And that's what we need. When you see him working out with

(01:11:08):
you guys and and pushing his livesand doing all this stuff, just how
interesting is that? See? Yeah, I mean he was a he was
a great player himself, and Ithink he's always been, you know,
built like that, lack of abetter term. But yeah, he's uh,
he's part of the guys. Youknow, he's not this guy outside

(01:11:29):
looking in. He 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. SoYeah, to to see a guy like
that come in and embrace it alland kind of be part of it himself
is important. Your initial impressions ofCoachman during the defensive Sam, Yeah,

(01:11:50):
it's funny to 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 khalilpos his age, but no, he's been great. I love messing
with him a little bit. Welittle sarcasm back and forth. But no,

(01:12:11):
he's great. He's uh very talksvery fast, and I don't as
you know, so sometimes I gottabe like, slow down, coach,
come on. But no, he'sgreat. I'm excited, you know,
to get closer as the years oras the year goes on. And I
think he has he has a lotof passion for the position, and all

(01:12:33):
he wants to do is learn andand help us to improve. So I'm
excited about him, And I meanI do miss Giff. Obviously, it
was a long time with him,but I am excited to have a new
face and kind of have that challengefor me. You worked much with with
Jesse's dad, since I know hecoached with line divers in Michigan. Did

(01:12:55):
you ask about Jesse? Did youask about doing Okay, you asked about
Jesse. Oh my god, Iwas talking about freaking Dylan the whole time.
You guys are so confused. No, sorry, I thought we I
thought I was. I thought youmentioned coach RONI No, no, coach
Mentor has been great as well.Yeah they've both been great. Sorry,

(01:13:17):
run that back. No, he'sbeen good. Uh yeah, very knowledgeable
guy. Same thing. I'm excitedto get to know him more as the
year goes on. Have you workedHave you worked much during Jesse? Yeah?
No, I have not. Idon't know if I've said one word

(01:13:38):
to him, but more words tocome down the road. Like you said,
you've been in year since twenty sixteen. Just where are some of this
stuff? You just went on aramble about the wrong guy for fifteen minutes.

(01:13:58):
You walking? What? Yeah?What the hecks like? Actually that's
literally not the person. Yeah,yeah, I figured out. What's something
that you you worked undering the offseason? Something to improve your game or
is there something that you can Usuallymy answer is pretty consistent that I just

(01:14:21):
continue to try to prepare myself physically, whether that's my sprint work or agility
work and my lifting. But yeah, just to get everything feeling great.
I dealt with those injuries, soI had to kind of ramp it up
with my finger and foot and allthose things. But now I'm I'm full

(01:14:43):
full speed out there, and I'mjust going to continue to do what I
know will prepare me for the season. And uh, I know I'm gonna
get plenty of technique work and positionwork when I'm out here. So for
now I'm going to spend it's fiveweeks really getting uh preparing about a schematic
standpoint. I don't know the insand outs of what I'm gonna be doing

(01:15:05):
yet, so I'll wait and seesoon. But just what everything going on?
See how this seems the best fit? Chris again, Chris caps here
we go. Yeah, Dria,welcome to Seattle. Like were you looking
for in free agency? I feltthat's a loaded question for real, for

(01:15:28):
real, Uh, you know,in terms of no pay system, teammates,
environment, city, all those kindof just like play into it.
Besides just uh the money thing.I know, financials always play a big
role, and I kind of steeryou into the direction you want to go.
But everything kind of plays into it. And how much did you reach
out to Shelby Drew, know whatsome of the guys you knew the played

(01:15:50):
here last year to get a sensefor what what Seattle might offer you.
I mean, not much right now, I'll talk to I'll talk to Shelby
a little bit about it. Mainly, No, and Drew just congratulate me,
Bob. Did you come together prettyquickly? I know you kind of

(01:16:12):
a ten year agreement on that firstMonday and everything with Seattle that all come
together really faster. Now it wasa long done. Seattle came in almost
out of nowhere. We had likea good set of teams that we're talking
to just trying to find like finalizewhat was going on, what was it
the term is going to be?You know, and Seattle came in hot.
They showed a lot of interest anduh they kind of just motivating me
to come here more and more.And how similar will your role be,

(01:16:36):
you know in terms of playing whatyou did in Denver? I don't know
that yet. I got of justmentioned previously. I don't know my role.
I don't know the ins and outyet. Once we'll get no through
the protocols and the nfl PA,we'll we'll talk about no, the schemes
and everything. Right. Uh sowelcome. When you were in Denver in

(01:16:57):
the three four, where did youfind yourself? I played a lot of
different positions in uh Denver. Imean earlier in my year, I played
zero, I played three, twoone. I mean I'm definitely more comfortable
in a shaded position, mainly beinga three technique and five technique. That's
why I find myself to be morecomfortable whether I'm standing up or I'm not,
whether it's runner or pass. Uh, those seem to be my best

(01:17:21):
my best fits. And what isyour impression of Pete Carroll's defense and whole
environment? Uh? From afar,it seems like he he holds in on
a defense a lot. Uh.I can't really say too much about that.
Yeah, I don't. I knowPete Carroll very little, so uh,
I'm just trying to figure out moreand I'll give you a better answer
later. What's the reputation around thelake out of the Seahawks? Uh,

(01:17:45):
you know hard nos Hard had typeof team definitely on a little more lack
side as opposed to being stuck upor military style, and which is definitely
good because then they this program iswon a lot of football games have been
super successful for many years, aslong as I've been a live as long
as I've been watching football, anddefinitely this has been a good program.
And Pete Carroll has been a hellof a coach for as long as I

(01:18:08):
remember, even back in his collegedays. So I'm looking forward to experiencing
that. John Boyle, Yeah,I know you said you don't know yet,
you know what your role is goingto be, which is what what
kind of player you? For fanswho haven't watched it time of Denver,
what kind of player this is getting? Definitely a high motor Definitely not a
one trippon any type of player.I like to attack, you know,

(01:18:30):
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 ESPN. Nice to
meet you. Yeah, this isnot a team that really makes big splash
signings in free agency. Did youthink going into it that Seattle would be

(01:18:55):
in play? Uh? No,not at all. You just it's kind
of like being a cure at theCounty store. Here. I got a
whole bunch of different options coming atyou, hearing, a whole bunch of
different crazy things, and uh,you know, you only get to choose
one. And this is the placethat that we both chose each other.
And I mean, I'm loving Seattleso far, you know, I like
these colors for real. Real?What what did you got to do with

(01:19:15):
Seattle or see since you've been here? Not much? Uh, just kind
of just drive around the city exploring. Uh, get down to the market
a little bit. I want toget on the Ferris will do some more
like touristy type of things. Youknow, I'm new to the city and
I got a lot to learn aboutthe city, all right. Yeah,
there's been a lot of comparisons withyou to Michael Bennett. I was wondering
if you know Michael Bennett at alland you think those are accurate. I

(01:19:40):
know Michael berger Ben like nothing.I know nothing about it but besides his
style of play. But I'm honoredto be considered in the same conversation as
him and uh style of play.You know, He's a Hall of Fame
type of deep lineman that I've knownabout since I was a kid. I
mean, last time he played here, I was in high school. So
you know, it's cool to itkind of came full circle a little bit
watching him on TV and now I'mbeing kind of compared to him in a

(01:20:02):
way, you know. I mean, I'm not touching the surface of Michael
Bennet. You know, he's aHall of Famer and I'm not there yet.
So you know, I just gotto keep doing my due diligence to
be a better player. Carn Hey, Dreamont, Welcome to Seattle. I
know you get to play several seasonsfor Vic Fangio and three four style defense,
and Seattle's playing a similar system nowdating back to last year as a

(01:20:26):
defensive lineman, what do you thinkis most important to be successful in that
system? Maybe fundamentals or just playingstyle to be successful. From what I
learned, being gap sound and beingpatient has always been the biggest thing,
and that's how we've been successful whenI was in Denver, just kind of
like relying on each other. Iknow that sounds kind of cliche, but
like there's kind of like the therealm of being in the three four defense.

(01:20:48):
You gotta really really rely on theguys behind you and the guys on
the side of you to really maketheir to do their job to make your
job easier. Bob, Yeah,Uh, your your Ohow State playoffs said
you didn't start playing football till youwere junior in high school and largely played

(01:21:09):
basketball. So then that's what madeyou, I guess, decided to go
go play football then with that artaway from basketball. No, no,
no, I've always loved football first. Uh, it was just kind of
just playing it out. You know, I love the Who, but you
know, football was definitely about callinggiven I was a two hundred and sixty
five pound power forward and I waslike six streason changed, so you know

(01:21:29):
I kind of toldse the route thatGod gave me. You know, I'm
not six eight lasta. Yeah,verymm. We'll come to Seattle and you've
been quoted and you're looking at acouple of art things that you wasn't undergog
player, And can you just talka little bit about that that role that
was some of the russ you know, always kind of counted out but us

(01:21:53):
came through. Can you elaborate morethan that? Just from a standpoint like
I always get like over overshadowed,overlooked, whether it's a uh in something,
you know what I'm saying, Like, I feel like I do a
lot more than what can be sittingby the eyes of the inexperienced, you
know, Scout and I do alot of different dynamic things that help make

(01:22:13):
plays for others. You know,I'm definitely an active player. I'm always
doing something, whether in the runnerpass game, so you know, I
think that goes on others sometimes andI'm looking forward to putting people on notice.
Thanks Brady. What uh, whatdo you like to do outside of
football? Uh? Big gamer?I'm definitely I've been getting to a lot

(01:22:33):
of chests lately, so just toexpand my brain. Uh. I try
to get into reading, but ifit's not sports plated, I'm really not
interested in reading that much, butmainly just video gaming and chest. And
then when we write and say yourname, do you prefer your grandma?
I mean you can say, youcan say Draymond Jones and me, but

(01:22:54):
like just I feel like personally justcall me Dre because easy, because people
like to f my name up alot, like a lot call it DRAYMONDE.
I don't know why you put aDramonte in my name or Drakemond t
whatever you want to say. Whatdo you think some of that will be
able to bring out out of yourgame as you can keep trying to,
you know, just being more explosive, probably more yards for catch with the

(01:23:15):
space that he's putting us into.The more yards, more yards have to
catch, more exposive, pick,more exposed to plays for for not just
only me but she and Ak andtaste them. So I'm excited to be
able to be in the system.I assume you think you guys can be
a lot more explosive than than youhave been in the last couple of years.
Oh yeah, of course. Itbrings a lot of different things,

(01:23:36):
you know what I'm saying, theplaybook, but just accountability. Uh,
I feel like that's gonna lead usto success. They said, the language
is a little a little shorter it. Have you found that the language that
you guys use. Is it aboutthe same or is it it's a long,
long place, but it's more understandingfor sure. I feel like you

(01:23:56):
can get to that more understanding playsand uh, I feel like that's that's
the difference. He was saying theother day, just kind of like coming
into this offense after like twenty yearsof Breeze and just kind of how it
was just kind of built on topof each other and on top of each
other. It's like kind of alot to kind of take in. Do
you do you find that they kindof turn it down to something new,
starting to like zero with everybody.It's just a little bit easier to kind
of get everybody on the same dYeah, I feel like it's way easier.

(01:24:20):
Like you said, it was kindof more of a Drew Brees style.
Uh the last playbook, so uhall credit to them though they built
that around him, around his players. But uh, like I said,
it's it's more Uh, this playbookis more uh for uh matchups, and
uh, I feel like it's gonnabe better for us. How do you
think it's gonna really take advantage ofhis skill sets? Uh? Just building

(01:24:43):
around the strengths that I have.You know what I'm saying, things that
I can do and things that shecan do, uh, things that our
players can't do. Is kind offocus on what we can do and and
building on that. Uh. Ifeel like it's playing to the player strengths.
So I feel like it's gonna helpus a lot has been around the
way offense will have a lot morespeed, and how has that transition being
so far? I mean, likeI said, it's building around the player

(01:25:05):
of strengths. So of course wegot speed uh with me or she and
ati receiver. So just building aroundthat, like I said, playing to
our strengths and be able to capitalizeoff that. Feel like it's gonna help
us a lot most of like theup tempo asterisk and getting a lot of
plays in unless time Oh yeah,yeah, Yeah, that's definitely gonna play
a big difference. Like I said, coming from the West Coast, Uh,

(01:25:26):
they bringing that stand for an offensehere. So I'm excited to be
able to be a part of that. For you personally, what's what's the
next level look like for you?What do you What are you trying to
accomplish this year? Just staying consistent, man, a couple of upside downs
last year. Just building off that. Uh, it's always always gonna work
on the physical part, but beingable to bounce back after a bad game.

(01:25:47):
The mental mental aspect, Uh,just learning learning that last year and
be able to build on that thisyear is a huge part. You know
with Mike go on, did youtake it upon yourself to kind of be
that voice in the room or totake a step forward even further? As
I mean, it's not really.I mean everybody kind of grown in the

(01:26:08):
NFL, So it's just on youto be able to have that standard.
Like I said, I just tryto do that. Lead by example.
I'm not really outspoken, but justlead by example, working hard, trying
to dominate every rep and hopefully theyfollow after that. I bet yards after
the catch is that you feel likethat's the strength of yours that maybe wasn't

(01:26:29):
utilize. I don't know if utilizesthe right word, but you could show
more. Yeah, it's an offensethat is built around that, just catching
the ball in space, catching theball over the middle or even on the
outside with space and separation. Ifeel like it's built around having yards after
catch. So I'm definitely proud tobe in the system, like I said,

(01:26:50):
and I'm excited. But is thatis that a mindset too, like
being good at yards after the catch? Like? Oh yeah, I mean
of course. I mean you don'twant to get tackled by the first person.
And my mindset is trying to takeevery take everything to the house,
you know, every touch. Souh, I definitely got to do that
more and definitely try to work onthat in practice. A great dude,

(01:27:14):
man, Uh some some that Idefinitely needed. Some that he relates to
me, uh just from backgrounds anduh he's a great coach, great leader,
Uh, motivational and uh. LikeI said, I'm excited to have
him around and for him to pushme is everything that I need. So
something you're talking about like mentally bouncingback you know from tough performances or whatever,

(01:27:35):
like, did you try to findyour resources going to help you figure
out how to do that? Oh? Yeah, I mean it's older guys.
U Uh tell me that's natural.Just have bad games. But uh,
just having the standard that I havein my career as a head coach
to have him on my staff ina couple of places, so I got
a chance to see him work firsthand, you know, I got to see

(01:27:55):
him work firsthand as a player andthen as a coach. So the success
he had is not is not surprise? Isn't to me? Is there?
Where do you see? Ryan?The success is? Yeah? I think
we all do that. I thinkwe come from a unique place and in
a really small hometown in New Hampshirewhere we all take a lot of pride
to where we're from and and whenanybody's successful coming out of there, then

(01:28:15):
you kind of take a little pridethat that's it's the upbringing that we all
had, you know, in theU sports program that we grew up in
in in every aspect whether it wasfootball, baseball, basketball, those coaches
were had an amazing impact on usand that's why we are where we are
right now. Ryan said, hedoesn't think of it as you working under
him, that's working with him.Fact is he is the head coach.

(01:28:40):
He makes me call him sir thoughhe just said can you do that?
Day one and I was like,all right right now? But I mean
he ultimately is it is the decisionmaker. You've been a head coach.
How do you think that's going towork? Do you think there'll be any
as close as you are, anykind of awkward moments the right term.

(01:29:01):
But when he's the ultimate decider andyou are working for him, Yeah,
I certainly understand my role. I'mnot al Haag like I'm not in charge
here. Yeah. Some people getthat reference. Other people don't get that
reference. But I'd certainly understand that, and and I actually kind of relish
it because I really love the schemingpart. I love the individual part.

(01:29:23):
I love being in the meeting roomof the quarterbacks and trying to game plan.
But everything we do here is collaborative. You know. The one thing
that really struck me when I walkedin this place is there's an amazing coaching
staff here. You know. Andif you get a chance to talk to
Larry Johnson just about football, orTim Walton or Jim Knowles or Brian Hartline
or any of these guys that areon the staff here. It's it's a

(01:29:43):
very collaborative effort. I think everybody'son the same page. You know,
it's not our offense and their defenseand it's Ohio State. You know,
it's it's Ohio State versus the twelveopponents that we're going to play during the
regular season and then beyond. Soit's it's really collaborative. And that's the
thing I like, just in theshort time that I've been here, is
how collaborative everybody's been. You know, we're all trying to make each other
better and we're all trying to developthis team. Touched on this when you

(01:30:08):
said, you know, you knowyou like to do what you want to
do and not My sense is you, in your perfect world, you'd like
to scribble plays on a napkin andnot deal with boosters, dot deal with
all the stuff that coaches head coacheshave to deal with. Now, how
much of a factor was that inthis decision? You can just do football?
No, that's not it. Imean, I enjoy I mean we've

(01:30:29):
had some amazing I've had an opportunityand everywhere I've been to meet some amazing
people that are associated with the program. And there's people that from my time
at New Hampshire or my time atOregon. I was just with Phil Night
two weeks ago, you know,and got an opportunity to spend some time
with him and his wife Penny,who are dear friends of mine that have
been great mentors to me in mycareer. And there's a bunch of people
that at UCLA, Terry Donnaho AndreaDonna who were awesome to me. Angela

(01:30:53):
Mazzoni is a great friend, CaseyWassman, Troy Aikman. There was a
bunch of people at UCLA that Ireally enjoyed, you know, being around
and talking with. So I thinksometimes everybody wants to make a narrative of
it's either this or that. It'sit's it's never that. It's never just
all ball, it's never just allrecruiting, it's never just all boosters.
It's it's a mixture of everything.But I think the one thing that as

(01:31:14):
this position as a head coach keptmoving on is that if you look at
a lot of them, they allbecome more CEOs. You know. I
can't tell you how many coaches thathave called me since I made this decision
that said I'm two years behind you, brother. You know that are thinking
the same exact way. And Ithink it's all part of what we have
to do. I think we allneed to protect this game and promote this
game, and I think there aresome rules that we need to get straightened
out so that people understand where whatit's about, because the game is still

(01:31:38):
about the players, and I hopethat never gets discounted. You know,
it's it's always been about the players, and I think if we can keep
that at the forefront the people thatare making decisions on this, and I
think Jean Smith is one of thebest influences in in the NCAAA, is
to make sure we keep that themain thing. The main thing needs to
be the student athletes. You know, you're coming in at a time where

(01:32:02):
you've been through some places where theexpectations are high. I understand it's also
coming into a juncture where, youknow, the three losses to Michigan,
the not making the playoff last year, the urgency is pretty high here.
I guess just sort of what perspectivedo you have on kind of the stakes
that there are for Ryan this yearand the decision that then he makes to

(01:32:23):
bring you in to kind of helpsolve that. Yeah, I think the
expectations can be no higher than theyare in your own brain, you know.
And I think if you try toworry about what other people are thinking
in their brains, you're going toget screwed up a little bit. So,
you know, I talked earlier theone thing about Ryan that I know
about him and has always been he'sthe ultimate competitor. So he's got There's
nowhere that has higher expectations of OhioState than Ryan has, nor the rest

(01:32:45):
of us that joined him in arepart of this and that are working with
him. So you know, Idon't think I think sometimes you can spend
too much time thinking about those things. You know. What you really have
to do is just as there's abig sign as you walk into this place,
it says when the moment you know. I think that's a real thing
that we have to do as coaches, is to make sure that our players
aren't worried about what's going on inthe future, or or aren't worried about
what's going on in the past,or worry about can they get a little

(01:33:05):
bit better today, you know,and can we make improvement? And I
think the one thing that I've seenhere and I've only been here for three
weeks, but there's a consistency tothe players approach when they walk in this
building every day, which is it'sunique. It's not like that everywhere else.
And it's one of the things thatI remarked to Mick when I you
know, he said, Hey,what do you think, And I was
like, it's impressive. It's impressivethe culture of the players that are in
this program right now. But Ithink it speaks a lot to the leadership.

(01:33:28):
There's a lot of older players onthis team, and they've set the
tone for the younger players, andI think the younger players have done a
great job of followship and getting rightin line with that. He's never handed
over play calling to someone before.What does it mean to you? I
guess he technically did it to Billwhen he was here for a couple weeks,
But what does that mean to youto kind of be getting that responsibility
from him and he's calling essentially theoffense that you gave him. I guess

(01:33:51):
in some way. Yeah, Istill think the play calling part will be
a collaborative effort. And by thatI mean that if it's a good play,
I called it, and if it'sa bad play, he called it.
Because the great part is an assistantcoach, you can just 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

(01:34:11):
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
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'tdone. But I think it's the key

(01:34:34):
to really being successful on offense isis how you game plan, how you
put it all together, and thenhow you practice and train for that so
that you get a chance to executeit. Because the player's confidences comes from
their demonstrated ability that they've done thisso many times in practice that when they
get out on the field that thisis like that to them. You know,
it's not that they do it sothey do it right, it's they

(01:34:55):
practice it so much so that theycan't do it wrong. So, you
know, I think it's that wholepart of it that is really the the
key to being a really good gameplanning team, right Doug Lane reeve kingly
north Ship. When you had thatfeeling when you were coaching in quarterbacks during
Bold Operation, 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

(01:35:17):
and then I'll look to see whatelse is out there. No, I
never thought about quitting anything. So, you know, I just is there
an opportunity that I think I canthat fit, you know, And I
think that's the you know, it'sno different than when you're talking to a
recruit about that make a decision onwhere they're gonna 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

(01:35:41):
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 are like, howmuch longer are you gonna go? When
I said I I to go anotherfifteen twenty years. I don't think think
about I don't think about retirement.I don't think about any of those things.

