Press Conference (Dre'Mont Jones)

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
On see how the seems the bestfit. Christian Chris caps he here we
go. Yeah, Dria, welcometo Seattle. Like, what were you
looking for in free agency? Ifeel like that's a loaded question for real,
for real, Uh, you knowin terms of you know, pay

(00:22):
system, teammates, environment, city, all those kind of just like play
into it. Besides just the moneything. I know, financials always play
a big role and I kind ofsteer you into the direction you want to
go, but everything kind of playsinto it. And how much did you
reach out to Shelby Drew, knowwhat some of the guys you knew the
played here last year to get asense for what what Seattle might offer you.

(00:45):
I mean not much right now.I'll talk to I'll talk to Shelby
a little bit about it. Mainlyno one, Drew, Uh, just
congratulate me, Bob. Did youcome together pretty quick? I know you
kind of came your agreement on thatfirst Monday and everything with Seattle that all

(01:06):
come together really faster. Now,it was a long don Seattle came in
almost out of nowhere. We hadlike a good set of teams that we
were talking to just trying to 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 and uh, they kind of just motivating me to
come here more and more. Andhow similar will your role be, you
know in terms of playing what youdid in Denver. I don't know that

(01:30):
yet. I kind of just mentionedpreviously, I don't know my role.
I don't know the ins and outyet. Once we'll get you no through
the protocols and nfl PA, we'llwe'll talk about know the schemes and everything,
right, so welcome. When youwere in Denver in the three four,
where did you find yourself most comfortableand most effective in one role?

(01:53):
I played a lot of different positionsin Denver. I mean earlier my year,
I played zero, I played three, two, one. I mean
I definitely more comfortable in a shadedposition, mainly being a three technique and
five technique. That's why I foundmyself to be more comfortable whether I'm standing
up or I'm not, whether it'srunner or pass, those seem to be
my best my best fits. Andwhat is your impression of Pete Carroll's defense

(02:16):
and whole environment from afar It seemslike he holds in on defense a lot.
I can't really say too much aboutthat. Yeah, I don't.
I know Pete Carroll very little,So I'm just trying to figure out more
and I'll give you a better answerlater. What's some reputation around the league
out of the sea? Uh?You know hard nos Hard had type of

(02:37):
team definitely on a little more lackside as opposed to being stuck up or
military style, and which is definitelygood because then this program has won a
lot of football games, have beensuper successful for many years, as long
as I've been alive, as longas I've been watching football, and definitely
this has been a good program.And Pete Carroll has been a hell of

(02:57):
a coach for as long as Ican remember, even back in his college
days. So I'm looking forward toexperiencing that. John Boyle, Yeah,
I know you said you don't knowyet. You know what your role is
going to be, which is whatwhat kind of player you fans who haven't
watched Time of Denver, what kindof player this get? Definitely a high
motor, definitely not a one trippon any type of player I like to

(03:20):
attack, you know, whether it'sa 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 my opinion. Brady, are there, Brady Henderson
from ESPN, Nice to meet you. Yeah, this is not a team
that really makes big splash signings infree agency. Did you think going into

(03:43):
it that Seattle would be in UhNo, not at all. You just
it's kind of like being a cureat the county store. You know,
I've got a whole bunch of differentoptions coming at you, hearing, a
whole bunch of different crazy things,and uh, you know, you only
get to choose one. And thisis the place that that we both chose
each other. And I mean,I'm loving Seattle so far. You know,
I like these colors for real.What what did you gut to do

(04:04):
with Seattle or see? Not much? Uh, just kind of just driving
around the city, exploring, gettingdown to the market a little bit.
I want to get on the Ferriswill do some more like touristy type of
things. You know, I'm newto the city and I got a lot
to learn about the city, right. Yeah, there's been a lot of
comparisons with you to Michael Bennett.I was wondering if you know Michael Bennett

(04:27):
at all and you think accurate.I know Michael BERR. Ben it like
nothing. I know nothing about itbut besides his style of play. But
I'm honored to be considered in thesame conversation as him and uh style of
play. You know, He's aHall of Fame type of deep lineman that
I've known about since I was akid. I mean, last time he
played here I was in high school. So you know, it's cool to
it kind of came full circle alittle bit watching him on TV, and

(04:50):
now I'm being kind of compared tohim in the way, you know.
I mean, I'm not touching thesurface of Michael Bennett. You know,
he's a Hall of Famer and I'mnot there yet, So you know,
I just gotta keep doing abu duediligence to be a better player. Carn
Hey, Dreamont, welcome to Seattle. I know you get to play several
seasons for Vic Fangio and three fourstyle defense and Seattle's playing a similar system