(01:36:03):
That's just not kind of my mindsetthat you know. I love football
and in the as long as Ican be part of this game, then
I'll be part of this game.Just the way things worked out with your
departure from UCLA, is there anythingthat you wish you had done differently,
or anything you regret, or justthat the circumstances that presented themselves. Do
you think that you handled that departurethe best that you could have? Yeah,

(01:36:25):
I mean I got an opportunity totell my players personally. You know,
I think in this day and ageof the Internet where they read it
somewhere else and you have to textmessage him, you know, that was
always important to me that I wantedto make sure I talk to my players
and explain the reasons of what Iwas doing. I wasn't leaving to take
a head coaching job somewhere else.I wasn't thinking that the grass is greener
at another university. Was just inmy personal situation, this is what I

(01:36:45):
wanted to do. I wanted totake an opportunity to go be a position
coach and coordinator, and that's howit fit. You know. What I
was happy is that I always thoughtto Sean Foster, I think the world
of them, and I think he'sa special you know. And the fact
that that they were or they gavehim the opportunity to take over there was
you know, it worked out.I didn't have any say in that decision,
you know, I was gone,But I always thought that de Shaun

(01:37:10):
would be a great head coach,and I'm really proud of him and happy
that that he got the opportunity totake that job. Right behind. You
have your reputation as innovator. Waspart of the appeal of this is that
you get to get in the weedsa little bit. Uh maybe not mad
scientists, maybe too too strong ofa work because you're working within the system.
But was there an appeal of Iget to get my hands dirty here

(01:37:33):
again and innovate and get back tothat side of things. It was,
but it was really more important ofwho I get to work with, you
know, and so knowing you know, I've got I know a lot of
guys on the staff besides Ryan also, so you know, when I know
what their mindset is and what theirvalues are and how they do things.
And so I wanted to be apart of that. But but there's a

(01:37:54):
part of that. Yeah, howmuch of a teacher you get labeled in
an innovator part of this? Howmuch is it is of a teacher?
Are eve? And how patient areyou? Yeah? I think we're all
teachers. I mean, education isthe transportation of knowledge, you know.
So it really doesn't matter what thecoach knows. It matters what the players
understand, you know. So youhave to be able to make sure that

(01:38:14):
while you're implementing things is what resonateswith them and how does that come back
to them. So, you know, a lot of our teaching styles that
we've learned is more the Socratic methodof there's a lot of questions, you
know, and a lot of checkfor understandings just to kind of find out
where the players are coming from,because it's what they know that that's ultimately
going to win games, not whatwe know. You know that we're not
playing the games. We're not steppingacross those white lines, you know.

(01:38:36):
And your job as a coach isto create an environment where they have an
opportunity to be successful and then getout of their way and let them go
do it. So I think theteaching aspect is huge, and we continue
to research, you know, someof the latest trends in teaching to make
sure that we are transporting that knowledgeto our players. Second Steve Helg twenty
four seven Sports. Yeah, coach, just curious you got five scholarship quarterbacks

(01:39:00):
with differing levels of experience, ageand everything else. Not to annoyed him,
but just want to ask specifically aboutWill Howard coming in after starting part
of two years at He has astage he just seems to promote this idea
that he's a football player, youknow above all else. Just how impressed

(01:39:21):
are you with his makeup, byhis experience, what he's bringing to the
table walking in here right now?Yeah? Really impressed. You know,
you don't have to talk to Willfor more than five minutes to kind of
know where he's coming from. He'sreally focused, you know, he knows
he's got a short window left inhis college career and it really wants to
capitalize on what that is. There'sa maturity to Will, you know.

(01:39:43):
I really I've had experience. Myexperience in this thing since the transfer portal
opened in college football is some ofthe best parayers I've had an opportunity to
coach ward transfers. Sometimes when you'rea true freshman and it's five years out,
you know, it's like, hey, I got a ton of time,
you know. And sometimes when you'rea train for is that I've got
nine months, you know. Sothere's a sense of urgency I think when
you're dealing with with transfers, andI think Will has exuded that since he's

(01:40:06):
been here. But the other thingthat I just in the short time that
Will has been here is how quicklyhe's fit in with the entire team,
you know, and how much thethe rest of the players respect him.
You know. He was uh oneof the Gold Award winners for his work
in the weight room in this offseason, so that says a lot for him
coming in here as a in ashort time being able to to win a
weight room award, you know,to start off, you guys hope to

(01:40:29):
have the number one internally externally atthe end of spring or I guess just
let it play out. How doI think it? Always every time I've
been involved in these, I thinkwhen they're organic is when it's the best
that. I don't think you cananoint somebody or force the issue because the
players know the players would understand.They see it every single day, you
know, and there's a team chemistrypart of this thing too, So we're

(01:40:50):
not going to force the issue abut I've always seen it play itself out.
So I've been fortunate that there's alwaysgoing to be some quarterback battles that
at some point in at every schoolthere's a quarterback battle, you know,
and then and really you got tolet them play it out on the field,
and that's where it has to That'sthat's where it has to be decided.

(01:41:11):
Hey, welcome and you were excitedto have you here. Thank you.
I'm kind of to talk about theinnovative part. Ryan said that that's
something that he's always loved about workingwith you, and now he wants you
to bring that here and how itwould fit with Ohio State. Do they
idea what that's going to look likeyet or is it just way too ly?
I have no idea, you know. I I think part of it
is is you're trying to put theplayers in position to make plays. So

(01:41:32):
a lot of that comes from gettingto understand the players and what their skill
sets are and how we feature whattheir skill sets are, you know,
and and the the one thing afterday one, I can tell you that
there there's a lot of skill setout there, you know. So that's
that's what gets you excited, youknow, That's what That's what you jump
out of bed in the morning andyou're excited to go to work because of
the talent that you get to workwith. But the one thing that's the

(01:41:55):
most impressive is the work ethic thatgoes along with that talent. You know,
it's not just empty and it's yougot some kids who want to I
mean all of them since I've beenhere, want to work, So that
that's what gets you excited. ButI think 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 our jobis to put those guys in positions to
make place lots of pressure. Imean, you've experienced what it's like to

(01:42:19):
coach national championship, how over teamsthis program right now and moving into a
situation where you got to win Quickennow, So does that feel like pressure
here for you or is it alittle bit of excitement or both? Well,
I've always subscribed to as pressure iswhat you feel when you don't know
what you're doing. So if youdon't want to feel pressure, and then
you should know what you're doing.So, you know, I think it's

(01:42:41):
it's part of that, and Ithink part of our job with our players
in terms of the education process isgetting them to understand that too. Is
that you know, it's it's aboutyour preparation, It's about you and your
development. It's not about that youcan't be governed by what other people say.
It's it's what's my mindset and howam I intrinsically motivated? And then
how do I really compete against myoff on a daily basis to get a
little bit better. You know,we got a little bit better today because

(01:43:02):
we get out on the field todayand got a chance to do some football,
and then the challenges when we getback on the field on Thursday.
Can we be a little bit betterthan we were on Tuesday. And if
we're doing that, then we keepstacking good days on top of good days,
and I think we'll be in goodspot. Welcome, Thank you.
I'm gonna ask about the pros andcons of coaching from the box and coaching
from the field. It's interesting talkto some off some coordinators. Tom Herman

(01:43:25):
talked about he swore he wanted tocoach from the box. Saw the game
so much better, sterile environment,not all the chaos on the field.
Some coaches you talk to the like, I want to be on the field
so I can look at my guysin the eye. Where are you at
as a as a coordinator? Honestly, And I've thought of this a lot.
I thought of it a lot duringCOVID because we had the empty stands,
you know, So I had thoughtabout just walking up into the stands

(01:43:45):
for a little bit because I hada better advantage. I've always believed you
can see the game better from upabove, but I believe you can feel
the game better from the field.So if there was any way we could
get a zip wire where you coulddo both, you know, coach calling
from there and then zip out ofthe field. I'll get a chance to
talk to him, because it's adifferent deal when you're talking to the quarterbacks
on a phone, you know,than being able to look in their eye
and kind of see where they arewith it. And part of it is

(01:44:09):
the field part of it. Iremember when I coach Ryan once we were
playing Ukon and he got hit hardgoing out of bounce and he just walked
by me, and I was aplay caller, and he was like,
run the next play, and Ijust kind of looked at him. I
saw the look in his eyes becauseI don't think he could have thrown it,
you know, he was still tryingto get his win back. But
you wouldn't know that if you're upin the booth, you know, and
you call a pass play from upin the booth and you're like, how

(01:44:29):
come we can't complete that? Well, he just took a shot going out
of bound. So it's that fineline and 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 in thisday a technology, they'll figure it out,
But we'll see how that that thatoperates, and whatever Ryan feels is
the best for the team is whatwe're gonna do. So your team's at

(01:44:53):
the organ were obviously no, we'replaying at this ass pace and running a
bunch of plays for a minute,and yep, maybe not by ask you
said pretty fast. Yeah, whatrole do you see tempo and having an
offense in the station? Yea incollege football? And has it maybe changed?
I think the game is always evolving, you know. I think when
I left in two thousand and twelveto go to the National Football League,

(01:45:15):
Oregon was the only team that wasplaying really really fast and had shiny helmets.
And when I came back in twentyseventeen, everybody had shiny helmets and
everybody was playing fast. So Ithink the game is always going to go
up and down, and there's goingto be different cycles that it goes through.
I think tempo is part of anoffense, but I don't think it's
an offense in itself. I thinkit's more of like if you go to
dinner, it's a side order.You know, it's not the main course,

(01:45:38):
but it's it's always good to haveit. So I think there's times
when you'll use it, but you'reyou're not going to use it extensively the
entire game. Just like you're notgoing to throw the ball every single snap
in the game. You're not goingto run the ball every single snap in
the game. You know, there'sthere's not a game of absolutes anymore.
I think the ability to be diverseand have it as a tool in your

(01:45:59):
two box, so to speak,uh is really how we would look at
using it. Here are now workfamily with it, then, I think
so you know, I think whenyou first started going Temple, there were
people in the NCAA they want tooutlawed. They wanted to make an NCAA
role that you had. You couldn'tdo it, you know, And I'll
I'll give coach Shaping credit. Imean, I think obviously Nick was the
first one to do it. Hewanted it outlawed, and then all of
a sudden he adapted it and said, all we like this, you know,

(01:46:20):
so we'll keep it in. Butit's I think people have it doesn't
matter what you do. There's there'scycles to this game, and then once
people catch on to that cycle,then it moves. You know, it's
no different than for three defenses andthree four defenses. You know what is
the rage when the when the Giantswon the Super Bowl, they were there
were three four defense and everybody,everybody says we have to do that.

(01:46:43):
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 it wasthey could have been a four down defense
and those guys would have been greatplayers. But it's not the scheme.
I think that the coaches that doit the best way is they insert their
players and put them in the bestposition to make plays. And now now
will Temple be part of it,It'll be part of it, but it's
certainly not going to be the maincourse. Sorry, last question, Oh,

(01:47:09):
thank you very much, Jerry.Uh remember one of there was a
great moment there when y'all were warmingup, when you were you were talking
with Tim Walton and Caleb Downs comesup and conversing and as you're in this
kind of a two part question,but number one, what was just your
take on the talent you saw onthat field today on both sides of the
ball. Where where would you rankit? Yeah, I'll rank it.

(01:47:30):
I'll be very transparent. As Iwas telling Tim and Caleb what a great
offensive player I thought Caleb would be, could be and should be. But
I'm not the head coach, soI always turned stretch as a as an
offensive coordinator, I'm always looking atthe defensive players like I could use him.
Oh what could I do if Ihad him? Life if you do

(01:47:53):
it right away, so you know, being accountable, you know, doing
the extra stuff away from the facility, That stuff matters at the end of
the day, cause all the expectationsand all that pressure, that really doesn't
matter if you do those things,you know, So what are your expectations
for a year two in this offense? I'll just keep going. You know,
the name of the game is justexecution. You know. The times

(01:48:15):
where we executed at a high level, the times we won those games.
You know. So that's just thegoal is just execute and to be able
to be on the same page billchemistry right now, so you know when
the t when the ball rolls,you know, very very r ready to
fly around at a high level.So I mean that's the goal, and
that's that's you know, there's goalson top of that, but that's the
that's the foundation right now. Okay'sfoundation work. So did CJ. I

(01:48:39):
know that, I know that it'sstill pretty early. But how has it
been so far getting to work withDiggs and how is he fitting in?
So far? He's been fitting great. You know, he's coming in with
uh his head down mentality, justworking. You know, he's helped me
out a lot, just you know, he come comes from a from a
a good system over there where whenhe was with the Bills, and they
did a lot of things with himand really just offense and tell me how

(01:49:00):
like Josh played and things like that, things that you know, we do
different than we've had this plenty ofconversation, you know. So he been
he's come in and and been aleader, which which I'm proud of him
for. And you know it justreally's has been unselfish and uh, I
wanted to see other guys eat andthat was his main things, Like he
wanted to be around other dogs.And you know, he he he stepped

(01:49:21):
into that role where there's a dogeverywhere. Every he looks right, he
looks left, there's gonna be adog. So and he wanted that,
and that's what you know, wewe break to the table and he's been
nothing but just amazing so far.And I I'm very excited to work with
him as a teammate, as awhat's he like to have your friend take

(01:49:41):
back with you? Guys? Whatwas it like to go from the cameraon
of emotions from hearing about it tonow when it's over in your back out
there, He'll have plenty and it'samazing. You know, it's sh It's
just a testament to him and youknow, one of the god we serve.
And then two, uh, justthe work that he's put in.
You know, he's been uh youknow, he came back before it was

(01:50:01):
even schedule. He can get cleared. And then on top of that,
you know, just coming back afterthat freak accident. And you know,
I think that we serve a guythat's merciful and that's that's purposeful and he
knows that. And he stepped intoand me and him we have those conversations
about our faith. And then becauselike this football stuff, it seems like
it's everything, but it's not.You know, we're we're people and we

(01:50:23):
we go through a lot off thefield. People don't know, and you
know, as his brother, Ihave to be there for him, like
just like he's there for me whenI go through what I go through.
So I mean, I'm just proudof him, man, Like the word
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

(01:50:44):
you know, gotten a known overthe years in this in this world of
football and past that Man, Ifeel like I'm known since I've been three
years old. You know, Ithink for like our connections kind of like
we grew up together. And youknow, I just got a lot of
love for that guy, and youknow, I'm very excited for him.
He's been snapping that practice and doingreally well and you know, to knock
off the rust that quick shows howmuch work he's been in. How much
more comfortable are you walking up toa TIS this year to the last year.

(01:51:06):
Things kind of a little bit slower, just the biggest difference to you.
Yeah, it's night and day.Man. It's really like I feel
like I'm running the show and I'vegot a lot more uh responsibilities. From
Slow and from de Beaca, fromdry Bill and really our whole office of
staff. And you know, I'mthe captain of the ship and I gotta
run it the right way. AndI feel like I've you know, stepped

(01:51:28):
into that role just you know,and not not only hold outs accountable,
but also you know, hold myselfaccountable to those moments like I don't let
anything slide, uh, cause that'sthat's the point of winning and losing.
So I think from last year tothis year, like I've gotten a lot
better with like controlling my emotions,controlling my ball placement, knowing what's NFL
open, knowing my food work better. There's really every little thing I've taken

(01:51:51):
a step and then on the otherside of the ball, you know,
just everything slowed down. Seeing coverageDemiico does a good job of blitching me
and you know, working on theirdifferent coverages or different looks and start too
high, go to one and goback to two 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

(01:52:11):
season study to you know, bebetter, and I feel like I've done
that and had a good ota sofar. So gotta finish with that mini
camp. But it's been definitely abig transition of just more comfortability from last
year this year. College, youyou always had like a really talented receiver
room, and then last year youhad a talented receive a room. So
you've had the experience of having tofeed a lot of guys. Obviously you
had in Diggs even Joe missing comingout of the backfield. How much would

(01:52:35):
that experience from those you know,college and last year help you with being
able to make sure that everybody's beingfed the way they are. So if
you can don't have the best possibleoffer, if you guys like it more,
Yeah, I mean I don't thinknothing changes. You know. It's
like, uh, I tell,I tell guys, cause I get that
question a lot from I got peoplewas just walking around just anywhere, astra

(01:52:56):
game whatever, and I was like, man, it's football. You know
you're open, you get the ball, so uh and my things, you
gotta pick your poison playing us,like who you gonna double, who you
gonna cater to? Who you like? You got five dogs who are who
are able to get the get theball in each give and play? You
know, so I think it's fine. I know Slow has done a great
job of being more creative and youknow, has put different personnel packages out

(01:53:19):
there, guys in different positions atgoing from inside and outside, you know,
And you know, I'm I'm veryexcited to work with with coach Low
again. He's done amazing so far, you know OTAs 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

(01:53:44):
of guys, they'll tell you too, Like I know they'll probably have said
it before, but they'll tell youlike they made me better and I made
them better. You know, that'smy job is to make everybody around me
better. So I'm excited, manhas been healthy competition, Like I know,
Garrett us he's in a real day. 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

(01:54:08):
know, really cool to watch.And you know, as the quarterbacks meet,
Davis in Case and Tim were thesame way too. So healthy competition
is the best way to grow andget better. And I think that that's
what it's about you see how excitedDiggs gets for Tank when he makes it
play, and Metch gets for excitedfor when Nico makes a play, and
Tank gets excited when Rob makes aplay. You know. So it's amazing,

(01:54:30):
and you know we got Noah comingback to which is gonna be amazing.
And I'm excited. Got been thereand a ton of guys. There's
a ton of talent, Steed showingup. Really, everybody's really been doing
Jay, Wayne, Johnny you knowso and man it's been fun. Uh
Nick wo that and got you somesome maketure talent on the office side of
the ball. Well what do youthink about the dishes that he made on
the defensive side of the ball.Yeah, man, it's been great.

(01:54:51):
It's been good on good like Demigonnatalks about Iron Shop behind. You know,
it's been a lot of smack talk, a lot of just uh,
just good competition, you know.And then it starts with me and his
ease, you know, him beingthe leader of defense. I'm the leader
at offense. And you know,playing him last year, man, he
always showed up on tape when Iwatched the Titans last year. So it's

(01:55:12):
cool to like see like the stuffhe thinks. You can see him at
my locker, me at his orus before practice after practice talking about plays.
And you know, so, Imean it starts with us, and
then when you add Daniell, somebodywho's a vet who plays really hard,
who's gonna help? Will you know? Them? Two dogs? You got
team in the in the middle withAutry and and Sosa and just a ton

(01:55:35):
of guys. Man, you know, in the back end, got young
guys showing up. Kaitlyn's doing reallywell in the back end along with Petrie
and Jimmy, along with Kamari.Kamar is shown up. Stein is playing
well as y'all seen. Uh So, man, it's just been dogs on
dogs, you know, like,and that's that's that's that's the best teams
I've ever been on. Has beenthe closest teams personally, but also the

(01:55:58):
most competitive team. So it's beendope season. And see that he broke
out last year and Nico broke outlast year and Nego gets the contract Eccentri,
he's here to twenty twenty seven.What does that do for you?
Just knowing that you have a familiartarget to work with for the next few
years. You know, it's justsomething I I'm first of all, I'm
just proud of that guy. Uh, my brother Nico. He's showing up

(01:56:18):
and shown out, you know,when you know and his number is called,
he always makes to play. Andyou know, he's just a special
He's a generation talent. Man.He's he's like al Age is Andre Johnson
in my opinion of just how fasthe is, how he gets in and
out of his braces releases, howstrong he is. And I think last
year was just a u a previewto what it's took come for him.

(01:56:41):
And the one thing I'm proud ofhim for is just the work has never
stopped. He's constantly here working onhis body, constant in here working on
his hands. Is his mobility inthe weighting room, you know. So
for me, I mean just havinga a true uh. I think we
have like five number ones, youknow. So that's kind of cool to
have. And I've had that beforecollege and I'll have it again and it's
gonna be fine. Man. AndNico he's gonna he's he loves to see

(01:57:04):
everybody else. He eat too,so man, his his love for his
brothers has a change. And youknow, it's it's a it's a special
feeling to see somebody who deserves toget paid and you know, get what
they did. D D wait,they what they deserve, and you know,
I'm just really proud of him.What does it mean for you to
have another opportunity to work with Barbisolaand Angelie Johnson. I don't know if
you remember that was a moment goinginto the playoffs last season where he really

(01:57:28):
didn't know if either one of thoseguys would be for the shit. Yeah,
I mean for both of them tocome back was very special. I
think we both we all have abetter feel of how to work with one
another. And you know, thetalent I am on the field, and
the play caller that uh Bobby isand then the the common coach Drought is.
You know, we all work togetherand that and you know, slow

(01:57:49):
as I'm in his office almost everymorning just going over stuff and watch the
film with him, going over thingsthat we need to go to get better
at. And he always has hisphrases, you know, working for the
end at mind, and you knowhe holds me accountable when you know it
could be easier just to like letme slide, cause you know, I'm
I'm out there still making plays,but he's like, nah, you need

(01:58:09):
to be better here, here andthere, And you know that that's just
uh shows a type of leader heis, and you know, it's a
honor to be able to work withhim again. And same for me,
like to him like, hey,flow, I'm not really feeling this play
or I wanna add this player totry to see if we can get better
here in this inn in this practicewhere you know, I think we can

(01:58:30):
be really good at this type ofplayer. And he's very very accepting when
it comes to that. So It'sbeen cool to work with both of them,
and I'm very excited to get anotheryear on our belt. What did
like teach last year right here?What was it like? Uh? Teacher
football? Uh? Internationally and thethe the reception that you got from the
people there, it was it wasamazing, you know. Uh. First

(01:58:50):
of all, shout out to Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo, you know for
accepting me to MICA uh with openarms and just the hospitality and the uh,
just the culture man there is justamazing. They wanna learn about football,
you know, and it's it wascool just to see like them already
have like the foundation of it,but wanting to grow from there. And

(01:59:12):
you know, I think football isa family sport and like those people are
our family now, and you know, the Olympics come into where it's gonna
be international with flag football, Ithink it's super dope. And to be
able to get you know, tobe able to put our feet into those
those uh doors already, you know, it's kind of cool, you know.
So, I mean, I'm verygrateful with my team with uh uh

(01:59:35):
Bernie and David for setting that upand even like the guys out there who
who gave us top notch hospitality itw It was just amazing, man,
the whole experience. So, youknow, just my first time really out
the country and just being able tolike go to the Great Wall China and
all that stuff and still do whatI love to do. You know.
Working out with Micah it was cooland uh he has a lot of crazy

(01:59:58):
takes, but you know, Igot lovet for that guy, but it
was fun. Man. John andJonathan, Dad, what's uh what's it
like? I mean, kid's stoverdown here with you and what's your relationship
been like? With him? Uh? 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 to say him,

(02:00:23):
or our families are super close.In his college, I think he's like
my blood brothers who like somewhere forwuck count of line. I don't know
how it works, but I justhe's always like there for me. He's
always you know, I don't know, man, Kate is just like that
guy. He's a brother that chjust you know, letting him know I'm
available for him. You know,I think it can be something as little

(02:00:46):
as just the steps on field goalblock or a field goal protection. You
know, I've been doing it forthirteen years. Uh it's still crazy.
I'm still doing it, but uhyou know, uh, those are the
type type of things I'm just givingguidance to. And then you know,
off the field, it's you know, what takes BacT around the city.
Where should you be, where youshould be, how you can help yourself?

(02:01:09):
You know the little things? Okay? And what are you looking for
in your contract? You know I'mlooking to be here, you know.
I the value is what we decide. But you know, I think for
me, I I I wanna be, you know, valued at my position.
You know, I I I understandthat I came up a rough season,

(02:01:31):
but I don't think it's a stepdown of where I can play.
You know, I think when I'mat the top of my game, I'm
still you know, top five playerin my position. And you know,
I played a run in the pastand I bring leadership and you know that's
not anything I discover. Can youdo you plan to be here for mini
camp and in the storage train thecamp? Yeah? How difficult has it

(02:01:54):
been the last two weeks to notbe here? I mean you said in
your podcast the first time you've nevernot been at Yeah, it w it
was difficult, But like you know, the thing I got very frustrated with
was just and people questioned my communicationwith the team. You know, I
uh was communicating with guys left andright, and you know, front office,
coaches, teammates, And all Icare about is how I am with

(02:02:18):
my teammates. I don't want themto ever think I don't care about them
or how I'm not in it.And you know, you can say whatever
you want about me, But besidesthat, but I always dedicate anything I
can to them. And I don'twant that to every question. And Saya
said that it felt like sometimes youwere holed up somewhere watching film. You
text your say, hey you missedthis, or do you wanna tweak that?

(02:02:41):
Well, like the first day,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 you
know, uh know that you youstill care and you you still wanna be
a part of this. You know, just watching practice, there's a couple
of little things we're doing different,whether I'm communicating with Gunbar or other people,

(02:03:02):
you know, toob Yeah, soyou're that You're also talking with him
and you you giving him a pointersduring the off season, just constant communication.
How do you see him grow asa person, you know, as
far as how he's approaching things.How you getting ready for this season from
his rookie year. Uh, youknow, I think the thing with Keanu
is he's more comfortable, you know. You know it's not his first time
around the track. You know,it's actually like he can you know,

(02:03:26):
uh catch his feet under him.You know. I always think when you're
in your rookie season. You're goingfrom bowl game. I don't even know
Wisconsin played in a bowl game.Sorry, Wisconsin, I don't even know.
But you know, personally, Ijust think when you go from bowl
game to training for the combine toyou know, rookie minicamp to OTA's the

(02:03:46):
you know mini camp, I meanthe training camp the regular season, you
really don't get a time to reallycatch yourself. You know, he understands
the playbook now, he can bemore vocal, you know, And I
think with my absence now other guysabsence, you know, you need guys
like that to step up and beready for those opportunities you had. You
had during the season was more thorough. What was just tightened down everything,

(02:04:11):
you know on my left side causeI was overcompensating a little bit, but
you know it was it wasn't anythingthat lingers. You know, I'll say
this, Uh, a growing isnot like an a cl It's not like
anything's that we're gonna get afected again. And you know, you know,
I'm feeling good, able to doeverything squat and heavy with power and speed,

(02:04:33):
so you know, it feels goodto get after again. What do
you think of what the team wasable to accomplish your So off season turns
to bring guys like Russian and things. You know. I I think they're
all good acquisitions, but you know, you never want to be known as
a paper champion, so can't winthe off season. I think the work
gets done out here on the field, gets done in the classroom, It

(02:04:56):
gets done training, uh, youknow, and then you see where you're
at training camp, and then youbuild on that. You know. I
think we got the right guys inthe building. It's just about uh,
putting a complete team on the field. Cam how tenthri cubes it to separate
the business part of the game fromthe actual football player. Uh, you
know, y y, you alwayswanna you you always have to treat it

(02:05:18):
like a business, uh, becauseyou know one day's gonna end, uh
and that's been job. Uh.It's not like in college where you know
you got four years guaranteed. Idon't know, well now you you don't
know whether n I am and knowit's crap, but the transfer portal portal,
But you know you have to.I still have love for this game,

(02:05:42):
and I still work my tail off, and I still put everything into
it. And that's not gonna change, but you have to know, uh
what you bring to the team andand what your what your value is.
Okay, if you wanted able tobe out there with your teammates today,
emotionally great. You know. Wegot a new uh got a new training
staff and still learning the the warmup a little different. Uh, but

(02:06:03):
uh, you know I loved it. 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 so youknow, it's nice to be up here

(02:06:26):
and get the chance to uh,you know, be with my guys.
Can were you're confident and people willget done with your emotions. Oh,
I'm gonna I'm we'll try to remainpretty neutral, cause you know, I
don't wanna be too either way.All I know is I wanna be here,
but we'll see what happens. Thisis my last year here, I

(02:06:49):
I I I've had a great careerhere, but uh, we'll look forward
to play next year. Can youwhat's that second surgery? You said it
this time was on the left side. It was the first time around on
the right side, right side duringthe season, left side, and that
was just tightening down my corner.My corma saw. It wasn't the same
as my ad doctor. You know, you can ask doctor Bradley uh doct

(02:07:13):
doctor Zuckerbron who uh did the surgeryas well. You know, I if
anything's gonna help me and it'll makeme a lot stronger for hearing up.
And you said you were training withanother guy who you would have had of
been Tyson. Oh. Uh,I've been training with him for the last
eight years. We've always trained together. We got a trainer up north,
uh shadowt Cole Haley who's my guy, traded trained trained uh, Heath Miller,

(02:07:39):
Brett Hezel, the multitude of guysthat I all respect, and we've
just been getting after it. Kim. He's very few guys historically thirty five
to get paid big contract. Andyou think that's held against you. I
think there's not a lot of historybehind it. But you know, for
me, I I look at asI'm not looking to be like anybody else.

(02:08:01):
You know, my game is differentfrom everybody else in this league.
You know, I like to think, you know, I can play the
run in the past, and thenthat's where I'm different. You know.
I remember last year Mike t justbrought to my attention. You know.
The thing that's really cool is youwatch powerlifters, and you know, my
game's build on power and technique,and those guys go into their forties and

(02:08:22):
so you know, that's what kindof research I'm doing behind the scenes.
But you know, I I We'llsee what happens. The it's there's not
a lot of history, but I'mhere to make history and I'm here to
you know, win another Super Bowlyear and you know, have a great
season. Do you have a setgoal over yourself on how many years you

(02:08:43):
wanna play in the NFL or doyou just take things year by year?
You know it? It was itwas tough answering that question right after the
season. I will say this,guys, I I can't keep answering that
question right after the season. Thatis not fair to the season, that's
not fair to my family, huh. You know, But in my
mind, I got three years andI wanna maximize'em. I wanna play

(02:09:05):
at a high level, and Iwanna go deep in the playoffs and you
know, we got a good teamand I'm gonna do my part to be
ready for all those situations. Hedo you plan on practice and when you
report to with trope or is yourpossibility that you might fold in and enforce
suations? I I have not eventhought that far. I've taken the day
by day. Uh you know uhuh. I told my agent and we

(02:09:26):
talked about it and me we werecool coming out here. You know,
I'll be here for many you know, and then I'll be there for training
pand you know, I don't knowwhat the work entails, but right when
we get there, we'll we'll crossthat bridge. Why is it or remain
a stealer for those three years?You know, there was a conversation between

(02:09:50):
me Omar and Mike t And there'scertain guys that are one helmet guys,
you know, and I wanna beone of those home of guys. And
you know, there's a there's ahunger and desire that I was doing a
little bit of carrying the ball.I was behind Xavier or Johnson. So
learning from him and guys like that, it makes me more comfortable, but

(02:10:11):
I could. I feel like Icould do anything on the field, and
I'll do anything to play so fastand do with me don'ting the ball,
running the ball, catching the ball, blocking anything I'll do on the field
with that specifically talking about how comptyou are, where do you think that
drive comes from? It just comesfrom where I'm from, South Florida.
I feel like everybody down there,we compete to the max. There's no
other place that competes like South Florida. There's dogs all around the South Florida.

(02:10:35):
So, I mean, it's justever since I was seven years old
when I started playing, It's justit was instilled in me to just compete
and be that dog. Speaking ofSouth Florida once, I mean, I
played with Jeremiah when I was tenand eleven, and then we played against
each other a couple of years ofhigh school. So I've seen him.

(02:10:56):
The growth he's made over these yearsis insane. The way his body has
changed is crazy. And now seeingout here today is just like everything comes
full circle. You know. Hehe's what, he was the best player
in the country last year. Andfor him, for me seeing him grow
up and things like that, it'sbeen really good to see truth Fresh such

(02:11:16):
a Marvin Harrison Junior didn't play muchas the Truth Fresh, but seems like
he might be the exception to therule. I feel like Jeremiah is just
I mean, he's definitely he's adifferent caliber and when when you when you
watch him and how smooth he isand the physical abilities he brings to the
game, I feel like he hasto play some way. He has to.

(02:11:37):
He has to play because he wasthe better the team, Jeremiah sophomore
and now you years that they're gonnaget the best receiver receiving room in the

(02:12:03):
country. You know, we've beenhelding that narrative for so long now,
but we're gonna continue to do that. I mean, we have conversations like
as us dream because we're we allplay for the same team. As you
said, we just want to bethe best and we know when it's our
time to come, we're gonna doWe're gonna do that and definitely get a
national championship. How special is thatfor you? For you guys, it's

(02:12:26):
very special because you would have neverknown in OT seven when we were there
all on the same field together onthe same team. Who never thought we
would have been at the Ohio StateUniversity, all playing on the same field
at the same time, so it'sdefinitely special in them to dream come true.
How's your body change this offseason?You, I definitely think my body

(02:12:48):
has changed a lot, and it'schanged the ways of like my body fat.
The sentences went down a lot,and I just feel like I overall
feel better when I like do longruns and stuff like that. So I
have a good, really good staminaright now, so I just hope to
keep that up. Would you beas winded this year as you were after
a fifty seven years touchdown in yourfirst catch? You winded? Yeah,

(02:13:11):
yeah, yeah. I feel likeit was just a adrenaline rushing. I
feel like I was more so thecelebration was more tired than the run.
Actually, everybody jumping on me andstuff like that. But it was definitely
a cool for experience Arizona. Justtalk to South Florida. Is there a
little Southemba is there outside? Itfeels like there's a little bit of South

(02:13:33):
Florida. Maybe there like a goodtrack propper. Yeah, like you guys
need you see that? In thequarter. I feel like if there were
anybody to be from South Florida andthe corner them. It would be I
just be Davidson Nigolson's guard and you'relooking over to my counterparty guard. It's
a great things. What what aboutCarson's skills might just allow him to live
and shift over one's talking he waslast year? Why could he be successful?

(02:13:56):
He's athletic, He's able to runthe ball, you ends well,
which has often playing for again anddidn't working in the space. That's uh,
it's a huge uh thing to have. And uh he's just trying to
come up into the red guard spot. You know, it's him of the
kind of on the guys. Igotta said bad expiring for it, but
uh, he's don't get a goodjob today. Let's see what we can
do it too the summer and getinto the ball camp. After Sam squirts

(02:14:18):
touchdown which lock and was talking tohim. Then he kind of made his
way over toward year. You grabbedhis shoulder pad like what was going on
there? Oh yeah, yeah,I mean obviously, uh, young guy
scores the touchdown on the shoe.He kind of blocks out of everything.
So I'm trying to coach the lockscall his name, trying to get his
attention back to get some coaching.Uh it was it was nothing too crazy
to coach locks it. Now wehandle all too the rep around here,
and so just to make sure youknow, uh, obviously it's a great

(02:14:39):
thing. Bright scoring the touchdown.It's great thing, everyboy showing you see
him score, but you sometimes seehim coaching a lot of quarterbacks running the
ball today. Uh he back tothat part of the game. I mean,
I I think that just makes aoffense even more pouncing that you never
played left Rond thelepisode, he's timeon eleven. So it's just another guy
to account for another guy. Youhave to uh move it outside the box,
and every guy after a spider tendthe home. The rest of the

(02:15:00):
defense open for more uh options thanthe offensive. So it's a it's an
awesome thing. You know, personallyI wanted to slide, but but uh
it's it's still cool to see howdifficult did that make it last year?
When you hear the last couple ofyears, when you really ever had that,
what does a running for you'd beable to do running for quarterback game?
It's none, It wasn't difficult.It's just a new style and you
know, Coach Kelly comes in withuh his philosophy and what he wants the

(02:15:24):
cues to do, and the cuesare excun do well on the springs.
So we're just gonna keep building offthat. Holpus. We uh did a
couple of good things today, someuh some good runs by all the cues,
but just uh building off of itand see what you can do better
done. I think you open todayin the tea formations and creative like that.
What's it like working with Chip Kellyand how is that helping the offensive
line's creativity? You know, Uh, it's it's it's really fun. Uh

(02:15:45):
going through walk throughs obviously is onlyget the sort of run and play the
inside outside sound. But you knowwhen we go back from film like well
we're in the tea formation, butit's, uh, everything's a lot everything's
a lot more fun. All theguys are buying in, all the kinds
are kind to want more fun.So uh cause just gonna bring us on
his own juice to what you have. What are you going on? And
just uh every day every guy thateveryone improves off bit. So do you

(02:16:07):
feel that improvement up front for youguys in the offensive line. You feel
like that's helping you guys right forsure? Yeah? I mean, uh
is all we have a lot moreexperience in your line, A lot more
guys have on uh a year ortwo under the belt. What did your
impression of him? What does hedo well that you're like, okay,
yeah, this is this is thebrown pack? He closes you board?
You did, folks on you didhe committed right after the visit? I

(02:16:28):
mean when you came down here,was there a thought process that you could
commit. Did you come down withan open mind or did you kind of
have a feeling that this was gonnabe the weekend of your hat. I
came down with open mine. Ididn't know about the MoMA around that,
and then I got here. Ifelt the uh family avenue here the players
you took. What was that momentlike for you talking to the coaches telling
me plare telling a new family.Just what was that like for you?

(02:16:50):
But it was great? Uh,I have my mom, my dad,
all my brothers in the room there, you know my committed What was that
reaction? Well, my everybody alreadyyou know, like topt some thing?
Was it? Pay? So?What was coach last ten when you think
of like just a comment or theyeah, just an Ohio State back,
you know, whether it's physicality,like, well, what are the first

(02:17:11):
things that come to mind when youthink of They don't high sha or anybock
speed of power based on and tightabout it? Yeah? Is that something
that I mean you feel like youhave to you know, working or is
that something that you're like, yeah, that's the kind of back I am.
I'm just going to be next tomine that I think that's the cop
back I am. But you goout and group, Yeah, well what
are kind of a few of thosethings that you're like, yeah, I
need to work on, like goover the course of the next few months,

(02:17:33):
just everything. Make sure I keepall the details last Super year.
What a coach I tell you thathe likes about your game? Is it
part of betwere of the tackles?Your speed? What is he like now?
He said he liked morow up thebackfield and then he liked that I'm
not going to what's kind of yourmain I mean obviously as an in state
kid committed to this class, what'syour pitch now to other recruits and being

(02:17:54):
like this is why you should joinOhio States twenty man class. It's a
real fan. I'm the sperit right, everybody get them on, everybody talking
to everybody during to other. What'dyou say once you get an running back,
who's bringing you as well? I'vealways looked up to Bill Jackson watching

(02:18:16):
this film. You, Uh,that's funny. Do you think that your
boy style can here his for misperspective in just the way that he really
totally want to walk here? AndI think that you gonna go said?
Yeah, I think I can.I think it's plea the power. Yeah,
I think I see in you.Who are the main guys that you're
you're talking to right now to jointhe store. I'm really talking to everybody

(02:18:41):
to listening him and that all thecommit you and any guys that you want
to join the class, anybody atthe top of your listen, not the
fig I'm sorry if you've already gotasked this, but coming up here as
a as a recruit, as acommitment here, what what did you want
to show today? What did youwant to get out of this experience?
It wasn't nothing to so nothing prove. I just wanted that just one working
goes love. How did you feellike that went. Obviously he's still relatively

(02:19:05):
new here, but he seems tobring a little bit of a different energy
than than some of these camps inthe Path. I feel like a little
good Yeah. Do you sense thatenergy? I mean when you're out with
him, it's feel intense everything.He's different than other guys though, right,
I mean kind of how do youwould you explain his coaching then some
of the other running back coach youmay have worked with in the path.
It's just intense, its sense,like go go go, did you talk

(02:19:28):
to coach talk one when you neitherhat organ? Okay? Okay, So
when when didn't he get didn't work? And getting market Hi Rufford around like
after the season, like not toofar after years? Okay? So I
mean is it was? He kindof the same guy that he is now,
so just just in a new uniform. Basic. Yeah. And you

(02:19:48):
guys obviously added Isaiah to the class, and there's no secret they would like
to add another one. What areyour thoughts on being in a class with
three different running backs like that?I have no problem being in a pass
through another one. What do youlike about Isaiah? I don't know,
you don't know, you've never methim, But you just damn on the
person when you committed. We weresome of the guys that we should to

(02:20:09):
work from any particularly about after theycome up. I'm not really a couple
of linebackers. Take me on hisdollar talking joing. You just enjoying coming
back. You're just getting into year. I enjoy every time things that's been

(02:20:35):
great. Good. Do you thinkwhat your life's chances you walk out the
good door. If you were thelast j and just decide to workout committing
and now you're five star, numberone player probably us it's actually really big,
you know, ever since just evengetting the office from here, you
know my life that this year skyrosI just I mean obviously you got a

(02:21:03):
couple here before you did, hearit. I'm curious about how you fit
so higher and shape. It's prettyyou started pretty bit. But I mean
in terms of the guys, don'tyou want to join you You're you're not
missing much just to jog to getyour lunch, hit your kim. Sure,

(02:21:26):
great, a great? Right?Us? What do you want out
of a quarterback? Years? Likea white guy? You're missing the specie
like what this was war wanted?The test you're expect charge, which I'll

(02:22:05):
touch it a couple of by word. Thank you, growing the visit,
coaching you very much, very veryperson Thank you once again yours were talking

(02:22:26):
with monsters and uh tell you aboutthat? Do you like that? Uh,
I'm quis it's the first time Imet him. You know, we
just find it out. Yeah,what do you think he can bring to
the you know? Yeah, it'slike the lots. It's like California being

(02:22:52):
out to cond h. This wasa little lot like helping this. Yeah,
it's different being what a state recruithere or when you were just Yeah,
it's definitely different. So it's lyinghere, question here a new generation

(02:23:15):
of recruits where I don't think anybodyoutside looking at the move the questions the
strength of your commitment, Like you'relocked in the last state. You send
it over and over, but you'remaking visits around the country. You've seen
other schools. It's it's almost atotally different mindset. How do you approach
these other visits and how do youcommunicate with Ohio State about them? But

(02:23:35):
what's been the message State? Ijust let you know that you know,
I'm always locked in, you know, I'm just still unenjoying the process.
Just being recruit you know, thisis only what's on the savings enjoy Uh
the other schools outside in life.Yes, it's gonna be really hard trying

(02:23:56):
to get you to flip. What'sit's Ohio state be So what is it?
If it's made you wanna take closewith this or or chase house.
The rehab process going so far,it's doing great, man, it's just
taking them one day at a time. At what stage are you? I
know, DA say they wanted tosee you, probably in training camp and
we would know a little bit more. I guess after next week when you
see the doctor for what what stageare you? Yeah, I'm back up

(02:24:18):
training doing everything lifting? Oh crazy, So ye I'm back in that stage.
Do you have a time cable likewhat you be ready for training camp?
Or uh? Like what is yourexpectation? Uh? Right now?
Just take me one day at atime, standing in my playbook, so
my numbers called'em ready? Andhow important for you hasn't been to I
guess stay around the team while you'rein this process. Uh? Great man?
Nah, you know, definitely gettingin touch with the guys, you

(02:24:41):
know, knowing a lot of slot of the guys already a lot of
the old state boys here, soit's been great. Are you encouraged by
how you feel so far after theprocedure? Do you? Oh? Yeah,
what are your expectations work? Whatfrom what people told you? How
how it goes? Oh yeah,nah, I F I feel fine.
Shit, I just ran ten fifties. Shoot, I'm I'm getting back and
shape. Shoot, getting in theweight room, about to get strong again.