(05:14):
now dating back to last year.As a defensive lineman, what do you
think is most important to be successfulin that system? Maybe fundamentals or just
playing style to be successful. Fromwhat I learned, being gap sound and
being patient has always been the biggestthing, and that's how we've been successful.
When I was in Denver, justkind of like relying on each other.
I know that sounds kind of cliche, but like there's kind of like

(05:36):
the the realm of being in thethree four defense. You got to really
really rely on the guys behind youand the guys on the side of you
to really make their to do theirjob to make your job easier. Bob,
yeah, dream Well, well,uh, you your house date bioffs
that you didn't start playing football,so you were junior in high school and

(05:58):
largely played basketball till then. Thatwhat made I guess decided to go play
football then away from basketball. No, no, no, I've always loved
football first. Uh, it wasjust kind of just playing it out.
You know, I love a hoop, but you know, football was definitely
about calling. Given I was atwo hundred and sixty five pound power forward
and I was like six strees changed, so you know, I kind of

(06:19):
chose the route that God gave me. You know, I'm not six eight.
Yeah, very well, come toSeattle and you've been quoted and you
look at a couple of articles thatyou undergo player and can you just talk
a little bit about that uh definiterole that some of the russ you always

(06:42):
kind of counted out when US camethrough. Can you elaborate more than that
just from a standpoint like I alwaysget like over overshadowed, overlooked, whether
it's a in something, you knowwhat I'm saying, Like, I feel
like I do a lot more thanwhat can be uh sitten by the the
eyes of the inexperienced, you know, Scout and I do a lot of
different dynamic things that help make playsfor others. You know, I'm definitely

(07:04):
an active player. I'm always doingsomething, whether in the runner pass game,
so you know, I think thatgoes on another sometimes and I'm looking
forward to putting people on notice.Brady, what uh what do you like
to do outside of football? Uh? Big gamer? I'm definitely I've been
getting to a lot of chests lately, so just to expand my brain.

(07:28):
Uh. I try to get intoreading, but if it's not a sports
related I'm really not interested in readingthat book. Who do you think some
of that I'll be able to bringout of your games. You can keep
trying to, you know, justbeing more explosive, probably more yards for
catch with the space that he's puttingus into. The more yards, more
yards have to catch, more exposiveto pick, more exposed to play,

(07:49):
so for for not just only me, but she and ak and taste them.
So I'm excited to to be ableto be in the system. I
assume you think you guys can bea lot more explosier than you have in
the last couple of years. Ohyeah, of course. It brings a
lot of different things, you knowwhat I'm saying, the playbook, but
just accountability. I feel like that'sgonna lead us to success. They said

(08:11):
the language is a little a littleshorter it Have you found that the language
that you guys use. Is itabout the same or is it it's kind
of the same. Really, it'sa long long plays, but it's more
understanding for sure. I feel likeyou could get to that more understanding plays,
and I feel like that's that's thedifference. Hater was saying the other
day, just kind of like cominginto this offense after like twenty years of

(08:33):
breeze and just kind of how itwas just kind of built on top of
each other, on top of eachother. It's like kind of a lot
to kind of take in. Doyou do you find that they kind of
turn it down to something new,starting to like zero with everybody. It's
just a little bit easier to kindof get everybody on the same Yeah.
I feel like it's way easier.Like you said, it was kind of
more of a Drew Brees style thelast playbook, So all credit to them

(08:56):
though they built that around him,around his players. But like I said,
it's it's more. Uh, thisplaybook is more uh for uh matchups
and Uh, I feel like it'sgonna be better for us or do you
think it's gonna really take advantage ofyour skill sets? Uh? Just building
around the strengths that I have.You know what I'm saying, things that

(09:16):
I can do and things that shecan do, uh, things that our
players can 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 around the way.
This offense will have a lot morespeed. And how has that transition been
so far? I mean, LikeI said, it's building around the players
strengths. So of course we gotspeed uh uh with me and or uh

(09:37):
she and ati receiver, so uh, just building around that. Uh.
Like I said, playing to ourstrengths and be able to capitalize off that.
Feel like it's gonna help us alot. But most of like uh
the up tempo astract and you know, getting a lot of plays in the
less time. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's definitely
gonna play a big difference. LikeI said, coming from the West Coast,
Uh, they bringing that stand foran offense here. So uh,

(09:58):
I'm excited to be be able tobe a part of that. It's good
for you personally. What what's thenext level look like for you? What
do you what are you trying toaccountli this year? Just staying consistent,
man, a couple of upside downslast year, just building off that.
It's always always gonna work on thephysical part, but being able to bounce
back after a bad game the mentalmental aspect, Uh, just learning learned