(02:25:03):
So yeah, I'm i'm, I'mi'm'a be ready. What potential do
you see with this defensive line?Yeah? I mean no, you definitely
stacked. I see a lot ofgreat things. Uh, you know we've
worked together, Yeah, I thinkScott's limit. What conversations have you had
with some of the veterans like Cam, many of the people on the G
line. Yeah, just uh goingto Cam just aks'em about certain things

(02:25:26):
in terms of how he sees offenses, just whole time he's been in the
league, in terms of formations andhow he picks up on little pre snap
breeze things like that. Schae Ithink making said, you know you dove
into the deep end of the pool. H How I guess M much important
for you to be disinvested with histeam in and how much are you enjoying
that investment? Yeah, nah,that's real cool. But I uh I

(02:25:48):
love it here. H only thingI had to get used to is that
heat. But uh, it's it'sreal cool. Great teammates and everybody welcome
you with open offs. So it'sa great experience. Chase Ho, how
you about to get what? Heaswered? Sorry? Is uh training camp
day one? Is that a realisticexpectations? I'm just focusing on today?
Are you running it? Yup?Marshwan is another ole house they got just

(02:26:13):
having him back in the building,just talking about what happen. Oh yeah,
uh yeah, b uh, bigbro. You know it's uh,
definitely excited to play with'em.We always chatted obviously on different teams,
but I'm definitely excited to to playwith'em. That's you know, that's
that'd be big for me. Wasthat one of the guys making the decision

(02:26:35):
that you you kind of talked toabout what this locker room is like?
Yeah, Marshaan uh Tyrane, Butyeah, I mean it was we got
a lot of great guys. MisStee. You look at that, you
know on paper, you know,I feel like definitely one of the most
talented defenses in the league for sure. Huh uh. Now it's all about
just putting it together and you know, coming together as a team. Your

(02:27:00):
research on that. One hundred yearsago, you know, folks had the
idea of building a stadium over sixtythousand people, and that's because of what
Chick Carley was doing. And youknow, they had a wooden bleachers over
here and all these people started comingin and the idea of bringing in a
stadium that of wor sixty thousand peopleat the time was like, this is
crazy. What is college football turninginto? And they instead of going to

(02:27:22):
the state or going to the schoolthe community, they went to the community
to raise the money they raised overat the time over a million dollars.
Well, now you fast forward onehundred years and the conversation still might be
like what is college football doing right? And in this situation then il we
had to turn to the community forhelp, and Bucky Nation showed up again
in a big way. So althoughthe landscape is changing, I don't know

(02:27:43):
if you know, one hundred yearslater, if it's that much different,
it's just in a different time,in a different you know, set of
issues that were working through. ButI think it's exciting. I think there's
a lot of positives to it.I think that we're taking the next step
of the revenue sharing to try toinstitutionalize some of it, which would be

(02:28:05):
big for uses. Yeah, everyyears got question. It seems like this
year's team has fewer questions off theline address specifically, did you look ahead
to rest more than a month?What are the real questions that you have

(02:28:26):
in your mind about position battles andwho's I would say, on offense,
you know, we got to squareaway the quarterback as you know, I
feel like, you know, theoffensive line on the right side, we've
got to solidify that. I feellike we got to build, you know,

(02:28:46):
enough depth at receiver that we feellike we can put in five or
six in the game and feel goodabout it. On defense, I think
we're still looking to figure out,you know, who are going to be
the guys inside, you know,the third, the fourth, the fifth,
defensive interier alignment that we're gonna putin the game. And then same

(02:29:07):
thing just just I would say depth, a little bit of safety, just
to kind of see who those nextguys are they're going to step up,
and so we know it's gonna bea long year. We're gonna need everybody,
and and so in a lot ofthose areas, it's depth special teams
wise. You know, Punter isgoing to be you know that that is
significant. You know, we justbrought in Nick and you know, so
there'll be a battle there. SoI'd say those are probably the areas we're

(02:29:31):
focused on the most. Ryan justto fall on the offensive line, there
was I think a school applogy youguys might be looked for a transfer in
that post spring window. Did youguys do that? Did you guys not
find the guy or were you justconfident the guys you have, Just like
you know in January, if ifif we're going to bring somebody in,
it is to fill a hole.We're not just going to bring somebody in

(02:29:54):
to bring somebody in. Like inall positions, we'll always look to see
what's out there. We did evaluatesome of the guys that were out there,
and you know, you know,we felt like coming out of it
as we evaluated it, you know, there was a couple of guys that
you know, we checked on,but but ultimately, like based on where
we were and some of the youngguys that are coming up. You know,
we felt like we saw some progressin the offensive line in the spring,

(02:30:16):
so you know, it wasn't therewasn't as many folks in the portal,
you know, in after the spring. So we looked at it,
we identified it, We did ourdue diligence, but you know, we're
gonna go through what we have nowsecond round bills, right, you're it
was interesting that you have two ofmaybe the top five ors of guys in
sport and then a bunch of guyswho haven't plenty uh maybe someone that I

(02:30:41):
don't my question, but did youconsider trying to add their understanding? That
probably the difficult sell. We havesuch talent how to bring somebody of these
experiences? Like what were those conversationslike and how did you settle on being
comfortable with you know, Trey andwell, 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

(02:31:03):
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, we haveyou know, started having conversations with Caleb
Downs. I was part of therecruiting process of possibly you know, doing
a little bit of running back aswell. It's something that he wanted to
do. So we've been having himin some of the meetings and some of
the individual drills as a possibility thereif you know, needed so down the

(02:31:26):
road to continue to build depth atthat position. But you know, I
think, you know, we feellike, you know, if you have
you know, four strong running backsgoing into it, then you know that's
gonna be that's gonna be enough tocarry the season. I do think that
the quarterbacks will run the ball morethis season, so that should take some
carries away from them. But toyour point, you know, James and

(02:31:48):
Sam are gonna have to step upto the guys that we can count on.
Save that for another day. Yeah, just follow up on it.
Is he capable of stepping in andbeing running back at me? Obvious?
Yeah? A lot. We'll see, We'll see. We talked about in

(02:32:09):
the recruiting process, you know,the first time around, and more specifically
in the second time around, andso he's you know, he's been around
a little bit just to get afeel for it. We did very little
in the spring. We did Ithink we pitched them an option or something
like that in the spring just tokind of get them going. But we'll
see. We'll see where that goes. We don't have a specific plan right

(02:32:30):
now, but we do want tointroduce him to that just the same thing
like Lorenzo Styles has played your seewhere he did that Notre Dame. You
know he's out there a little bit, just kind of learning. It's healthy.
You know, you're seeing it fromthe other side of the ball.
This time of the year, youcan get away with that a little bit,
a little bit in the preseason.Where it goes, we'll see,
but you just never know. We'retrying to put some contingency plans in place

(02:32:50):
because it could be a long season. Yeah, this is my forty first
year covering of Hot Stay. Idon't remember ever expectations like this in the
summer. There were some of themwere almost as big. Sure since that
too, And what's that pressure likeis you're working through a summer. Yeah,
people have asked me that I goback to the expectations every year are
the same. I mean, it'sjust the truth. When opening press conference.

(02:33:11):
I said, you got to beatthe team up north, and when
every game after that, that's justthe expectations. And when you come up
short, you know you got tofigure out a way to get those things
fixed. I think we have donethat. But the expectations are the same
every year. Pressure is the sameevery year. I just like the pressure
when you've got a really good teambehind you. So that's what we got
right now. And you know,we know it's going to be a long
season. We know what we're workingtowards. But I will say this about

(02:33:33):
this team, Well, we've beentalented. That's there's been times in the
past we've been talented. I don'tknow since I've been here, if we've
been this talented and this experience togetherwith guys that have played a lot of
football, fourth and fifth year guys, and that doesn't matter. We'll go
X Steve Sybe. Maybe this isjust talk because it's summer, obviously you

(02:33:54):
can just have a conversations. Maybewe're making a big long term but we've
seen it around college football in leagueguys playing both sides of the ball and
doing it quite well. Travis Suneris doing it in Colorado and Caleb jas
has been apartment turns, so wesee what he could do with the ball.
But there's also the stamina aspect ofthat just getting too a sixteen game
season. So I'm not saying it'sany forty snaps or something like that,

(02:34:16):
But what about his athleticism, whathe brings to the table, and let
you know that if you wanted toexplore it in a real game, he
could last and still be an effectiveseety Yeah. Yeah, we'd have to
see all that. He did itin high school. But we got some
really good running backs in a room. So it's not something that we're planning
on doing, but uh, well, we are gonna, you know,
work on a little bit Caleb.Caleb enjoys that part of it. We

(02:34:39):
did agree that that was something thatwe were gonna look and doo where it
goes, I don't I don't reallyknow right now, but I know that
he has the capability to do it. He has the athleticism and do it,
and you know, we'll kind ofsee where it goes, see see
how he does, and you know, maybe hand the ball Tom a little
bit in the preseason, because againit's going to be a long season.
We have to make sure, wehave continuency plans in place, but I

(02:35:00):
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
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 go onthe other side of the ball and just
see it, listen to meetings isreally healthy for their development. So we're

(02:35:22):
gonna do that regardless. Your defensiverecruiting right now is maybe further along,
and it's been in the years past, and I think we've asked nufmous 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 what might look likethis. They're seeing it in real time.
Yeah, you know, we talkedabout it when Jim first came in,

(02:35:43):
and I think Tim Wallons is anunbelievable job as well in the back
end, and you know, Mattstepped right in and James and Larry.
I think they're all doing a greatjob. But like you said, you
know, it's one thing to talkabout it. That's theory. Testimony is
this, look at this is thisis what we're doing. And then I
think you're seeing a lot of guysjust excited about playing in this defense and
they see the capabilities and the flexibilitytoo. You know, right now the

(02:36:05):
way we play, excuse me,the way we play right now is based
on you know, we have fourreally talented defensive linemen that are really good,
and we got a lot of depthto those positions. But there's also
flexibility with some of the things Gym'sdone in the past that you know,
we're definitely looking at and some ofthe recruits that we're looking at who brings
some versatility, pass rusher, youknow, we have that jack position and
those type of things. So,uh, that's exciting as well. And

(02:36:28):
I think you're seeing a lot ofthe recruits, you know, really get
fired up when they get here.People. Yeah, coach, your first
years, your identity was very biggerfrom a standpoint and air and outside team.
Look at the key best talent andthe playmakers you have there. Has
your identity changed? I guess whatdo you think the identity is of this
twenty point fourth Well, We'll seeas we go, but you know,

(02:36:52):
we know what we need to doto play in the big games. That's
never changed. And we have tobe able to stop the run, run
the football, take air of theball, and there'll be opportunities to throw
the ball that'll that'll happen, butyou know we're gonna have to, you
know, do those things to winclose games and play situational football. But
I think, you know, youwon't really get a feel for what the

(02:37:13):
identity of the team is until weget into probably the beginning of October,
you know, and I think weall have ideas of what it could go.
But you know, now that we'replaying in a playoff format, just
like a lot of those NFL teamssometimes, you know, they don't really
quite understand their identity until they getabout halfway through the season. I don't
think it'll take that long. Butyou know, we're able to play some
games and kind of work through somethings. And I don't think our defense

(02:37:35):
is going to change a bunch interms of what we did last year.
I mean, it's a lot ofthe same guys back could look a little
different on offense. Got time fortwo more go to Doug Limris. Okay,
right, you lose an important,prudy staffer to promotion at Michigan just
this offseason. How do you reactsomething like that, is something that someone

(02:38:01):
like that would take information that waslearned here that could help Michigan or high
stages reaction. Yeah, all goodquestions, And you know, I just
I want to talk about the guysthat are here, you know, the
staff members that are here, thecoaches that are here, the players that
are here, the ones that areBuckeyes, Joe jug With the scheduling change

(02:38:24):
that was announced yesterday, they cometogether, didn't have anything to do with
the expanded the playoff. Maybe webeginning of the season a little different.
Yeah, you know, I don'tknow all that came in came with that.
I know it got presented to mea while back, and you know
I was on board with it.So yeah, I mean, I think,
you know, we do have tolook a little bit different at our

(02:38:45):
scheduling as we move forward, basedon the way the format is at the
end of the season. That's quicklyabout the linebackers got in here a little
bit late. How do you feelabout your linebackers? Cody seems like he
always ease the betrimaners like he's luckingas a starter, CJ. When do
you see his role being Sonny?What do you see as well? Be
gay? Yeah? Good versatility.All those guys arevel Reese, like you

(02:39:05):
said, c J, Gabe,Sonny, Cody. You know I'm missing
a couple, I'm sure, butlike that was that the rvel? Yeah?
I mean these guys are really versatileguys. You can see the length
on them, and you know,they do a good job in terms of
like fitting the runs they could.They have enough length to you know,

(02:39:26):
to covering zone. But they'll alsoblitz and that's something that we wanted to
really work on this offseason, isgetting better at blitzing, you know,
and hopefully we can even take thename have we got Jeremiah j J Smith?
JJ? How'd you feel out thattoday you got t team came out?
Don't three and old pool play?When you come to these kinds of

(02:39:48):
tournaments, what kind of techniques doyou like to work on? See they
got you're going deep run, somesort of stuff from crossing routes. What
do you work on when you're ina tournament like this? Really just getting
back in doing the work. Youknow my releases. Uh, that's why
you gave my friends faster. Imean, I'm gonna chuck, so just
really can get back in. Nowwe know you pulled the trigger on Ohio

(02:40:09):
State, obviously you're gonna take visitskind of make sure that you're you're perfect,
done your decision. What was itabout Ohio State and Brian Hartline and
Ryan David It made you feel comfortableto commit early? Really they sent me
my first visit when I think thefirst camp they offered me out? So
do you feel like it's really mysystem? My prison? But it just

(02:40:35):
what's up? What's up? What'swhat they say was? But they they
they gave me, Uh really justa kid that I'm gonna talk about.
I wasn't talk about the two timesI'm chuck bus size. Now I know
you got some of your s Ffamily up there. You got Brandon n
s, you got card I'll takeWhat does it mean to potentially be able
to wake up with them in ayear and be able to kind of run

(02:40:56):
back what you guys have done inSouth Florida Express I go on to Ohio,
beat the Ohio State take it wouldbe grateful, crazy first round Yeah,
you're a super humble kid. I'vebeen really impressed by you today.
Is there anything that you want OhioState fans to know about you? You
know again, I know you're justyour all work, all work on work.

(02:41:18):
But what are they getting when theyget a JJ Smith to come to
Ohio State jobs? They'll just comein Jo. That's perfect, man,
God bless you. I appreciate you, my man. Also watching you today,

(02:41:39):
thank you so much and JJ Smith. And then later tonight I'll probably
come back and watch the film again. 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'slike solo endeavor you buy yourself watching how
much people we've had more safeties comein throughout this spring. Guys try to

(02:42:00):
learn the system and learn the game. But I mean, at the end
of the day, you gotta dowhat you gotta do to put yourself in
a best position to win. Somyself, I'll watch film at home too
by myself. But when I'm herethere's always other players around me that are
trying to or to get better,just like I am. Are you only
watching you watch? No? Iwatched the NFL teams, watch good NFL

(02:42:22):
safties that are playing right now,Javon Holland, Hantswain Winfield, go as
like that that can that I canemulate and try to see how they play.
And then also just watching other playershere, other players that do things
well here, just just learning fromthem, trying to see how they play
the game, trying to get better. What are some of the big differences
that you've seen so far between whatyou went through at Alabama and so far

(02:42:43):
that you've gone through a here.A lot of it's the same. A
little difference is in the defense andhow they operate and how they see things.
But at the end of the day, football's football defensive defense, So
everybody gotta get to the ball andmake the type of are there colders?
Oh? I love the city.I love uh High Street. I love

(02:43:03):
being in the city. I lovegoing to the restaurants here. The food's
great here. So uh I ain'tgot no complace for me, cause it's
like you got the campus all ofa sudden, then you also a big
city. It's it's different than Alabamacause Alabama was a college town and Tessalusa
was not as big of a city. Here, there's a lot of people
to see, a lot of differentbusinesses that you can be a part of.

(02:43:24):
So just trying to learn the cityand learn what everybody has to offer
here. He'll be probably noticed thatwhen Kid and Parka Medea's decision to go
back to Alabama, then that startsa whole level of speculation and stuff.
Are you were you taking back bythat? Did you feel like you needed
to make a decoration off of that? Uh? I mean at the end
of the day, No, Ididn't feel like I needed to say anything,

(02:43:46):
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
like my actions speak for themselves.I'm I mean, I don't I don't
need to say anything about that.Kayden and I talked to him when he
did it. I mean I congratulatedhim on his acaion. I mean,
that's what he feels his best iswhat he feels is best, and I
support him. But I'm here.You guys have are in this new generation

(02:44:07):
of you have that sort of freedom, You have that sort of control over
your career in a way that otherpeople didn't. It's it's something that you
you have to kind of take witha certain seriousness that you're making that right
decision at all times. I thinkev I mean it in life, you
have to make decisions based off ofwhat she feels best for yourself. So
that was a big decision for him, And if he feels that's what's best

(02:44:28):
for himself, then I support it. But at the end of the day,
for college stable athletes, I thinkthat's the best thing because the coaches
have the same right to do whatthey do. Coach can come here for
a month and leave, and Imean then he's just leaving the player at
high and draw. So I mean, if they're gonna have the ability to
do it, why would the playersnot have some type of say in their

(02:44:48):
in their life. Kevin, youyou made the impact opposite last year as
a freshman. What do you thinkyou could do an assault when you're under
your belt? Yeah, I thinkI can grow and what I did well
last year and increase on the qualitiesthat I wasn't not as a leade at
during during the season. So justbeing better in coverage, being better than

(02:45:13):
the post, being better in mytackling, being a better communicator with my
teammates all that I think I canoffer to the team, and but at
the end of the day, it'sgotta be a team collective to go do
what we want to do. Whatdo you come in? This otis is
a lower defense? What do whatdo you think those being a big part
of me was elite last year andit should be being better this year.
Yeah, they were a very elitedefense last year. And watching all the

(02:45:35):
film from last year and the wholeseason, they played a great season.
They played a lot of good defense. Excuse me a wish question, just
the idea of being hard. I'ma big part about an elaitue defense.
I mean I can only do mypart. I can only do my one
to eleventh and do my job.Every player I can't. I can't try
to do more than that, andevery other player just has to do their

(02:45:56):
job and we'll do what we needto do. Patching. It's just that
the same in high school and whatdid that look like for you in a
regular high school. My high schoolcoach is one of my favorite people in
the world, uh Freeman Davis.Me and him watch 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 as trusted

(02:46:20):
over to college. But a lotof that was me and my high school
coach storing of the game together.Another movie. You around everywhere here,
but you know, it seems likeyou're at that free safety spot as opposed
to the strong safety spot you playedat Alabama. Just what that transition like?
Do you feel that does that evenmatter in this kind of defense?
I th I mean it's the samespot really to the It's the safety to
the field, the safety playing inthe most space. That's what I'm used

(02:46:43):
to. But at the end ofthe day, I I feel like I
could play to the boundary. Ican play the Don Money position, I
can play Nickel. So I mean, at the end of the day,
you gotta make plays wherever you're at. And Calen, what have you been?
What have your thoughts about on that? Jeremiah snooty, elite athlete,
very instinctual player, has a greatball skills. Should uh should have a

(02:47:07):
big impact this year. Anybody youcan com parents what you've seen, Nah
Ja Jess's on, So Jesus,he's on. It's his own man.
Uh. Who else caught your eyein that word receiver group, Caleb,
that uh is elite in your opinion? Uh? I watched a Mecca booka
a lot H and cop when Iwas in high school. Yeah, watching

(02:47:31):
the games, and then last yearwatching some of his film. He's been
an a leade receiver then and he'sa league receiver now. And Carlote has
had a great spring as well.Yeah. And uh you you personally Uh
after that uh student appreciation Dale onSaturday, you were mobbed about as much
as anybody. What is what?How have you felt the receipt meaning of
autographed seekers at Saturday? Now?Uh? How have you felt the reception

(02:47:54):
here? Uh? For you overthe last several months, but especially like
Saturday, I think it's been verywelcome. I appreciate everybody, and like
I appreciate when I go to class, seeing people that know me and just
being able to meet them, beingable to say that I'm glad to be
here, being able to say gladto be here to everybody that came up
to me. Yeah. So I'mjust I'm very appreciative of it. Do

(02:48:15):
you feel their expectations for you?You know what I mean that? Uh?
I mean people may so it's aversatility thing, so I'm happy about
it. There. You moved arounda lot throughout your career that there's jumbo
side you'll tackle, I guess inthe sense and clean book and left on
the right side. Do you thinkyou kind of benefit from focusing a little
bit more on the right center?Yeah, a little bit. But you
know, there's new system that wehave, like I haven't found my mindset

(02:48:37):
most of the right, but alsohave my mind selling love too, just
in case something does happening to likeyou know, I mean like Colten or
you know, Pete, of course, but I'm always gonna be ready for
the life no matter what. Howquickly have you felt like you picked up
this new system that you're working inthere? Oh, it's a actually picked
up picked up pretty well cause it'sthe same system that I'm used to back

(02:48:58):
in the safe as we more likes bad that of how I say,
so, you know, it's prettygood. It's one of those like the
draft process off seasons, A lotof people outside the buildings or you're paraders,
get the right time, yeah,a lot of yeah alright now,
but a lot of people in thebuilding were like, we have the right
time all we people get motivated bythat. You follow it like if you
peticure do it, though I don't, I read into it a little bit.

(02:49:20):
But also the same time like theynot here of course, but I
don't really care what they say.I know what I can do and the
team know what I can do,so they trusting me right now and I'm
not gonna live him right now?How hard or how easy is that to
compartmentalize that and use that as fuelsgoing forward rather than they're kind of maritating
it, uh I j I justkeep the seats and everybody knows that one

(02:49:41):
person I don't really care for himat Also it's all good for me,
but it's all love. I loveuh outside of this, But you keep
going in, keep it? Better, keep on these nuts. See what
I can do there. You've beena outspoken about your support of Zami,
and obviously it's just a chance nowto beat the dog. We what is
it about him that you bought inso early? The reason why I bought

(02:50:03):
so earliest cause uh is I wasat a house sate. They always taught
us to actually I help giving,and ever since I got here, I'm
always wanna go get and I gottapicked late and I always wanna prove people
wrong. You know, I thinkpeople are wrong all my life. I
don't want to keep doing thatthing.What's wrong different which I guess more just
like we all put anything like theset you feel like a community. Have

(02:50:28):
nine day difference, nine day differencefrom my first year, in my second
year to now like now, myguy, I know I can play.
I know I can go against oneof the best, especially with match anybody
else that we want to play thisyear, and I know what I can
do. So all got to donow is a shu meet my potential and
should do it and help everybody elseout the team as well. You've practiced

(02:50:48):
a lot against Malcolm and he's reallycome into his own. What is it
about Malcolm that's helped him make thatnext step? There? Man, Malcolm,
he's quiet, he doesn't really saytoo much. He comes to the
work every day really the US,and he works hard. He doesn't flit
twice at anything. Yeah, he'llget mad over a co respose. At
the same time that like he hasa mentality of at all, Like he's
he don't really care what y'all thinkor anybody else thinks. For real.

(02:51:11):
So it's just like, alright,let's keep going. That's how everybody is
on the team about ty raising too, you guys, that same mindset.
He does have the same mindset whatever. A little nervous, but uh nah,
he nah. He has definitely grownup a lot from his like first
year here to now like he has. But he's he's growing up a lot

(02:51:35):
mentally too. Until you guys arereimagining the offensive line a little bit with
you out there west side, yuhuh farm there next to you on the
last side too, and then draftingthe guys on the line. He know,
how long exciting is that to bepart of something that's that's kind of
being you know, having that trustbut also being reinvented a little bit.
That's great, you know, Butme and doing those like they gonna keep
placing us, of course. Butall the same time, we gotta keep

(02:51:58):
going, you know, came scritt, think about what they did. All
we gotta do is stand about whatcame to do. Getting better for the
tell as well. Sorry, theydon't put a lot of them bath side
a little bit more. How howlong are you guys working that? I'm
one hundred percent now and it waslike a walk in the park. It's
like a sprained ankle. You know. It was very easy, you know,
because I had the knee. Theknee was pretty hard, you know,

(02:52:22):
and the achilles was I would sayit's easy, you know, just
because that's just my mentality, andit was. It was pretty easy to
be But you know, I've hadthese injuries and it's been storm like the
past two years, you know,having haveing like good, great games.
The next thing, you know,hurt and then you know, so got

(02:52:43):
got the injury prone out there,you know. But I think the storm
is over with, you know,you know, and I think I'm gonna
gonna take off now, you know, and there will be no setbacks and
the injury prone thing will be goneout of the window again. That's yep.
I'm sorry, gonna be back.I am. I am excited.

(02:53:05):
You know. He does a lotof great things, and he's a great
person, and we have a greatrelationship. It's gonna be it's gonna be
a fun year. We're gonna havea lot of fun. We're gonna do
a lot of great things. SoI can't wait, chick here waiting.
The interest you've had is that justbad? Luck is every Is there anything
you've been attribute to beyond just misfortunately. Yeah, it's just unfortunate, you

(02:53:28):
know. But God has a planalways, you know. I don't know
what the plan exactly is, youknow, I don't know, but whatever
plan it is, it's for meto be here. You know. I
had a great rookie year. Uh, I didn't. I didn't really have
the volume as other people my rookieyear, but I still had a great
rookie year. Six yards of carry, you know, things like that.

(02:53:52):
I think it was like nine touchdownsten including the playoffs. And so there's
always been like, all right,guy, let's me show my talent shine
a little bit. Like even whenI had the knee. So I had
the knee, right, A lotof people don't know, like I didn't
get hurt again. Whenever I gotyou know, got cleaned up. So
I went down in twenty one,right, had the injury, the knee
injury, and then came back laterthe next year and I played the first

(02:54:18):
few games and it just feel therewas a lot of scars issue in there.
So I did to get it cleanedup. I didn't get hurt again.
I could have played the whole 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 back from theinjury, I had over one hundred
and twenty yards rushing right, andthen went on had great, great ending

(02:54:39):
of the year, you know,one hundred total yards in the playoff game
we lost, which I hate themost. Stats. Don't marry me.
I want to win. But thencome back the next year hurt again like
torn achilles. So two really unfortunateinjuries. But that's just God's plan,
you know. And I think thatthe storm is now over, you know.
And I do think that I'll beable to my light to the whole

(02:55:01):
world. Are you concerned that youhave that label you can't stay and see?
I could care less because I do. I do. I know this
out there because as 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

(02:55:26):
dinky injuries and sitting out. It'ssomething I can't control, literally, So
that's why I'm not bothered by it, Like, yeah, I am injury
poem. 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 here,

(02:55:50):
when you've been on the field,you've been highly adopted, five years
for very average for your career.Like knowing that when you're out there you're
very adopted, how much confidence doesthat get you? That really all needs
all the confidence in the world,you know. The way I work,
I wouldn't say just from the numbers, but just the way I work,
my work ethic, you know,and my relationship with Jesus is like I

(02:56:15):
have the most confidence when I stepout there because I do know, like,
if He grants me the health,it's overweight, is it. I
don't think I would be you know, I think it will be a great
year or whatever a couple of years. However, many years he grants me
great health, you know. AndI think just the work ethic, my
prayer and all that stuff, that'swhat helped me have that confidence with the

(02:56:37):
numbers will be there, and theymight be higher after this year, you
know what I'm saying. And it'scrazy to think about because I had six
or six yards per carry, youknow, So we'll see you're looking forward
to running behind this line put together? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
I played with Brandley, I playedwith him, you know, I know
the Slater, I know all theI know all the guys you know,

(02:56:58):
and I'm excited. I think it'slike I said earlier, it's a talented
group. You know, we justgot to put it together win some games,
cause that's what I came here for. That's all part of you,
or I wouldn't I wouldn't say partof the recruiting. But like whenever I
decided I was gonna sign, itwas great to have him in the room.
What's your relationship, Yeah, we'regreat. We're we have a great

(02:57:18):
relationship. That's he's like my brother. So I think a company ch compliment
each other very well. You know, he can do a lot of stuff
too. You know, we gotlike a lot of people think he's just
power, power, power, butI think he has some other parts of
his game. Two which it it'llbe great cause I feel like I could
do everything, and when one gettired, we can roll it in.

(02:57:41):
We keep rolling win some games.So when you the two of you get
going, well, how do youthink that's gonna look for? What?
What would like? What will bethat partnership kind of back there? I
know that's a hard question. Howdo I think it? I think it'll
look beautiful. You know, Ilot of people call this a passing league,
but I think you got to runthe ball to win the super Bowl.

(02:58:03):
You know, if you look atthe team to win the Super Bowl,
the can run the ball, theycan control the clock. And so
if we're both good, it willlook great, beautiful. How would you
describe the great running offense? Iwould I would describe it as, you
know, a great offense. Ithink he gives a quarter He's going to
give the quarterback a lot of options. He's going to give the running back

(02:58:26):
a lot of options. He's goingto give the receiver a lot of options,
you know, and I think it'llbe I think it's going to be
great. His offense is going tobe amazing. When we talked to him,
you know, I was like,why have you many let Bill something
good? Rushing offenses throughout your careereverywhere you've been, and you said that
one part of it is just yougot a call place, You got a
call run place. As a runningback. You know, how much confidence,

(02:58:50):
how much second does it give youwhen you know you haven't played all
or that's gonna stick with it andallow you and the offensive line to get
it. Gives me a lot ofexcitement. You know, it's gonna be
Like I said, it's fun toplay in his offense, you know.
And I think he does have somegood things in the past game too,
But like you said, he stickswith the run, and that's that's the
identity you You want an offense thathas an identity, right, you won't

(02:59:13):
be looking everywhere else to find youryour identity. You want to have it.
And so I think his offense hasthat and the guys he builds and
puts in there, it complements thatidentity. So I think it's gonna be
great. You'll be full go forLook, I ain't gonna answer any of

(02:59:33):
the four if it's up to me. Yes, Look, because I had
this problem like three two years threeyears ago. I'm thinking I'm full go.
I think I'm ready to go.And the next thing you know,
I'm on pup, like, hey, look some stuff above my prey pay
grade. So but I don't know. Hopefully I can start. I think

(02:59:54):
I'm ready to start, you know, at the beginning of training camp,
but that's not up to me.As I've learned, I'll tell you,
I wouldn't say that. I thinkI've been I've been in some great organizations,
and I think this this organization isa great organization, and the training
staff is great, and so theyjust want what's best for me, you

(03:00:16):
know, and they're they're taking careof me, which that's what you want
in an organization, and so that'swhere that comes from, which I appreciate
it, Like I really appreciate that, you know, because I'm the type
of guy like I work really hard, so maybe sometime I'm blind to,
you know, the danger of something, you know, so I appreciate it.
But like I said, if it'sup to me, yeah, I'm

(03:00:37):
out there. But you never knowwhat any frustration for you during the heading
into free agency, you know,dealing with with rehab and not you know,
having won a full season tap oradoption to go out there, any
part of that where you're like,god, you know, have hit the
open market with a different situation.You know, Nah, I like it.

(03:00:58):
I like, how would I saythis? I like it the hard
way, but not, you know, I like it the hard way.
I like it. I like trialand true relations. So I mean the

(03:01:18):
dice that I was given the rolewas I was coming off of Achilles,
and that was that was the lowestplan. So it was beauty in that,
Like I was comfortable. I wascaught like there was multiple teams,
you know, I wasn't. Itwasn't like I didn't have any other team.
But I was comfortable and sitting backand just enjoying the process, letting

(03:01:41):
myself get fully healed. So wheneverthat team, whoever I would sign with,
who now is the Chargers, isgoing to get the best met you
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 hilarious because you it's a business,

(03:02:01):
right, So I got her lastyear, so not as much money
and he's to be throwing there.But I think everyone around the league knows
that whenever I am on the field, the numbers don't want and so they
know that, and a lot ofteams were like, all right, here,
you can will give you this,but we want you to be healthy.
So when I'm healthy, it's gonnabe great. This is the chance

(03:02:22):
that I've been giving here. I'mso grateful and I know that's gonna be.
They won't be they won't regret it. Are you the type of person
that likes to throw people wrong?Like you've a couple of things like the
high risk reward injury. That's twocents I've heard. But me being who
I am, you know I'm gonnathrow my two cents in there, you
know. So that's just it's beenawesome. Man. He's you know,

(03:02:45):
a resource for me, just aperson that I can always bounce my thoughts
off of. And now, youknow, just a year you said,
thirteen months now I feel more comfortablejust you know, bringing certain things off.
You know, you never you neverwant to come off to Sean.
But I'm a curious guy. Igot a lot of questions. I like,
I like football, UH like totalk 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 and uh we're gonna keep

(03:03:07):
keep building that relationship. Sometimes inthis league, playing you know, eighteen
games, they trying to make atwenty. You know, it's like it
sound like a little a little feverdream to be honest, but but uh,
if we can find a way tok you know, stay up right
out there, keep keep Aaron onhis feet. You know, I'm I'm
excited for that and uh everything thatcomes with it. But uh but yeah,
like I said, man, that'sit's it's harder said than uh or
harder done and said, I guessyou know, it's one of those things.

(03:03:30):
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 where
they're not looking, and it's justhow can we keep him healthy? Yeah?
Yeah, are you when do youthink? I do you have ever
received the room now positions you guyshave made when want healthy and everything like,
yeah, no, I'm excited tosee it at at full health.
You know, we've i haven't gotto see all the all the guys out
there at once. And and youknow it's one of those positions where every

(03:03:52):
day is something might happen to Nickup. You know, it's just a
a tough position to stay out thereat all times. But I feel like
we got a great group and andthe number one thing is how can we
stay healthy? How can we youknow, I'll be out on the field,
and I think having depth like thisand the group you have is gonna
help us. Having guys that cando different things, that can go catch
ball over the middle, all typesof things that it's gonna take some of
the strain off off all of us. You know. It's it's a good

(03:04:13):
group. So I'm excited to,uh, you know, get out there.
I feel like we haven't had thewhole whole thing together, but you
know, come season time, morol, and it's gonna be exciting. What
about the guys in your whole number? Uh yeah, yeah, like a
yeah, man, oh a lot. He helped me a lot, even
feel like the first day just tryingto help me get used to to write

(03:04:35):
tackle. He got my feet usedto right tackle like my first dad practice.
I'm like, dude, I stillfeel you feel a little off.
I don't feels balanced to my stands. And he showed me the small technique
and to do with my feed,which I still do even even though I
left tackle just cause it's part routine. That was part of my process getting
in my stands. So stuff likethat that he taught me from the day

(03:04:58):
one practice was fun. Just competewith you know, it's just to meet
at the back of the pocket andto dap each other back toever you rep
like that was compete, you knowwhat I mean. So that's my guy.
As much as you love him onthe West Side. How bittersweet is
it in a certain matters because ithappened to him. Yeah, that's the
thing. That's not how. It'sdefinitely how I and and that's how I

(03:05:22):
thought about the transition would go.You know, I thought it would be
you know, homesoone timing and acardinal his whole career. You know,
you know, you want to playhere forever, you know what I mean
When I was talking about his plans, so you know, you w you
wish transitions like one of those fairytale like it's your time. But but

(03:05:46):
again, either way, you know, we talked about it. You know
that that's that's the how it goes, you know. But obviously you know
he sees he's he's been one ofmy biggest supporters. Again, I figured
everybody leads in their own way,you know, not everybody's the guys coming
around like and that's not everybody,right, Like I felt for me,

(03:06:09):
that's me specifically on game day withthe old line and after we do one
on one like that's my like whatHump did, like like that's my like
big vocal time. I feel likeI've talked to Hump about this, you
know, just recently talking about howwhat I want to do for the room
is I want to bring that Humpenergy that he brought right so last year.

(03:06:33):
Of course some traits were doing itfor years, but the year when
I spent on him, he broughta lot of the energy and excitement and
the happiness in the room was justhis natural energy to where I only had
to focus on me, you know, I didn't have to make sure other
other guys are you know, feelsome type of way when it came in

(03:06:54):
here because Hump brought that. Butout of Hump's not here, but I
saw what he did the room.I want to be that guy to make
sure one's amped to go to practice. Everybody's hype weren't taking the field team
one period, you know, it'sa low day or something you know,
it's it's a day, but likeI want to make it feel like Paris
the Tripper right now. I wantto bring that because that's when we hoped

(03:07:16):
to each other. We will hpeeach other up, dudes like dudes about
to get walked were lit. SoI want to do that. I want
to bring that energy. I wantto make bring more guys, you know,
to do that. You know,I wanted to do that from day
one, you know, I kindof I wanted to do that from day
one, from just talking to him, and obviously it's that time. I

(03:07:37):
spend the off season before OTA startedjust being in myself, just thinking about
what the room needs, you know, because I know I knew a new
role as one of the layers,you know on the offense, is that
we need a guy like that that'sgonna make sure the old line is picked

(03:07:58):
up, ready to go every dayand it was held accountable. Little things
that happened to practice. People aren'tsaying anything. And how I may lead
maybe different than somebody else may lead. You know, I like to a
practice at least like the legal positivity, you know what I mean. So,
but he the energy yet went beyondjust the hyped up the deal I

(03:08:18):
under start too, So that's kindof how I wanna be s goal mine
literally my whole life. I wannabe a NFL team captain, like specifically
NFL. I wasn't a captain ofhigh school. I wasn't a captain of
college. But I made a jokewhen I was in high school. It's
like that, I feel like I'mnot gonna be a captain till I get
to the NFL. Yeah, butthat would be awesome, you know,

(03:08:41):
but you know, if it happens, i'd be great, but not either
way. I wanna assume a roleas a captain from the respect of the
guys on the team individual word toand to get back to that point.
Yeah, I mean, I can'tsay that. I mean, I guess
the biggest thing is that I feltlike it has felt like how it you

(03:09:05):
used to in the past. Butit didn't take just the first day OTAs.
It took training left and right oncethe season ended because I didn't know
what it was gonna be true,So it took a lot of reps just
to give 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

(03:09:28):
my feet that I did today,talking about a line coach about some things
I can do with my feet toget to that to sell at the traditional
angle that I love to set on. Felt even more I thought I felt.
I thought I felt great already bymokat, I felt even back up
it. So I'm even more excitedtomorrow. Now I'm getting my feedback than
how I liked it the right sideand I'm on the left side, so

(03:09:50):
I'm excited to tea. I mean, obviously, I feel like in the
league, whether I left or right, you're still going against premier guys.
So obviously you have high expectations foryou're left and right tackle. But there's
definitely uh like the the level ofenergy and like the expectations definitely taking the
human start cause now connected the blankside that stuff that's the tackle role,

(03:10:13):
you know. So so yeah,I would say in terms of communication as
far as just even outside the facilityand just stuff like that, like really
creating that that tackle quarterback bond evenmore off the field, I think has
been something that's even been cool.I got a text one day as a
hey, like you put left andI was like, yeah, you know,

(03:10:37):
yeah, I've been training both.I've been training both. You know.
I I aks after the season,They're like, honestly, you know,
we'll talk to you some plat inthe season and I just gotta text
me, like depending what happens withwith the free agency then. So I
was like, you know what,I had a whole season right tackle.
So if I get the word,I'm going I'm standing right tackle. I
don't do what I did before.I'm built on that. But I was

(03:11:00):
like, I might as well moosttrained the left tackle now as if I'm
gonna be left tackle. And I'drather do that than training on the right
time and get the call Hey you'rethe left tackle. I'm like, oh,
I didn't switch on my feet yet, you know what I mean.
So I'm like, let me justprepare in the advance. I was like,
yeah, this guy. You know, I think occasionally on third down
there would be a lot of twists. I would just know like it's a

(03:11:20):
automatically coming. And I think thatwas my mindset for like the first half
of the season, like I didn'thave to go to a game and with
surprise like oh my gosh, theydid that. I kind of figured like,
okay, like this is this isthe type of rush minute gain,
Like this is how this guy usuallyrushes. But I get the vibe,
this is how the ends like therush you know, tackles that are you

(03:11:41):
know, first year guys who gotthe premier patch on. I already knew
what it was gonna be, alreadyknew of every stunt and honestly just knowing
that it's kind of an advantage too. So you're not you're not, You're
not. Oh, they brought thetwist on my side again. It was
never an Aaron Donald, like youknow, the coming out the mindes like
three plays in a row in twominutes. I knew that that was gonna
happened. So, like, youknow what I mean, I'm watching more

(03:12:03):
than everybody else, and he rarelyeven goes out there on occasional third downs
on the d M. I waslike, you know what's gonna be.
He's gonna pick me, you knowwhat I mean, So fact fact,
it's kind of it's also kind ofadvantage in a way, but it's also
exciting, like Okay, I'm gonnaget the hardest look. You know,
those are real, real reps,you know, the bank. So really,

(03:12:26):
I don't know. I really didn'tkind of process that. I was
like, hey, when they tellme, they let me know, but
I'm just gonna train it. Iwas training all left to Ta's. I
guess if I didn't hear anything aboutTAS, I would have came in like,
so you know what I mean,because just like I'm cool training both
continue, I would have been cooltraining both continually. But I feel like

(03:12:48):
anybody, any position will be like, okay, like you wanna as soon
as possible, get your feet kindof settled in your hips, settled in
your hands, settled in Well lookat say, well, this guy only
been on the field for three yearsWesterton, Turkey and Oregon. Just because

(03:13:09):
I didn't have the title of arunning back coach where I was at the
Memphis, I never carried myself thatway. I was carried myself as a
running back coach. I approached everyday that way. So at Memphis we
had Darren Henderson, Patrick Taylor,Tony Poller, Kenny gang Weell, Tonyo
Gibson. I've seen talented backs,and I've seen them be able to function

(03:13:31):
with one another. So I hearthat all the time about well I just
sain't my first rodeo. Same thingout there at Oregon wet Bucketrivern Norwich and
George James. You go look attheir numbers. 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 twokids cause I recruited them when they
was in high school. So I'mup for the challenge and the responsibility of

(03:13:52):
it. Got right behind h danOpe eleven Warriors. It's just what is
your kind of coaching philosophy? Howdo you get the best out at your
running backs? I get the bestoutum, cause I love the young men.
My main focus is to change thethe hearts and minds of'em and
they'll play for me. I hadjust got through reading Coach Trestle's Winners Manual,
and it's something that I took fromthat book. You have your purpose

(03:14:15):
and you have your goals, alright. My purpose is to serve and pour
into the young men. Now mygoals is a football coach. All of
them are take care of themselves.So m That's one of the ways.
I'm just real relationship base and I'mvery detailed at this position. I I
know y'all heard me say before,and i'm'a keep saying. This is the
worst coach position in football. It'sterrible. Guys hire anybody to coaches position

(03:14:37):
and recruiters. CARLS Locker is nota recruiter. I'm an elite relationship builder,
but I coach this position. I'ma ball coach, so that's who
I am. So i'm'a pouring intothese kids. I think they kind of
seeing it now and I I jumpedin day one. I'm ready to coach
and you praise you know, softfat cookies. Where did that phrase come
from? Kind of what was places? Boy? Let me tell you about

(03:14:58):
that. Boy. I've been calledeverything ain't but the name for child of
God by the people at the otherplaces I left. So that I've been
getting pills Pillsbury need to give mea deal because I've been getting I've been
getting some DM the texts some ofit. Some of them have been so
funny. The sawbat's cookie thing camefrom just having a frame of mind,

(03:15:18):
a mental toughness. It had nothingto do with guys getting in the portal
and anything. Now most people sayI'm a saltbatched cookie for leaving there,
But actually I'm not because it takesgreat strength to make a decision to leave
a place. No, a weakminded person wouldn't be able to make the
decision that I made, So ittook great strength to do that. So

(03:15:39):
I'm telling you if I literally inmy DMS, it's some it's some great
comedians out here that have been sendingme like tons of cookies, and I'm
like, it's funny. Right behindhim, Tony, how have you going
about being assessment of the chalent inthe room? H and hope it was
the past week or two? Howmuch is that unfilled off field? Like,
what's the process of getting to knowwho you have as players? Well,

(03:16:01):
I broke down well me being aguy that loves the running back position,
and I already broke those kids downcause I recruit him out of high
school. You know, Q isfrom where I'm from in Montgomery. I
was one of the first guys tooffer him just watching him great contact,
balance, creative runner, great handsand trey. I recruited him out of

(03:16:22):
Virginia exceptional short air, your burstsand quickness and things that i'm'a help him
get better on. And then Irecruited James Peeples out of t out of
San Antonio, Texas. I knewwhat he was gonna what he was gonna
be TC and Sam. Those twokids, I'm getting to know and I'm
gonna help them improve that game.But we got different runners in there.

(03:16:43):
I like to call myself. Uh, I'm in love with this position.
So I get to break down runnersand help their game. So talented,
talented, room, very talented.Uh far back uh. Jeremy Birmingham podcast,
how do you swear that? Back? To saw Beast Triper? Actually
the best cookies to Philos Britty Nicksand one those are way better than the
country chips and white things. That'sa territory, I mean, do you

(03:17:07):
do? You have to first finda balance there or somewhere. Well,
for me, I'm actually not eatingany cookies. Nah, I'm just saying
I'm not eating any cookies this year. I gave it up for a fast
or no sweets for me for thewhole year. That's something I gave up.
So they the term the South bastcookie term. Look, guys,
I actually took that from I representthe high school coaches of Meths, Tennessee.

(03:17:31):
I actually took that from a guynamed Coach Slocum. He used to
always say that South bast Cookie actuallystole that from him. I give him
credit for it, and I tellhim all the time he said, you
I should have branded that, causeyou done took it and ran away with
it. But that's just where thatcomes from. That that I was standing.
As you get to Ohio stand andyou start to look around the country.
Hey, Oregon's a big place.That's a that's a major job with

(03:17:54):
How how do you think that whereyou have to say a logo Ja Brandon
blocko when you doubt out of lilypre Trail, How does that change the
way that you feel you're either receivedor or does it at a different level
to to just feeling like I cango anywhere and get anybody in the company.
And that's the changest thing for me. This is a great place.

(03:18:16):
Oregon is a great place too.But guess what whatever I put on,
I know what I'm going to representfor me, I N I N I
know who who put me here?U. I know I represented something higher,
you know, Like I told you, I know what my purpose is.
My purpose is to pouring to people. So whatever logo I have on,

(03:18:37):
I'm still gonna be doing the samething. So this is a great
logo. Great logo by well,another logo. Every day it's across I
see around my neck. I knowwhat I represent. So that's the greatest
logo I could ever wear. Soit doesn't matter what other logo I have
on. I got that one on. I'm going to any house and be
a recruit. H uh deep.Right to Cameratique Robinson, the athletic from

(03:19:00):
which you you mentioned the time atMemphis and them it's four NFL running backs
you mentioned there who you learned fromthat time that you that you can take
over to managing your world? Andhere what did I learn from them?
Just building a just teaching the kids. We live in such a selfish world
though, and I can tell thekids all the times it's gotta be much
more the football. The ball gonnago flat one day. As I always

(03:19:24):
say, what being in that roomthere at Memphis, it it wasn't four
five teaching them how to be abo boy being one? I tell you
them in all time, it doesn'tcost you anything to celebrate another man's success.
So teaching them how to be one, and then once they learned to
be one, they function and theyfeed off one another. So that's what
I learned from being there at Memphish right in front of Andy Bach from

(03:19:46):
let'em in Road Cross heard ofyour career in the law enforcement kind of
influence you as a coach and kindof shape where you are. Uh well,
I just got through talking to somebodyabout that today. When I first
got profession and I got my ownroom at Western Tech, I was asked,
No, how was I was gonnabe able to handle my room?