(10:20):
that last year and be able tobuild on that this year is a huge
part. You know with Mike Gon, do you take it upon yourself to
kind of be that voice in theroom or to take a step forward even
further as uh. I mean it'snot really. I mean, everybody kind
of grown in the NFL, soit's just on you to be able to

(10:41):
have that standard. Like I said, I just try to do that,
lead by example. I'm not reallyoutspoken, but just lead by example,
working hard, trying to dominate everyrep and hopefully they follow after that.
I bet yards after the catch?Is that you feel like that's the strength
of yours that maybe wasn't utilize.I don't know if utilized the right word,
but you could chow more. Yeah, it's it's an offense that uh

(11:05):
is built around that. Uh justcatching the ball in space, catching the
ball over the middle or even onthe outside, uh with with space and
separation. I feel like it's builtaround having yards have to catch. So
I'm definitely proud to be in thesystem, like I said, and I'm
excited. But is that is thata mindset too? Like being good at
yards after the catch? Like?Oh yeah, I mean of course.

(11:26):
I mean you don't want to gettackled by the first person. And my
mindset is trying to take every takeeverything to the house, you know,
every touch, So Uh, Idefinitely got to do that more and definitely
try to work on that and practicegreat dude man, Uh some some that
I definitely needed. Something that herelates to me. Uh just from backgrounds

(11:50):
and uh he's a great coach,great leader, Uh, motivational and uh.
Like I said, I'm excited tohave him around and for him to
push me is everything that I need. So and you're talking about like mentally
bouncing back, you know, fromtough performances or whatever, Like, did
you try to fund your resources gonnahelp you figure out how to do that?
Oh? Yeah, I mean it'solder guys. Uh uh tell me

(12:11):
that's natural just have bad games.But uh, just having the standard that
I have for myself and the expectationsI have for myself, it gets hard
sometimes. So just be able tobe hard on yourself but at the same
time just let it go and justbounce back for the next game is something
that I learned last year. You'reone of those guys that feels like you

(12:33):
should always have a certain level ofproduction. Are you okay with those certain
games where the defense is so focusedon you that other guys have big games
and you're just running good routes anduh yeah, I'd definitely be one dimensional.
In football. You need to beable to throw the ball as much
as run the ball. You know, It's funny. Some people think I'm
an area guy. Some people thinkI'm ana wing tea guys. Some people
think I want to run the ballevery down. You know, we're gonna

(12:56):
We're gonna do what's best for ahouse state, and that's that's kind of
what our game plan is, right, yeah, right, Austin wore a
podcast. When you think about yourfirst evaluations of the quarterbacks and going through
these fifteen practices at how do youwant to structure that? I know that
you and Ryan have probably talked aboutthat a good amount, Like what's the
right way to set up a springposition battle? How many reps does everybody

(13:18):
need? What's sort of your planjust from a general perspective, I guess
yeah, you know, we're reallydetailed in what practice looks like and how
that's going to operate. But Ialso think you need to let the players
go, you know, So Idon't think you need to put shackles on
them, so to speak, andjust keep them constrained. I think you
got to let them go. Andyou got to let them operate, and
we were rotating I think everybody onevery two snaps today just and that was

(13:39):
just what we're going to do onday one. You know, we'll reassess
it after we got through it.Get a chance to count up all the
reps of how many plays, howmany plays each guy got and did they
get more in seven on than theydid in eleven on? You know,
and we'll go through that whole thingand that'll be a constant flow in terms
of how we're doing it. ButI think the best way people learn is
they learn by doing, you know. So they've been great in the meeting
rooms. They're sharp when you gethim on the board, they're really good

(14:03):
when they're watching film. But yougotta go out and you gotta play the
game. And so the more thatwe can put him in those situations to
play the game, the better we'llhave an opportunity to evaluate them. Uh,
ships thinking of all of these things. Uh go back, So for
with Ryan Day, you mentioned sinceyou've done him since she was a kid,

(14:24):
what were your first impressions back then? And then she come full circle
to now, like, how doyou how do you feel about that it's
still the same way he you know, even since he was playing little league.
He was the ultimate competitor, youknow, and he was always trying
to find a way to win.He was great at a lot of sports,
Baseball, basketball, football, youknow. I got an opportunity to
recruit him, you know, soI coached him when I was at New

(14:45):
Hampshire. I recruited him out ofhigh school and we all and we grew
up really close to each other,so same elementary school, same high school,
same junior high, same college.You know. So I've known him
since for for a really long time. But that competitive fire burns deep with
him, and that's the one thingthat I've always had married with him.
And he's got an amazing athletic brainin terms of how to process things and
how to how to put people inposition to make place. He's always been

(15:07):
that prototypical coach on the field,no matter what sport he was playing.
So I knew he was destined tobe a coach, you know. And
I was fortunate in my career asa head coach to have him on my
staff in a couple of places,so I got a chance to see him
work firsthand, you know. Igot to see him work firsthand as a
player and then as a coach.So the success he had is not is
not surprising to me. Is therewhere you seeing Ryan the successes had.