(03:20:09):
I said, Man, I hada part with fifty one inmates. You
talking about me having got six orseven guys? Are you kidding me?
I'm talking about me having to dotraffic stops or going on domestic no virus
calls. It's simple, easy,No, people don't know what you care.
Also know, you gotta have acertain demeaning about yourself. So when

(03:20:30):
I walk into a room. It'sthe reason why I go train every morning.
This is when it's the same thingwhen I was a police officer.
You look a certain way kind ofdeter people from doing certain things. So
the reason why I go train everymorning, I'm gonna look just as good
as my boys look, so ithelped out a lot. In other words,
from Arrol Right Austin wore the podcastCarls, Welcome to Columbus. What

(03:20:52):
would it mean to I don't know, revolutionize the way running backs are coach?
What does that take? I ain'teven I'm not gonna say Revolutioniz's just
some good It's some good running backcoaches out here. Everybody's different. It's
some great coaches out here. Ijust want the head guys who say that
on these jobs to not just hireguys. Just know, all coaches on

(03:21:16):
your staff should be great recruiters,not just a running back coach. We
coach a position. We developed playersas well. I just want the coaches
to realize, Hey, you knowwhat, let me look and be thorough
about this guy that I'm hiring forthe job. Is he teaching the position?
Is he developing the position? Becauseyou're not gonna hire anybody just coach
quarterbacks, are you. Well,it shouldn't be like that for the running
back position either. And I'm onlypassionate about it cause I played it.

(03:21:39):
I love it, So it's theonly position I want to coach. Caulse
I coach the other positions. Yeah, I played dB in college too,
But I love the running back positionso and I just want to see it
Coach well May podcasts. Yeah,a million questions. All that's a couple
number one, when you, whenyou, when your wife? Whatever?
You got the message stuff? Orare we moving again? What was what
was her reaction? Nah, shejust knew guy had give us, gave

(03:22:03):
us a new assignment. It wasnever like we'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 Rodley, Kansas, Montgomery's
home if it was my second home. So I'm I'm used to moving now.
My wife it was different for her, but she just knew guy that
gave us a new assignment. Soit's time to go. What did uh?

(03:22:26):
What did coach they tell you whenhe heard you that he wants out
of you. That may be different. It's not slamming somebody else. But
what did he say he wanted youto bring to the running back room.
I think he did his research onme. He said he wanted the guy
to develop the position. That's nottaking a shot at the coach that was
here, who I'm friends with.He said, they want somebody to really

(03:22:52):
get the guys going. Uh,I can only be me, And I
told him that cause I'm gonna beme every day now because my mindset is
when I step in this building,I got one mindset that's to do my
job so well that the living deador unborn can do it any better.
So when I leave it, that'swhat my mindset is. Hopefully I'm here
for a long time, but onlyGod knows that. So, but that's

(03:23:13):
my mindset every day that step intothe Wizard Hate So that's my mindset.
I'm gonna do my job so wellthat living dead or umborn couldn't do it
any better. So that's what mymindset is. Suppose we got time for
one last question, Bill rabinowit's PlumbusDispatch Carlos. First of all, is
it true that nobody calls you Carlos, never calls you Locke. That's the
truth. Yeah, I prefer tobe called Lockle, and I would say

(03:23:39):
that, not him in particular,but I wouldn't say everyone doesn't really know
how to handle it properly. Yousee it currently? I mean it's just
it's a variable that's new and howto handle it. There's not a transcript
on on how to handle that variable. So you just guys just trying to
do what they think is right.That's all they're really trying to do.
And I'm not saying that right orwrong. But he was trying to do

(03:24:00):
the same, and uh, youknow, I think at the end of
the day he realized he made madethe wrong decision and we connected on it,
we talked about it, and youknow, it was a great opportunity
to to to right or wrong.And uh, obviously we're very glad he's
here. I've always believed in him. We believe in him, and he
believes in himself and that's part ofthe just trying to understand what's my path

(03:24:20):
right. So, uh but yeah, it's been great steps have been made.
He's growing, but he's nowhere nearwhere he knows he's capable of being
just proly a priceless Ceremiah. Ilove the way he lives. I love
the way he approaches things. Ilove the way the questions he asks.

(03:24:41):
I love the way he makes mistakesand then correct mistakes. It's very veteran,
like I mean, there's so muchball 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 allof that why it worked. So then
you know, the kid insistency atwhich it works just goes through the roof.

(03:25:01):
And so but I'm very you know, excited and proud of the conversations
we're currently having, and I'm excitedit for them to keep going. Bryan,
what you like play power for you? Working with you. I love
working with Chip chip Is. Ilove talking Ball, I love the viewpoints

(03:25:22):
I love I love the veteran thathe has, you know, uh and
uh, I love Noah, LikeI love all of it. I think
that you know, early on thebiggest impact, you know, just you
know, feeling perspective. I thinkin the run game has been awesome,

(03:25:43):
you know, and then you know, off of the run game some of
the actions or or relief throws orall that kind of stuff. I love
where it's at. I love workingwith them, and I would say that

(03:26:03):
I sleep a little better all right. Uh No, It's it's really a
great combo because like you know,we're obviously we're doing a lot as a
group. It's not just Chip andI so but you know, obviously Chip
has an image and a view onthings that I never had, So to
have that experience and have that viewpoint, I'm just trying to absorb as much

(03:26:26):
as i can, but then alsohighlight some things that we've really done a
good job of and make sure thoseyou know, nothing's really changing. We're
just trying to enhance. We're notchanging, we're enhancing. So where the
things fit is perfect, you know, I think, uh, you know,
the rest of the dynamics and searchChip can talk about. But it's
been it's been awesome, so I'mexcited about it. We talked to a

(03:26:48):
mecha who was talking about moving fromslot to the house side. You know
how good we've been in the slot. Is that a difficult move for you
guys as coaches to know how gooda guy is in one spot but know
that maybe for his long term futureand the no, I wouldn't say it's
anything on his future, because he'scapable of doing whatever you want to get

(03:27:09):
done. But I'd say that itsays more about the room. I think
it's it's the growth of you know, Brandon and the growth grow of Bryson.
That's really you know, allowing mymind to say, hey, Mech,
be prepared. You're gonna move arounda lot. You're gonna come out
of that slot. You're gonna beoutside. We're going to create mismatches out
there. I mean, his abilityto move around is critical. But I
would say between Mech and between CarnellTAS's ability to move around a lot,

(03:27:33):
it's gonna provide a lot of flexibilityfor our room. And uh and those
top you know, six seven guysthat are really doing a good job right
now. Progress look like this springformica because there's no time twe of those
things. I'm sure where you hasbalanced how much the worst bus a need
versus much Yeah, heavy, heavyemphasis on what work he needs, you
know, versus anything else. Uh. I rely on him. We have

(03:27:56):
great dialogue back and forth. It'sa two way to it's a two way
conversation. And frankly, there's goundabe times where like, hey Meg,
what do you wanna do today?You wanna go outside? You don't go
inside? And I don't care.So we're not there yet. We will
be there but it's just more about, you know, when the room is
ready to start mixing things up,I would say there's got I mean,

(03:28:28):
I make sure I bring in guysthat are able to do all, but
I have not asked them to yet. So the only guys that in our
room currently I've asked to do thathas been Mecca and Carnell, and those
are probably the two guys that Iwould, you know, think heavily on
doing moving around a lot. I'mnot putting that on anybody else right now,
not saying they can't, but atthis point, having two guys be

(03:28:50):
able to swing, you probably don'tneed much more than that. I need
guys being experts at what they're goodat, so it helps the offense.
Don't be great at everything, bean expert at something, and we can
use that to our to our advantage. This year is different, like maybe
you guys who were more situational all. Yeah, the room's always different,
frankly, I mean from twenty eighteenand then nineteen and through COVID and and

(03:29:15):
those guys, and and then thedepth of those guys and then where Mec
and Marvin and those guys were asfreshmen compared to you know, it's just
it's always different, and uh,I expect this one to be different.
Again, I'm not sure at whatlevel yet. Last question, right,
your relationship between the TV rooms fromyour Wes's room, especially when you know
the backwards. I'm curious a TVas a leader just like you, you

(03:29:37):
know, played at Ohio State,has an intel experience. I'm curious about
how you've seen Tim kind of builda different matter backs room, especially on
the recreas ill we amount of successfulguys and maybe kind of the effective your
recruits. How how that's kind ofenchanced. Yeah, he would probably know
more for that question than I would, but I would say that, yeah,
we obviously feel of each other,right, I mean, uh,

(03:30:00):
there really is a team sport,and we can't do without them, and
they can't do it without us,and we can't do without the quarterback,
and we can't do without the oldline. So proving all the way through
ten years in this league. SoI'm excited to see what he's got.
How old did you know Sores whenhe was assistant here? And I've gotten
to know him a lot, butit's a relationship. Maybe right now I
know him pretty well. He wasalways just a good dude around the facility.

(03:30:24):
He did our ball meetings, sohe's good in front of a group.
He's a good leader. He knowsthe scheme really well, which is
good. I was happy to seehim promoted. He called me in the
offseason, we talked. I justcongratulated him, and I think he's gonna
bring something similar to what we hadwith the Miko's. Do you know Brandon

(03:30:50):
Stanley well at all? I mean, Joey playing for him. Don't know
too much about him. I've obviouslyheard from my brother, but I don't
even think i've said high. Ihaven't ran into him yet, but I'm
sure i'll get to know him.When you say it looks similar to Miko,
the energy or the system, maybea little different energy, but I

(03:31:11):
think just knowing the system from thefront to the back, I think he
knows how it ties in. Andhe's been around with some really good coaches,
so I think it'll be pretty prettyseamless, and I think we'll be
firing on all cylinders. You're threemonths removed from the super Bowl now,

(03:31:31):
so how have you? I guessdigested it, and I guess physically everything
good to go. Yeah, Ifeel really good. I think it's been
one of my better off seasons ofjust kind of It was a long year,
so I took it nice and slowto get back into it. Not
as young as I once was,so I'm taking a little a little slower,

(03:31:52):
but everything's great. I'm feeling asgood as I've felt. I'm excited
to actually get some prack us inlast year was kind of tough, getting
thrown in week one after a walkthrough, so that was another reason I'm
excited to be here is just toget practicing a little bit in season.
Practice is one thing, but actuallybeing able to work your stuff and not

(03:32:16):
have a game coming up is good. With the Super Bowl unfortunately, I
know how to bounce back from toughlosses, so it was rough for a
little bit, but not just annoyingwhen people bring it up. Since the
last season, we've seen a Rockon TV commercials and on the stage with

(03:32:39):
Kluke Coombs and throwing out the firstpitch of the Giants game. But he
seems like a guy that's totally unaffectedby celebrity, which he has now.
But what have you noticed in hisleadership style and the way he carries himself
any difference at all. I thinkhe's definitely getting a little more vocal within
the building. And uh yeah,I mean I don't think he's ever gonna

(03:33:01):
change. I don't think he's somebodythat's gonna change even when he gets paid
next year. So he's he's aman of faith and he kind of reminds
me of Scotti Scheffler, but exceptfor just super humble and really good kid.

(03:33:22):
And yeah, he's definitely famous.I don't just from watching you saw
Armstead get released obviously meant so muchto the defensive line into the team.
I mean, Colin John were prettyopen that they were willing to talk about
trading deebo or are you at raft? Does that just another what's that feel

(03:33:46):
like in the locker room when thosesort of joels happened. I didn't even
know that happened and I wasn't here, but you're talking about this Armstead in
alarms Eric LEAs, So that's certainlyone thing. Yeah, it's a tough
business, for sure. You haveto have thick skin and I haven't gone

(03:34:11):
through that, but I think youjust have to understand that it is a
business and the team's going to tryand get as good as it possibly can
with or without you, and youhave to look out for yourself. That's
why you go through holdouts and docertain things that seem selfish in the moment,
but it is what it is,and when everything's settled, we're gonna

(03:34:35):
come together as a team and tryand go get one. What's the overall
feeling around the group right now,Like, how much does it feel like
the excitement of the ramp up tothe season. Even though it's early,
it feels good. It's been acouple of days for me, so I
like all the new guys. I'mgetting to know everybody, but I think
the past is in the past andwe're ready to go. Do you talk

(03:34:56):
to me? You talk to bea all about handling the business part that's
going through something similar. We chata little bit, but not too much
about the details. I just toldhim to keep his head up and try
and stay positive through it all.First impressions when you heard about your schedule
would be in that Aaron Rodgers' firsttime it'll be fun. Yeah, it's

(03:35:20):
gonna be gonna be a good one. Nick excuse me kind of alluded to
this. But the fact that lastyear you had to have that holdout percent
that affected you somewhat early in theseason. If you hadn't had that experience,
would you be here right now?I mean, was that part of
the motivation for being here early justto have the opposite year might be.

(03:35:45):
No, I don't think that's oneof the reasons. But I just talked
to Kyle and he kind of askedme. He kind of stated how he
felt about why it would be goodfor me to be here and asked if
I agreed, And I one hundredagree. So it's not like I'm missing
too much. I think I'm outhere. It's a little less workload than

(03:36:07):
I'm doing back home, so it'skind of a good active recovery thing for
me, and I'm getting football stuff, football working specifically, so that's good.
I'm not it's not compromising my trainingat all, and I get to
meet all the guys. It's it'spositive. How did kick the news your

(03:36:28):
brother? Did you have to lethim down and say, oh, no,
he's he's there, he's got anew regime over there. Did you
first? I actually thought I wascoming next week until recently, so I
was gonna have one more week athome. But we're both in California.

(03:36:48):
Everything you could share about tons reasons, reasons that you agreed with O be
here. I'm back here. Justfeel different. Yeah, you know,
it's not like these last eight yearshave come in and thought we were going
to lose or have a bad year. I felt like every year when I

(03:37:09):
tell you things are feeling good andI feel optimistic, it wasn't a lie.
But yeah, I think things areare definitely, like I said,
trending in the right direction. Everybody'son the details. I'm sure it's a
word that you've heard a million times. So yeah, I think it just
feels like it feels like coach isleading the team the way it should be

(03:37:33):
led. It has a feel ofbeing back in college, you know,
with with coach ierber Meyer, andyou know, the message is sent from
the top and it doesn't get mixedup as it's moving down the ladder.
It's boom. This is how we'redoing things, and everybody's following that.
And I think it's impressive the detailsthat everybody have been on, has has

(03:37:56):
been on the effort and just thecompetitiveness that that's been going on over the
last few weeks. Yeah, it'sit's been great. How much. Do
you appreciate that the stoppings described theway Jim leads we shouldn't eat in the
messaging doesn't eat mixed up? Whydo you appreciate that so much? I

(03:38:18):
mean, it's I guess it's easyto appreciate when you kind of see it
working and you see guys improving,getting better. I just think the details
are really important. You can pretendthat leaving your shoes a mess or your
locker a mess isn't a big deal, and what matters is playing football.

(03:38:41):
But I think all those tiny detailsand things kind of add up and leak
into the important stuff, like whatyou're doing on the field. So if
you can have your toe behind theline, or have your locker and order
and all these things, they kindof stack up into performing well and playing
well when things count. So youknow, I appreciate that. It's it

(03:39:05):
also hasn't been a fight with theguys in the locker room. They buy
in, and you know, it'sa lot of young guys, and I
think they're hungry to learn, hungryto compete and winat Walkers. Please.
You know, it's just an example. Whether it's we talked about first day
you have your shoot, if youcould, if you could spend the time
on these small things when nobody's watching. I think, like I was saying,

(03:39:28):
it seems like it might not addup too much, but I think
in the long term it does,and uh, it leaks into other things,
whether you're doing your right assignment onthe field, being late to meetings
or all these things. If youhold a standard and you you stay to
that standard, I think it benefitsyou long term. It's been like Ben

(03:39:50):
Herbert, has there been anything inhis training program we're working with you that
you feel will benefit you later.Yeah, yeah, definitely. He's been
great. He's a no nonsense kindof guy, but he's not an old
school in the sense that he's bringinghis way of doing things and that's the
only way to do things. Heunderstands that guys have been in the in

(03:40:13):
the business for a long time,Khalil me and we have a way of
doing things, and all he wantsto do is add to that and help
you get better and perform the besthe can. He's he stresses it all
the time that he's a tool forus, and you know, he's he's
been great. The guys love him. The energy brings is awesome, and

(03:40:33):
I think the stuff that we're doingin the weight room is great, a
great addition to stuff that I maymay do on the side or whatever that
is. Yeah, I think.I mean, we had a presentation today
with all the certain measurables that arechanging, and if you guys are in
the meeting, you definitely see howbeneficial he's been to the team so far.

(03:40:54):
So obviously, staying healthy is ahuge factor to anybody's six I'd say
it's plagued us a little bit fora while. So yeah, I think
he's he's definitely incredibly beneficial. Whenwere you, like fully cover I know
at the end of last season youmight have been able to Yeah, No,

(03:41:15):
I was not ready to go lastyear. No, tried practicing,
tried coming back, and uh itwas it was not good, but yeah
it was Unfortunately the year wasn't goinggreat and it just was unnecessary risk for
I mean, my foot could havehad some real real issues if I came

(03:41:35):
back too early. So yeah,it's been. It's been. It's been
a great off season. My foot'sfeeling great, toes, good, hamstring,
skod I mean, there was alist of things last year, my
hand so all those things are good. Thing got surgery on my finger,
so that's feeling good. Yeah,it's it's nice to be feeling better going

(03:41:56):
into year nine than you have sincemaybe five six years ago, which I've
said, I've said I've been feelinggreat the last couple of years. I'm
telling you it's a real deal thistime. But obviously anything can happen.
But I just feel it's fun feelingreally confident in your body and being able
to perform. So I could justgo out during practice and you know,

(03:42:20):
go balls to the wall and doeverything that I feel like I need to
to be able to prepare. It'sfun. My brother and whoever I trained
with my trainer Todd back home,Uh, I think they'd be really proud
of how I've been working this offseason, and it's just exciting. The pointing

(03:42:41):
was the injuries. I'm the GreenBay game, you kind of you.
I'm yeah, it was a bitof a build up, a little bit
of an overreaction, but you know, it's just tough. It comes sometimes
like that, and I just feltfelt really uh defeated coming back broken hand.

(03:43:01):
I'm like, oh, yeah,I get to play Boom first series
foot Pops thought I'd have to getsurgery, and all these thoughts flooded through
my head. Broke down a bit, and yeah, it just hurts.
You know, you're losing, you'regetting injured. You've felt like you prepared
really well in the off season,and then the year before you had growing
surgery, so you know, alot of things build up. Yeah,

(03:43:24):
you don't get a break if you'reinjured. Everybody wants to go on.
Fans are very nice, but no, I just I'm grateful that I feel
this way. I'm still still niceyRipe twenty eight, so not too old
yet, but yeah, I'm justexcited. I can't remember what the original

(03:43:46):
question was. At this point,you get something about my body, How
close you and Gift were. Howfrustrating was it that he couldn't you know
for one of those last three games. It was frustrating, But I mean
Gif was had my back the wholeway. I think for Gift, for

(03:44:11):
any but for for the whole team, just to show what it means to
me. It would have been importantfor me to be out there, but
I literally could and I tried topractice, injured my foot worse the very
first play I was and in practiceso no chance that was happening unless I
wanted to throw my next season awayas well. But no, I'm just

(03:44:33):
I'm proud of him for what hedid with the team, how he handled
it, and I need to callhim back. Actually sorry gif. Yeah,
I'm happy he gets to stay closeby with the with the Rams,
and just proud of all we accomplishedhere together over the years, and and
we'll be close for the rest ofour lives. Was the footage foot sprang?

(03:44:56):
Yeah, I sprained one area ofmy foot. Then when I tried
to return and I sprained another area. Was able to avoid getting surgery,
which is kind of the main goal, but yeah, it was. It
was tough. So when it comesto the addition of but Dupree, when
he felt like he's kind of broughtto the to the room and could bring

(03:45:18):
on the field. Yeah, whenI heard we got my brother some I
don't know, maybe my brother toldme. I'm like, really, we
just got budd Like that's no,that's no small pickup. He's a seriously
elite pass rusher has had some troublewith injuries as well, so I understand
how that is. But not onlyhim as a player, but as a

(03:45:39):
personality. I heard Khalil just sayinghe's he's a fun guy. He's a
funny guy, and and to havethat in the room another vet is always
a great addition. But I'm justexcited to have him intulee and to be
able to rotate like that and notdrop off at all when we come off
the field is huge. And mapTuley's going into a second year. Just
would you what are you kind ofwhat are some of the maturity areas you've

(03:46:03):
said from him? You know,I'm going to 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,
just refining his technique and pass rush. I mean, we don't have the
pads on right now, so thereal work will will begin, you know,

(03:46:26):
in six weeks now. So butyeah, I love Julie. I've
loved him since the first days he'swalked into the facility and I know he's
just gonna continue to get better.Would you think of the addition of Joe
Alt, Yeah, yeah, I'mgonna need to beat him up a little
bit in camp. So he's sohe's ready, But no, I think
anything to protect our number ten isa good, good investment. So he

(03:46:54):
seems like a real solid dude.Haven't talked to him too much. Great
build, seems like he has goodhands, good feet, strong. We'll
see. We'll see in a fewweeks when I lay a helmet in his
chin, how he holds up.But it'll I'll take it easy on him.
No, Rashon's a beast. Didyou know coach Harbond before he came

(03:47:18):
here? And if he did,just what were those first couple of conversations
like that? Yeah, probably havecrossed pass with him. Maybe maybe not.
Actually I think what was it hisfirst year when I was a junior?
So he kicked his ass as usual? Litt Ohio State. No,

(03:47:39):
No, they just want a championships. I'd say they probably have the bragging
rights right now. I'm like theguy talking about his old high school.
Oh I remember we used to kicks. No but no, yeah, no,
the rivalry is dead. I wasjust saying this morning, you know,
nine years and kind of forget aboutthat. I'm not a great alumni.

(03:48:01):
Sorry, sorry coach, But no, that'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
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

(03:48:26):
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
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 pushing slavesand doing all this stuff, just how

(03:48:50):
interesting is that to see? Yeah, I mean he was a he was
a great player himself, and Ithink he's always been, you know,
built like that lack of a betterterm. But yeah, he's uh,
he's part of the guys. Youknow, he's not this guy outside looking
in. He he really, Imean he voiced that to me, is

(03:49:11):
that his favorite part of all ofit is being with the guys. And
and the connections he makes. SoYeah, to to see a guy like
that come in and embrace it alland kind of be part of it himself
is important. Your initial question isa coachman during the defensive gaming. Yeah,
it's funny to go from old gift, old gift to this little young

(03:49:33):
guy who's my age. I wouldn'twant to get thrown into a room with
me and khalilis his age. Butno, he's been great. I love
messing with him a little bit.We little sarcasm back and forth. But
no, he's great. He's uh, very talks very fast, and I

(03:49:54):
don't as you know, so sometimesI gotta be like, slow down,
coach, come on. But no, he's great. I'm excited, you
know, to get closer as theyears. As the year goes on,
and I think he has he hasa lot of passion for the position and
all he wants to do is learnand and help us to improve. So

(03:50:16):
I'm excited about him and me andI do miss Giff. Obviously it was
a long time with him, butI am excited to have a new face
and kind of have that challenge forme. You worked much with with Jesse's
dad since I know he coached linebackersin Michigan. Did you ask about Jesse?
Did you ask about doing? Okay, you asked about Jesse. Oh

(03:50:37):
my god, I was talking aboutfreaking doing the whole time. You guys
are so confused. No, sorry, I thought were I thought I was.
I thought you mentioned coach Ronie.No, No, coach Mentor has
been great as well. Yeah,they've both been great. So run that
back. No, he's been good. Uh yeah, very knowledgeable guy.

(03:51:03):
Same thing. I'm excited to getto know him more as the year goes
on. If you worked, ifyou worked much season Jesse st Yeah,
uh no I have not. Idon't know if I've said one word to
him, but more words to comedown the road. Like you said,
you've been in year since twenty sixteen. Just what are some of this stuff?

(03:51:26):
You just someone on a ramble aboutthe wrong guy for fifteen minutes walking
what Yeah? What the heck?Actually that's literally not the person. Yeah,

(03:51:48):
yeah, I figured out. What'ssomething that you you worked under the
off season, something to improve yourgame or is there something that you can
Usually my answer is pretty consistent,Stint that I just continue to try to
prepare myself physically, whether that's mysprint work or agility work and my lifting,

(03:52:11):
but yeah, just to get everythingfeeling great. I dealt with those
injuries, so I had to kindof ramp it up with my finger and
foot and all those things. Butnow I'm full full speed out there,
and I'm just going to continue todo what I know will prepare me for
the season. And I know I'mgonna get plenty of technique work and position

(03:52:35):
work when I'm out here. Sofor now, I'm going to spend these
five weeks really getting preparing my bodyworkouts. Competitor again, another year of
competitive with you and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's usually too
hot out there for much competition.We're just trying to survive. So but
yeah, it's always it's a it'sa silent competition between between each other,

(03:53:00):
be like peekings, like what washis time? Was his time? But
uh no, Yeah, it's always. You can never have an off day
when when you're out there and he'she's warming up like a beat, like
a freaking robot every day out there, so there's there's no off days.
Yeah, have you you and himhave talked at all about I mean,
I mean this when you were havinga contract thing you have guys have to

(03:53:22):
talk about pay system, teammates,environment, city, all those kind of
just like play into it. Besidesjust the money thing. I know,
financials always play a big role andI kind of steer you into the direction
you want to go. But everythingkind of plays into it. And how
much did you reach out to Shelby, Drew knowing some of the guys you

(03:53:43):
knew that played here last year toget a sense for what might offer you.
I mean, not much right now, I'll talk to I'll talk to
Shelby a little bit about it.Mainly no one, Drew just congratulate me
all. Did you come together prettyquickly? I know you kind of came

(03:54:05):
year agreement on that first Monday,and everything with Seattle that come together really
faster. Now, it was along day. Seattle came in almost out
of nowhere. We had like agood set of teams that we're talking to
just trying to find like finalize whatwas going on, what was it the
term is going to be? Youknow, and Seattle came in hot.
They showed a lot of interest anduh, they kind of motivating me to
come here more and more and howsimilar will your role be, you know,

(03:54:28):
in terms of playing what you didin Denver. I don't know that
yet. I kind of just mentionedpreviously. I don't know my role.
I don't know the ins and outyet. Once we'll get no through the
protocols and nfl PA, we'll we'lltalk about know the schemes and everything,
right, so welcome. When youwere in Denver in the three four,

(03:54:50):
where did you find yourself most comfortableand most effective and role? 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, mainly being a three technique and five
technique. That's why I find myselfto be more comfortable whether I'm standing up
or I'm not, whether it's runneror pass. Uh, they'll seem to

(03:55:13):
be my best, my best fitch. And what is your impression of Pete
Carroll's defense and whole environment from afar? It seems like he holds in on
defense a lot. I can't reallysay too much about that. Yeah,
I don't. I know Pete Carrollvery little, So I'm just trying to
figure out more and I'll give youa better answer later. What's the reputation

(03:55:35):
around the league out of the Seahawks? Uh, you know hard nos Hard
had type of team definitely on alittle more lack side as opposed to being
stuck up or military style, andwhich is definitely good because then this program
is one a lot of football gameshave been super successful for many years,
as long as I've been alive,as long as I've been watching football,

(03:55:56):
and definitely this has been a goodprogram. And Pete Carroll has been a
hell of a coach for a longas I remember, even back in his
college of days. So I'm lookingforward to experiencing that. John Boyle,
Yeah, I know you said youdon't know yet. You know what your
role is going to be, whichis what what kind of player you fans
who haven't watched it to Denver,what kind of player get? Definitely a

(03:56:18):
high motor, definitely not a onetrippon any type of player. I like
to attack, you know, whetherit's a first or first through fourth down,
I like to attack. I'm alwaystrying to apply pressure. I'm definitely
just a high mortar guy in myopinion. Brady, are there, Brady
Henderson from ESPN. Nice to meetyou. Yeah, this is not a

(03:56:41):
team that really makes big splash signingsin free agency. Did you think going
into it the Seattle would be inplay. Uh No, not at all.
You just it's kind of like beinga cure at the Cunty store.
You know. I've got a wholebunch of different options coming at you,
hearing, a whole bunch of differentcrazy things, and uh, you know,
you only get to choose one.And this is the place that that
we both chose each other. AndI mean, I'm loving Seattle so far.

(03:57:03):
You know, I like these colorsfor real, for real. What
what did you gut to do withSeattle or see since you've been there?
Not much? Uh, just kindof just drive around the city, exploring,
getting down to the market a littlebit. I want to get down
at 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. All right. Yeah,there's been a lot of comparisons with you

(03:57:26):
to Michael Bennett. I was wonderingif you know Michael Bennett at all and
you think accurate. I know MichaelBerr bene like nothing. I know nothing
about it but besides his style ofplay, but I'm honored to be considered
in the same conversation as him anduh 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

(03:57:50):
full circle a little bit watching himon TV and now I'm being kind of
compared to him in a 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'd just got to keep
doing my due diligence to be abetter player. Carn Hey, Dreamont,
welcome to Seattle. I know youget to play several seasons for VIC Fangio

(03:58:13):
and three four style defense and Seattle'splaying a 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? Maybefundamentals or just playing style to be successful.
From what I learned, being gapsound and being patient has always been
the biggest thing and That's how we'vebeen successful when I was in Denver,

(03:58:35):
just kind of like relying on eachother. I know that sounds kind of
cliche, but like there's kind oflike the realm of being in the three
four defense. You gotta really reallyrely on the guys behind you and the
guys on side of you to reallymake their to do their job to make
your job easier. Bob, Yeah, dream Well, Uh, you your

(03:58:56):
house state pioffs that you didn't startplaying football till your junior in high school
largely played basketball, So then that'swhat big ye. I guess decided to
go play football then was away frombasketball. No, No, I've always
loved football first. Uh, itwas just kind of just playing it out.
You know, I love a hoop, but you know, football was
definitely about calling. Given I wasa two hundred and sixty five pound power

(03:59:18):
forward and I was like six streasonchanged, so you know I kind of
toldse the route that God gave me. You know, I'm not six eight.
Yeah, if you verymm, what'llcome to Seattle and you can quoted
and you look at a couple ofart things that player and can you just

(03:59:39):
talk a little bit about that thatrole that was some of the uses you
might always kind of counted out butUS came through. Can you elaborate more
than that? Just from a standpointlike I always get like over overshadowed,
overlooked, whether it's a in something, you know what I'm saying, Like,
I feel like I do a lotmore than what can be uh,
sitting by the the odds of theinexperienced. You know, Scout and I

(04:00:03):
do a lot of different dynamic thingsthat help make plays for others. You
know, I'm definitely an active player. I'm always doing something, whether in
the Runner Pass game, so youknow, I think that goes on another
sometimes and I'm looking forward to puttingpeople on notice. Thanks Brady. What
uh what do you like to dooutside of football? Uh? Big gamer?

(04:00:24):
I'm definitely I've been getting to alot of chests lately, so just
to expand my brain. Uh.I try to get into reading, but
if it's not sports plated, II'm really not interested in reading that much,
but mainly just video gaming and chest. And then when we write and
say your name, do you preferyour grandma? Uh? I mean you
can say you can say Draymond Jonesand me but like just I feel like

(04:00:48):
personally just call me dre cause easycause people like to f my name up
a lot, like a lot theycall me Draymond te. I don't know
why, what do you think ofthat I'll be able to bring out out
of your games you keep trying to, you know, up and just being
more explosive. Probably more yards forcatch with the space that he's putting us
into, the more yard, moreyards have to catch, more exposed to
pick more exposive plays for for notjust only me, but she and Ak

(04:01:13):
and taste them. So I'm excitedto be able to be in the system.
I assume you think you guys canbe a lot more explosive than your
in the last couple of years.Oh yeah, of course. It brings
a lot of different things, youknow what I'm saying, the playbook,
but just accountability. I feel likethat's going to lead us to success.
They said the language is a littlea little shorter it. Have you found

(04:01:35):
that the language that you guys use. Is it about the same or is
it it's kind of really it's along, long place, but it's more
understanding for sure. I feel likeyou can get to that more understanding plays
and I feel like that's that's thedifference. Peter was saying the other day,
just kind of like coming into thisoffense after like twenty years of Breeze
and just kind of how it wasjust kind of built on top of each

(04:01:56):
other, on top of each other. It's like kind of a lot to
kind of take and do you doyou find that they kind of turn it
down to something new, starting tolike zero with everybody. It's just a
little bit easier to kind of geteverybody on the same d Yeah, I
feel like it's way easier. Likeyou said, it was kind of more
of a Drew Brees style, uhthe last playbook, so uh all credit
to them though they built that aroundhim, around his players, but uh,

(04:02:18):
like I said, it's is more. 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 his 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,
uh, things that our players cando. Is kind of focus on what

(04:02:39):
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 around the way this offense willhave a lot more speed. And how
has that transition been so far?I mean, like I said, it's
building around the players strengths. Soof course we got speed uh uh with
me or uh she and Ati receivers, So just building around that, Like

(04:03:01):
I said, playing to our strengthsand be able to capitalize off that.
Feel like it's gonna help us alot most of like the up tempo aspect
and you know, getting a lotof plays in n less time. Oh
yeah, yeah, Yeah, that'sdefinitely gonna play a big difference. Like
I said, coming from the WestCoast, Uh, they bringing that stand
for an offense here. So I'mexcited to be able to be a part
of that. For you personally,what's what's the next level look like for

(04:03:22):
you? What do you what areyou trying to accompli this year? Just
staying consistent, man, a coupleof upside downs last year. Just building
off that. Uh, it's alwaysalways gonna work on the physical part,
but being able to bounce back aftera bad game, the mental mental aspect.
Uh. Just learning and learning thatlast year and be able to build
on that this year is a hugepart. You know with Mike Gon,

(04:03:45):
do you take upon yourself to kindof be that voice in the room or
to take a step forward even theUh, I mean it's not really.
I mean everybody kind of grown inthe NFL, so it's just on you
to be able to have that standard. Like I said, I just try
to do that lead by example.I'm not really outspoken, but just lead

(04:04:07):
by example, working hard, tryingto dominate every rep and hopefully they follow
after that. The touch is thatyou feel like that's the strength of yours
that maybe wasn't utilize. I don'tknow if utilizes the right word, but
you could show more. Yeah,it's an offense that is built around that,
uh, just catching the ball inspace, catching the ball over the

(04:04:30):
middle or even on the outside,uh with with space and separation. I
feel like it's built around having yardshave to catch. So I'm definitely proud
to be in the system, likeI said, and I'm excited. But
is that is that a mindset too? 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

(04:04:50):
to take every take everything to thehouse, you know, every touch.
So I definitely got to do thatmore and definitely try to work on that
and practice keep thee great dude man, Uh some something that I definitely needed,
something that he relates to me.Uh just from backgrounds, and uh
he's a great coach, great leader, Uh, motivational and uh. Like

(04:05:13):
I said, I'm excited to havehim around and for him to push me
is everything that I need. Sowhen you're talking about like mentally bouncing back,
you know from tough performances or whatever, like, did you try to
fund your resources? Gonna help youfigure out how to do that? Oh
yeah, I mean it's older guys. Uh uh tell me. Uh that's
natural. Just have bad games.But uh, just having the standard that

(04:05:37):
I have for myself and the expectationsI have for myself gets hard sometimes.
So just be able to be hardon yourself but at the same time just
let it go and just bounce backfor the next game is something that I
learned last year. You're one ofthose guys that feels like you should always
have a certain level production. Areyou okay with those certain games where the
defense is so focused on you theother guys fame and you're just uh yeah,

(04:06:03):
I definitely was. It was likethat early in my career, especially
in college. Uh, but Ifound out, Uh, it's just about
winning really, Uh, just tryingif if you are a number one guys,
to bring that attention to you soother guys can get open. It's
gonna be games like that. Uh, but as long as we win and
take back with you guys? Whatwas it like to go from the camon

(04:06:24):
of emotions from hearing about it tonow when it's over in your back out
there, you'll have funny, It'samazing. You know, it's sh just
a testament to him and you know, one of the god we serve.
And then two uh, just thework that he's put in. You know,
he's been uh you know, hecame back before it was even schedule.
He can get cleared. And thenon top of that, you know,

(04:06:46):
just coming back after that freak accident. And you know, I think
that we serve a god that's mercifuland that's that's purposeful, and he knows
that, and he stepping into andme and him. We have those conversations
about our faith and the cause,like this four box of it. It
seems like it's everything, but it'snot. You know, we're we're people,
and we we go through a lotoff the field people don't know.
And you know, as his brother, I have to be there for him,

(04:07:09):
like just like he's there for mewhen I go through what I go
through. So I mean, I'mjust proud of him, man, Like
the word proud is even probably enoughto like state the uh, the feelings
that I have for that guy.Man, he's my one of my best
friends that I've n you know,gotten to known over the years in this
in this world of football and past. That man, I feel like I'm
known since I've been three years old. You know, I think for like

(04:07:31):
our connections kind of like we grewup together, and you know, I
just got a lot of love forthat guy, and you know, I'm
very excited for him. He's beensnapping that practice and doing really well and
you know, to knock off therest that quick shows how much work he's
been in. How much more comfortableare you walking up to ats this year
to the last year. Things kindof a little bit slower just's the biggest
difference to you. Yeah, it'snight and day. Man, It's really

(04:07:54):
like I feel like I'm running theshow and I've got a lot more uh
responsibilities from Slow and from de Beca, from dry Bill and really our whole
office of staff. And you know, I'm the captain of the ship and
I got to run it the rightway. And I feel like I've you
know, stepped into that role justyou know, and not only holding out
accountable, but also you know,hold myself accountable to those moments, like

(04:08:15):
I don't let anything slide, becausethat's that's the point of winning and losing.
So I think from last year tothis year, like I've gotten a
lot better with like controlling my emotions, controlling my ball placement, knowing what's
NFL open, knowing my food workbetter. There's really every little thing I've
taken a step and then on theother side of the ball, you know,
just everything slowed down. Seeing coverage. Demico does a good job of

(04:08:39):
blitching me and you know, workingon their different coverages and different looks to
start too high, go to oneand go back to two motion like as
man, go to cover too likeall that stuff to keep me true and
honest. And you know, Ithink I've tried to do my best with
my off season study to you know, be better, and I feel like
I've done that and had a goodota so far. So got to finish
with that mini camp. But it'sbeen definitely a big transition of just more

(04:09:01):
comfortability from last year this year.College, you you always had like a
real talented receiver room, and thenlast year you had a talented receiver room.
So you've had the experience of havingto feed a lot of guys obviously
out in the digs, even JoeMixing coming out of the backfield. How
much would that experience from those youknow, college and last year help you
with being able to make sure thateverybody's being fed the way they are.

(04:09:24):
So if you can't have the bestpossible offer, if you guys like your
boy, yeah, I mean Idon't think nothing changes. You know.
It's like, uh, I tellI tell guys, cause I get that
question a lot from I got peoplejust walking around just anywhere. I ask
you game whatever, and I waslike, man, it's football. You
know you're open, you get theball, so uh, and my thing
is, you gotta pick your poison. Playing us like who you gonna double,

(04:09:45):
who you gonna cater to? Whoyou like? You got five dogs
who are who were able to getthe get the ball in each give and
play? You know, So Ithink it's fine. I know Slow has
done a great job of being morecreative and you know, has a put
different personnel packages out there, guysin different positions at going from inside and
outside, you know. And youknow, I'm I'm very excited to work

(04:10:07):
with with coach Low again. He'sdone amazing so far. You know,
Ota is and will continue to dosuch. But yeah, man, I
think that past experience of playing withMarv Jax, Garrett, Chris Jamo,
America Julian like those type of guys, they'll tell you too, Like I

(04:10:28):
know they'll probably have said it before, but they'll tell you like they made
me better and I made them better. You know, That's my job is
to make everybody around me better.So I'm excited. Man has been healthy
competition. Like I know, Garrett, I've seen his interview day. He
was talking about Ohio, see howlike the receivers, like if gear made
a play, Chris is like,nah, watch this, like it's the
same thing here, which is youknow, really cool to watch. And

(04:10:50):
you know, as the quarterbacks meet, Davis in case and Tiam were the
same way too. So healthy competitionis the best way to grow and get
better. And I think that that'swhat about. You see how excited Diggs
gets for Tank when he makes itplay, and Mets gets for excited for
when Nico makes a play, andTank gets excited when Rob makes a play.
You know. So it's amazing.And you know, we got Noah

(04:11:11):
coming back to which is gonna beamazing. And I'm excited been there and
a ton of guys. There's aton of talent. Steed's showing up.
Really, everybody's really been doing Jay, Wayne, Johnny you know so and
man it's been fun. Uh Nicko, don got you some some maketure talent
on the office side of the ball. Well what do you think about the
dishes that he made on the defensiveside of the ball. Yeah, man,

(04:11:31):
it's been great. It's been goodon good like Demiga talks about iron
shopping iron, you know, it'sbeen a lot of smack talk, a
lot of just uh, just goodcompetition, you know. And then it
starts with me and his ease Youknow him being the leader of defense.
I'm the leader at offense, andyou know, playing him last year.
I man, he always showed upon tape when I watched the Titans last
year. So it's cool to likesee like the stuff he thinks. We

(04:11:54):
you can see him at my locker, me at his or us before practice,
after practice talking about play and youknow, so, I mean it
starts with us, and then whenyou add Daniell, somebody who's a vet
who plays really hard, who's gonnahelp will you know? Them? Two
dogs? You got team in thein the middle, uh with Autrey and
and Sosa and y just a tonof guys, man, you know,

(04:12:18):
in the back end, got youngguys p showing up. Kaylin's doing really
well in the back end along withPetrie and Jimmy, along with Kamari.
Kamari is shown up. Steen isplaying well as y'all seen. Uh.
So, man, it's just beendogs on dogs, you know, like,
and that's that's that's that's the bestteams I've ever been on. Has
been the closest teams personally, butalso the most competitive team. So it's

(04:12:39):
been dope season. See that youbroke out last year and you go broke
out last year and he go getstthe contract Eccentrion, he's here too,
twenty twenty seven. What does thatdo for you? Just knowing that you
haven't familiar target to work with forthe next few years. You know,
it's just something I I'm first ofall, I'm just proud of that guy.
Uh my brother Nico. He's andshowing out, you know, when

(04:13:03):
you know and his number is called, he always makes to play and you
know, he's just a special He'sa generation talent man. He's he's like
alright, age is Andre Johnson inmy opinion of just how fast he is,
how he gets in and out ofhis brace, his releases, how
strong he is. And I thinklast year was just a uh a preview
to what it's took come for him. And the one thing I'm proud of
him for is just the work hasnever stopped. He's constantly here working on

(04:13:26):
his body, constant in here workingon his hands, his his mobility in
the weighting room, you know.So for me, I mean just having
a a true uh I think wehave like five number ones, you know,
so that's kind of cool to have. And I've had that before.
In college and I'll have it againand it's gonna be fine. Man.
And Nico he's gonna he's he lovesto see everybody else he eat too,

(04:13:46):
so man, his his love forhis brothers hasn't change. And you know,
it's it's a it's a special feelingto see somebody who deserves to get
paid and you know, get whatthey to d D wait the what they
deserve and you know, I'm justreally proud of him. What does a
need for you to have another opportunityto work with Barbasola and Angelie Johnson.
I don't know if you remember thatwas a moment going into the playoffs last

(04:14:07):
season, where do you really evenknow if either one of those guys would
be or pretty shit? Yeah,I mean for both of them to come
back was very special. I thinkwe both we all have a better feel
of how to work with one another. And you know, the talent I
am on the field, and theplay caller that uh Bobby is and then
the the common coach droved is youknow we all work together or that and

(04:14:28):
you know, slow as I'm inhis office almost every morning just going over
stuff and watch for film with him, going over things that we need to
go to get better at and healways has his phrases, you know,
working for the end at mind,and you know he holds me accountable when
you know it could be easier justto like let me slide, cause you
know, I'm I'm out there stillmaking plays, but he's like, nah,

(04:14:48):
you need to be better here,here and there, And you know
that's just uh, shows what typeof a leader he is. And you
know, it's a honor to beable to work with him again. And
same for me, like to himlike, hey, flow, I'm not
really feeling this play or I wannaadd this play to try to see if
we can get better here in thisinn in this practice where you know,

(04:15:09):
I think we can be really goodat this type of player. And he's
very very accepting when it comes tothat. So it's been cool to work
with both of them. And I'mvery excited to get another year on our
belt. What was it like righthere? What was it like? Uh,
teacher football internationally and the the rthe reception that you got from the
people there, it was it wasamazing. You know, Uh, first

(04:15:31):
of all, shout out to Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. You know,
for accepting me to Mica uh withopen arms, and just the hospitality and
the uh, just the culture man, there is just amazing. They want
to learn about football, you know, and it's it was cool just to
see like them already have like thefoundation of it, but wanting to grow

(04:15:52):
from there. And you know,I think football is a family sport and
like those people are our family now. And you know, the Olympics come
in to where it's gonna be internationalwith flag football, I think that's super
dope. And to be able toget you know, to be able to
put our feet into those those uhdoors already, you know, it's kind
of cool, you know. SoI mean, I'm very grateful with my

(04:16:14):
team with uh uh Bernie and Davidfor setting that up and even like the
guys out there who who gave ustop notch hospitality. It w It was
just amazing, man, the wholeexperience. So, you know, just
my first time really out the countryand just being able to like go to
the Great Wall China and all thatstuff and still do what I love to
do. You know, working outwith Micah it was cool and uh he

(04:16:37):
has a lot of crazy takets,but you know, I I got love
for that guy, but it wasfun. Man John and Jonathan Dad.
What's uh, what's it like howyou kid stover down here with you and
what's your relationship been like with him? Uh? Yeah, Kay's my brother,
man. You know, I've beenthrough taking thing with him and he's
somebody who I are off and lookat as like like our moms are like

(04:17:03):
the same or our families are superclose. In college, I think he's
like my blood brothers who like somewherefalk on the line. I don't know
how it works, but I justhe's always like there for me. He's
always you know, I don't know, man, Kate is just like that
guy. He's a brother that theytalk about in the Bible, you know,
like that like it's it's he's afriend that is you know, like

(04:17:26):
just like a brother. And Idon't know if the word brother just always
just comes up with that, likehe's just always there to you know,
hold me up and he sees meand he knows my emotions and for him
to be able to it's impress ofthe culture of the players that are in
this program right now. But Ithink it speaks a lot to the leadership
there's a there's a lot of olderplayers on this team, and they've set
the tone for the younger players,and I think the younger players have done

(04:17:48):
a great job of followship and gettingright in line with that over to someone
before, what does it mean toyou? I guess he technically did it
the bill when he was here forthe weeks, But what does that mean
to you to Kenny getting that responsibilityfrom him and he's calling essentially the offense
that you gave it? I guessin some way. Yeah, I still
think the play calling part will bea collaborative effort. And by that I

(04:18:11):
mean that if it's a good play, I called it, and if it's
a bad play, he called it. Because the great part is an assistant
coach, you can just point thefinger a little bit and just say,
hey, you know, I wantedto do this, but he trumped me.
So we haven't actually discussed game dayyet. You know, we'll see
how that operates. But everywhere I'vebeen it's been a collaborative effort. And
all of a sudden, someone that'scalling the plays isn't isn't like pulls one

(04:18:34):
out of left field that you hadn'tpracticed and hadn't been part of your offense
and said, hey, let's dothis. You know, we're not running
the annexation of Puerto Rico. Youknow, we're not coming up with something
special you know in the middle ofthe fourth quarter that we haven't done.
But I think it's the key toreally being successful on offense is is how
you game plan, how you putit all together, and then how you
practice and train for that so thatyou get a chance to execute it because

(04:18:56):
the player's confidence comes comes from there. Demonstrated to Bill that they've done this
so many times in practice that whenthey get out on the field that this
is like that to them, youknow. And it's not that they do
it so they do it right,it's they practice it so much so that
they can't do it wrong. So, you know, I think it's that
whole part of it that is reallythe key to being a really good game
planning team, right Doug Lane,ma Ree Kingdom, and North Chip.

(04:19:19):
When you had that feeling when youwere coaching the quarterbacks during Bold, did
you consider at that point maybe resigningas the head coach and thinking like this
is this is not where I amanymore. I'll leave and then I'll look
to see what else is out there. No, I never thought about quitting
anything. So, you know,I just is there an opportunity that I

(04:19:40):
think I can that fit, youknow, And I think that's the you
know, it's no different than whenyou're talking to a recruit about them make
a decision on where they're going togo to school. I think that where
they should go to school is wherethe best fit is for them. So,
you know, I just entertained someopportunities, and I always felt I
felt like this was the best fit. But I never thought about quitting or
not coaching. I'm gonna coach.I'm gonna coach, and then I'm gonna

(04:20:03):
die. I mean, that's howI think I think about things. Is
I can't picture that. I knowsomeone I was on the Nike trip and
they like, how much longer areyou gonna go? When I said I
could go another fifteen twenty years.I don't think about I don't think about
retirement. I don't think about anyof those things. That's just not kind
of my mindset that you know.I love football and in the as long
as I can be part of thisgame, then I'll be part of this

(04:20:23):
game. Just the way things workedout with your departure from UCLA. Is
there anything that you wish you haddone differently, or anything you regret,
or just that the circumstances that presentedthemselves. Do you think that you handled
that departure the best that you couldhave? Yeah, I mean I got
an opportunity to tell my players personally, you know. I think in this
day and age of the Internet,where they read it somewhere else and you

(04:20:45):
have to text message them, youknow, that was always important to me
that I wanted to make sure Italk to my players and explain the reasons
of what I was doing. Iwasn't leaving to take a head coaching job
somewhere else. I wasn't thinking thatthe grass is green or at another university.
Was just in my personal situation,this is what I wanted to do.
I wanted to take an opportunity togo be a position coach and coordinator,
and that's how it fit. Youknow. What I was happy is

(04:21:07):
that I always thought to Sean Foster, 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 opportunity totake 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 that Shaun would be a
great head coach, and I'm reallyproud of him and happy that that he
got the opportunity to take that jobright behind him, actually have your reputation

(04:21:32):
as innovator? Was part of theappeal of this is that you get to
get in the weeds a little bit. Uh maybe not mad scientists, maybe
too too strong of a work becauseyou're working within the system. But was
there an appeal of I get toget my hands dirty here again and innovate
and get back to that side ofthings. It was, But it was
really more important of who I getto work with, you know, and

(04:21:55):
so knowing you know, I've gotI know a lot of guys on this
staff sides Ryan also, so youknow, when I know what their mindset
is and what their values are andhow they do things, and so I
want to be a part of that. But there's a part of that.
Yeah, how much of a teacheryou get labeled with the innovators. The
teachings are part of this. Howmuch is how a teacher are and how

(04:22:18):
patient are you. Yeah, Ithink we're all teachers. I mean,
education is the transportation of knowledge,you know, So it really doesn't matter
what the coach knows, it matterswhat the players understand, you know.
So you have to be able tomake sure that while you're implementing things is
what resonates with them and how doesthat come back to them. So,
you know, a lot of ourteaching styles that we've learned is more the
socratic method of there's a lot ofquestions, you know, and a lot

(04:22:41):
of check for understandings, just tokind of find out where the players are
coming from, because it's what theyknow that's ultimately going to 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
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,

(04:23:02):
some of the latest trends in teachingto make sure that we are transporting
that knowledge to our players. Secondrolld left Steve Helwagan, twenty four seven
sports. Yeah, coach just trees. You got five scholarship quarterbacks with differing
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

(04:23:25):
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
his makeup, his experience, whathe's bringing to the table walking in here
right now? Yeah? Really impressed. You know, you don't have to
talk to Will for more than fiveminutes to kind of know where he's coming

(04:23:45):
from. He's really focused. Youknow, 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
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

(04:24:06):
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.
But the other thing that I justin the short time that Will has
been here is how quickly he's fitin with the entire team, you know,

(04:24:26):
and how much the the rest ofthe players respect him. You know.
He was uh one of the GoldAward winners for his work in the
weight room in this offseason, sothat says a lot for him coming in
here as a in a short time, being able to to win a weight
room award, you know, tostart off. Do you guys hope to
have the number one internally externally atthe end of spring or I guess just

(04:24:48):
let it play out. I thinkit always every time I've been involved in
these, I think when they're organicis when it's the best that. I
don't think you can anoint somebody orforce the issue because the players know.
The players would understand and they seeit every single day, you know,
And there's a team chemistry part ofthis thing too, So we're not gonna
force the issue a but I've alwaysseen it play itself out. So I've

(04:25:08):
been fortunate that there's always gonna besome quarterback battles that at some point in
time at every school there's a quarterbackbattle, you know, and then and
really you gotta let them play itout on the field, and that's where
it has to That's that's where ithas to be decided. Just a couple
Hey, welcome than you were excitedto have you here, Thank you.
I'm kind of to talk about theinnovative part. Ryan said that that's something

(04:25:32):
that he's always loved about working withyou, and now he wants you to
bring that here and how it wouldfit with Ohio State. Do you have
any idea what that's gonna look likeyet or 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 theplayers in position to make plays. So
a lot of that comes from gettingto understand the players and what their skill
sets are and how we feature whattheir skill sets are, you know,

(04:25:55):
and and the the one thing afterday one, I can tell you that
there there's a lot of skill setout there, you know. So that's
that's what gets you excited, youknow, that's what That's what you jump
out of bed in the morning andyou're excited to go to work because of
the talent that you get to workwith. But the one thing that's the
most impressive is the work ethic thatgoes along with that talent. You know,
it's not just empty talent. It'syou got some kids who want to

(04:26:15):
I mean all of them since I'vebeen here, want to work, So
that that's what gets you excited.But I think assessing what the skill set
is you know that we have availableto us on the offensive side of the
ball is vitally important. And thenour job is to put those guys in
positions to make place lots of pressure. I mean, you've experienced what it's
like to coach national championship, callover teams this program right now and moving

(04:26:38):
into a situation where you got towin Quicken now. So does that feel
like pressure here for you or isit a little bit of excitement or both?
Well, I've always subscribed to aspressure is what you feel when you
don't know what you're doing. Soif you don't want to feel pressure,
and then you should know what you'redoing, So, you know, I
think it's it's part of that.And I think part of our job with
our players in terms of the educationprocess is getting them done. Understand that

(04:27:00):
too, is that you know,it's it's about your preparation. It's about
you and your development. It's notabout that. You can't be governed by
what other people say. It's it'swhat's my mindset and how am I intrinsically
motivated? And then how do Ireally compete against myself on a daily basis
to get a little bit better.You know, we got a little bit
better today because we get out onthe field today. I got a chance
to do some football. And thenthe challenges when we get back on the

(04:27:21):
field on Thursday, can we bea little bit better than we were on
Tuesday? And if we're doing that, then we keep stacking good days on
top of good days, and Ithink we'll be in good spot and welcome.
Thank you. I'm gonna ask aboutthe pros and cons of coaching from
the box and coaching from the field. It's interesting talk to some off some
coordinators. Tom Herman talking about heswore he wanted to coach from the box,
saw the game so much better,sterile environment, not all the chaos

(04:27:44):
on the field. Some coaches youtalk to the like, I want to
be on the field so I canlook at my guys in that in the
eye. Where are you as aas a coordinator? Honestly, And I've
thought of this a lot. Ithought of it a lot during COVID because
we had the empty stands, youknow, so I had thought about just
walking up into the stands for alittle bit because I had a better vantage.
I've always believed you can see thegame better from up above, but
I believe you can feel the gamebetter from the field. So if there

(04:28:07):
was any way we could get azip wire where you could do both,
you know, coach called from thereand then zip out of the field get
a chance to talk to him.Because it's a different deal when you're talking
to the quarterbacks on a phone,you know, than being able to look
in their eye and kind of seewhere they are with it. And part
of it is the field part ofit. I remember when I coached Ryan
once we were playing Yukon and hegot hit hard going out of bounds and

(04:28:30):
he just walked by me. AndI was a play caller, and he
was like, run the next play, and I just kind of looked at
him. I saw the look inhis eyes because I don't think he could
have thrown it. You know,he was still trying to get his win
back. But you wouldn't know thatif you're up in the booth, you
know, and you call a passplay from up in the booth and you're
like, how come we can't completethat? Well, he just took a
shot going out of bound. Soit's that fine line that I don't have
an answer, you know. Ithink I think it's feel on the ground

(04:28:52):
and it's see from up above.Maybe in this day a technology, they'll
figure it out, but we'll seehow that operates, and whatever Ryan feels
is the best for the team iswhat we're gonna do. So your teams
at the Oregon were obviously no,we're playing at this passid pace and running
a bunch of plays per minute andyep, maybe not by a pass pretty

(04:29:15):
fast. What rule do you seetempo and having an offense and in the
state in college football and has maybechanged. I think the game is always
evolving, you know. I thinkwhen I left in two thousand and twelve
to go to the National Football League, Oregon was the only team that was
playing really really fast and had shinyhelmets. And when I came back in
twenty seventeen, everybody had shiny helmetsand everybody was playing fast. So I

(04:29:38):
think the game is always going togo up and down, and there's gonna
be different cycles that it goes through. I think tempo is part of an
offensive, but I don't think it'san offense in itself. I think it's
more of like if you go todinner, it's a side order. You
know, it's not the main course, but it's it's always good to have
it. So I think there's timeswhen you'll use it, but you're you're
not going to use it extensively theentire game, just like you're not going

(04:30:00):
to throw the ball every single snapin the game. You're not gonna run
the ball every single snap in thegame. You know, there there's there's
not a game of absolutes anymore.I think the ability to be diverse and
and have it as a tool inyour two box, so to speak,
uh is really how we would lookat using it. Here are now more
familiar with it then, I think. So, you know, I think

(04:30:21):
when you first started going Temple,there were people in the NCAA. They
want to outlawd They want to makean NCAA role that you had you couldn't
do it, you know, AndI'll I'll give coach shaping credit. I
mean, I think obviously Nick wasthe first one to do it. He
wanted outlaud and then all of asudden he adapted it and said, all
right, we like this, youknow, so we'll keep it in.
But it's I think people have itdoesn't matter what you do. There's there's

(04:30:41):
cycles to this game, and thenonce people catch on to that cycle,
then it moves. You know,It's no different than for three defenses and
three four defenses. You know whatis the rage when the when the Giants
won the Super Bowl, they werethere were three four defense and everybody,
everybody says, we have to dothat. What people didn't understand is they
had Carl Banks and Lawrence Taylor.It didn't matter what defense they were running.
I know, Gym's back there andJim played against the you know it

(04:31:03):
was they could have been a fourdown defense and those guys would have been
great players. But it's not thescheme. I think that the coaches that
do it the best way is theyinsert their players and put them in the
best position to make plays. Andnow now will Temple be part of it.
It'll be part of it, butit's certainly not going to be the
main course. Last question, Oh, thank you very much, Jerry.

(04:31:23):
Uh. Number one, there wasa great moment there when y'all were warming
up, when you were you weretalking with Tim Walton and Caleb Downs comes
up and conversing and as you're inthis kind of a two part question,
but number one, what was justyour take on the talent you saw on
that field today on both sides ofthe ball. Where where would you rank
it? Yeah, I'll rank it. I'll be very transparent. As I

(04:31:45):
was telling Tim and Caleb what agreat offensive player I thought Caleb would be,
could be and should be. ButI'm at the head coach, so
I always turned stretch as a asan offensive coordinator, I'm always looking at
the defensive players like I could usehim. Oh what could I do if
I had him? What could Ido if I have him? But I

(04:32:07):
don't. I don't get the chicksixty. When after you came back,
Uh, you know it was moreof a just a game time decision.
Every week, you know, Iwasn't practiced on Thursdays, and that was
the first time in my career I'vereally had to really just bite the bullet
and that approach. And then itwas just responding to a game. And

(04:32:30):
then you know, after the firstgame against Tennessee, it was, you
know, just trying to climb up, climb up, I think myself out
of a hole. But you know, I wanted to get back and I
felt like I could, but Iknew I wasn' gonna be at one hundred
percent, but I had to pushit to you know, be there for
my team. Okay, I'm toclarify you reporting today doesn't is an indicative

(04:32:52):
of your contract status, not atall. Yeah, you mentioned leadership and
about how you want to be thebest figure you can be. Do you
use any of is time, Doyou know speak with any of the better
or the rookie players and try to, you know, give them some guidance
step Yeah, you know, whetherit's on the field, off the field,
you know, communication uh dinners,just you know, letting them know

(04:33:17):
I'm available for him. You know, I think it can be something as
little as just the steps on fieldgoal block or field goal protection. You
know, I've been doing it forthirteen years. It's still crazy. I'm
still doing it, but uh,you know, uh, those are the
type of things I'm just giving guidanceto. And then you know, off
the field, it's you know whattakes BacT around the city. Where should

(04:33:40):
you be? Where you should be, how you can help yourself, you
know the little things. Yeah,what are you looking forward to your contract?
You know, I'm looking to behere. You know, Uh,
the value is what we decide.But you know, I think for me,
I I I want to be youknow, valued about my position.

(04:34:03):
You know, I understand I cameup a rough season, but I don't
think it's a step down of whereI can play. You know, I
think when I'm at the top ofmy game, I'm still you know,
top five player in my position.And you know, I played a run
in the past and I bring leadershipand you know that's not anything I discover.

(04:34:25):
Can you you plan to be herefor many camp? Ram the start
of training camp? Yeah, howdifficult has it been the last two weeks
to not be here? I meanyou said on your podcast the first time
you've never not been in ot Yeah, it w it was difficult, but
like, you know, the thingI got very frustrated with was just when
people questioned my communication with the team. You know, I uh was communicating

(04:34:45):
with guys left and right, andyou know, front office, coaches,
teammates, and all I care aboutis how I am with my teammates.
I don't want them to ever thinkI don't care about them or how I'm
not in And you know, youcan say whatever you want about me.
But besides that, but I alwaysdedicate anything I can't do, and I

(04:35:07):
don't want that to every question.Isaiah said that it felt like sometimes you
were hold up somewhere watching film.You texted, uh, miss this or
you want that. Well, likethe first day, he was batting all
up Russ's passes, so I hadto let him know. You know,
uh, you gotta take advantage ofthat. You gotta make sure guys are
you know, uh know that youyou still care and you still wanna be

(04:35:29):
a part of this. Uh,you know, just watching practice, there's
a couple of little things we're doingdifferent, whether I'm communicating with dumbbar or
other people. You know Soviet,so you're that you're also talking with him
and you you've given him pointers duringthe off season, just constant communication.
How do you see new girl asa person, you know, as far
as how he's approaching things, howhe's getting ready for this season, promising

(04:35:52):
his rookie year. Uh. Youknow, I think the thing with Keanu
is he's more comfortable, you know, you know side his first time around
the track. You know, it'sactually like he can you know, uh
catch his feet under him. Youknow, I always think when you're in
your rookie season, you're going frombowl game. I don't even know Wisconsin
playing a bowl game. Sorry,Wisconsin, I don't even know. But

(04:36:14):
you know, personally, I justthink when you go from bowl game to
training for the combine to you know, rookie minicamp to OTAs the you know
mini camp, I mean the trainingcamp the regular season, you really don't
get the time to really catch yourself. You know, he understands the playbook
now, he can be more vocal, you know. And I think when
my absence the other guy's absence,you know, you need guys like that

(04:36:37):
to step up and be ready forthose opportunities. The server you had,
say you have during the season wasa more thorough what was just tightened down
everything you know on my left sidebecause I was overcompensating a little bit,
but you know it was it wasn'tanything that lingers. You know, I'll
say this, A growing is notlike an a cl It's like anything's ever

(04:37:00):
going to get affected again. Andyou know, you know, feeling good,
able to do everything, squat andheavy with power and speed, so
you know, it feels good toget after again. What do you think
of what the team is able toaccomplish? Your offs usually turn to bring
guys like rushing and things, andyou know, I think they're all good
acquisitions. But you know, younever want to be known as a paper

(04:37:22):
champion and so can't win the offseason. I think the work gets done
out here on the field, getsdone in the classroom. Wow, it
gets done training, uh, youknow, and then you see where you're
at in training camp, and thenyou build on that. You know,
I think we got the right guysin the building. It's just about putting

(04:37:42):
a complete team on the field.Camp. How temper college to separate from
business part of the game in theactual football player, Uh, you know
you always wanna you always have totreat it like a business because you know,
one day it's gonna end. Andthat's a ben job. Uh.

(04:38:02):
It's not like in college, whereyou know you got four years guaranteed.
I don't know, well now youdon't even know what nil and know scrap
but the transfer portal portal. Butyou know, you have to I still
have love for this game, andI still work my tail off, and
I still put everything into it,and that's not gonna change. But you

(04:38:25):
have to know what you bring tothe team and what your what your value
is. Hey, did it feelto be out there with your teammates today?
Emotionally great? You know, wegot a new uh, we got
a new training staff and still learningthe the warm up a little different,
but uh, you know I lovedit. Uh, you know, just
getting after it, learning new guys, Uh, going through the same drills

(04:38:45):
I've been doing by myself. Uh. I actually like having more people around,
cause like kind of go start crazywhen it's just you and another guy.
You're like, damn, I gottago back up for another rep already.
And so you know, it's niceto be up here and get a
chance to, you know, bewith my guysend Cam, were you confident

(04:39:06):
and be able to get done withyour emotions? Oh, I'm gonna I'll
try to remain pretty neutral, causeyou know, I don't wanna, you
know, be too either way.All I know is I wanna be here,
but we'll see what happens. Ismy last year here, I I
I I've had a great career here, but uh, I'll look forward to

(04:39:29):
play next year. Can you withthat second 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, youcan ask doctor Bradley, uh, doctor
doctor Zuckerbron who uh did the surgeryas well. You know, if if

(04:39:53):
anything's gonna help me and you'll makeme a lot stronger form hearing up and
you said you were training with anotherguy who you can Tyson. Oh,
I've been training with him for thelast eight years. We've always trained together.
We got a trainer up north,uh shadow Cole Haley. He's my
guy, traded trained trained, uh, Heath Miller, Brett Keesel, the

(04:40:17):
multitude of guys that I alway respect, and we've just been getting after cans.
Very few guys historically thirty five theypaid big contract that you think that's
held against you. I think there'snot a lot of history behind it.
But you know, for me,I I look at as I'm not looking
to be like anybody else. Youknow, my game is different from everybody

(04:40:37):
else in this league. You know, I like to think, you know,
I can play the run in thepast, and then that's where I'm
different. You know, I rememberlast year Mike t just brought to my
attention. You know, the thingthat's really cool is you watch powerlifters,
and you know, my game's builton powering technique and those guys going to
their forties and so you know,that's what kind of research I'm doing behind

(04:41:00):
the scenes. But you know,I we'll see what happens. There's not
a lot of history. But I'mhere to make history and I'm here to
you know, and win another SuperBowl year and you know, have a
great season. Do you have aset goal over yourself on how many years
you want to play in the NFLor do you just take things year by

(04:41:21):
the year. You know, itwas it was tough answering that question right
after the season. I will saythis, guys, I can't keep answering
that question right after the season.That is not fair to the season,
That's not fair to my family,you know. But in my mind,
I got three years and I wantto maximize them. I wanna play at

(04:41:41):
a high level and I want togo deep in the playoffs. And you
know, we got a good team, and I'm gonna do my part to
be ready for all those situations here. You plan on practicing when you reports
latrob or it's your possibility that youmight pull in and enforcewituations. I have
not even thought that far. I'vetaken a day by day uh you know,
uh uh. I told my agentand we talked about it. I

(04:42:03):
mean, we were cool coming outhere. You know. I'll be here
for many you know, and thenI'll be there for training Garan. You
know, I don't know what thework entails, but ky, when we
get there, we'll we'll cross thatpache. Why is it a god free
or remain a stealer for those threeyears? You know? There was a

(04:42:25):
conversation between me, Omar and Miket And there's certain guys that are one
helmet guys, you know, andI wanna be one of those one helmet
guys, and you know there's athere's a hunger and desire there. But
that doesn't mean just hanging it upand calling a career. To me,
I think you know, I gotmore bullets to fire, and uh,

(04:42:49):
you know, I'm excited to dothat. What's the meaning last one?
You and Russell Wilson are gonna beout there with WALTERI man. Uh what
WALTI Payton Man of the Year past. I saw Russ's on social media,
but I haven't had a chance tosee it. I'll let that surprise happens
when it happens. But