(15:31):
Yeah, I think we all dothat. I think we come from a
unique place in a really small hometownin New Hampshire where we all take a
lot of pride to where we're from, and and when anybody's successful coming out
of there, then you kind oftake a little pride that that's it's the
upbringing that we all had, youknow, in the UTH sports program that
we grew up in in in everyaspect, whether it was football, baseball,
basketball, those coaches we had anamazing impact on us and that's why

(15:54):
we are where we are right now. Bil Rainwatch. Ryan said he doesn't
think of it as you working underhim, that's working with him. The
fact is he's the head coach.He makes me call him sir though he
just said can you do that dayone and I was like all right,
right now. But I mean heultimately is the decision maker. You've been

(16:18):
a head coach, how do youthink that's going to work? Do you
think there'll be any as close asyou are? Any kind of awkward moments
the right term. But when he'sthe ultimate decider and you are working for
him, Yeah, I certainly understandmy role. I'm not Alhaic like I'm
not I'm not in charge here.Yeah, some people get that reference.

(16:40):
Other people don't get that reference.But I'd certainly understand that, and I
actually kind of relish it because Ireally love the scheming part. I love
the individual part. I love beingin the meeting room of the quarterbacks and
trying to game plan. But everythingwe do here is collaborative. You know.
The one thing that really struck mewhen I walked in this place is
there's an amazing coaching staff here,you know. And if you get a
chance to talk to Larry Johnson justabout football, or Tim Walton or Jim

(17:04):
Knowles or Brian Hartline or any ofthese guys that are on the staff here,
it's it's a very collaborative effort.I think everybody's on the same page.
You know. It's not our offenseand their defense and it's Ohio State,
you know, and it's it's OhioState versus the twelve opponents that we're
gonna play during the regular season.And then beyond. So it's it's really
collaborative. And that's the thing Ilike, just in the short time that

(17:26):
I've been here, is how collaborativeeverybody's been. You know, we're all
trying to make each other better andwe're all trying to develop this team.
Touched on this, you said,you know, you like to do what
you want to do and not Mysense is you, in your perfect world,
you'd like to scribble plays on anapkin and not deal with boosters,
don't deal with all the stuff thatcoaches head coaches have to deal with.

(17:48):
Now, how much of a factorwas that in this decision? You can
just do football? No, that'snot it. I mean I enjoy I
mean we've had some amazing I've hadan opportunity and everywhere I've been to meet
some amazing people that are associated withthe program. And there's people that from
my time at New Hampshire or mytime at Oregon. I was just with
Phil Night two weeks ago, youknow, and got an opportunity to spend
some time with him and his wife, Penny, who are dear friends of

(18:11):
mine that have been great mentors tome in my career. And there's a
bunch of people that a Ucla.Terry donnahe Andrea Donna who were awesome to
me. Angela Mazzoni is a greatfriend, Casey Wasserman, Troy Aikman.
There was a bunch of people atUCLA that I really enjoyed, you know,
being around and talking with. SoI think sometimes everybody wants to make
a narrative of it's either this orthat. It's it's never that. It's
never just all ball, it's neverjust all recruiting, it's never just all

(18:33):
boosters. It's a mixture of everything. But I think the one thing that
as this position as a head coachkept moving on is that if you look
at a lot of them, theyall become more CEOs. You know.
I can't tell you how many coachesthat have called me since I made this
decision that said I'm two years behindyou, brother, You know that are
thinking the same exact way. AndI think it's all part of what we

(18:55):
have to do. I think weall need to protect this game and promote
this game, and I think thereare some rules that we need to get
straightened out so that people understand wherewhat it's about. Because the game is
still about the players, and Ihope that 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 peoplethat are making decisions on this, and
I think Jean Smith is one ofthe best influences in in the NCAAA,

(19:18):
is to make sure we keep thatthe main thing. The main thing needs
to be the student athletes. Youknow, you're coming in at a time
where you've been through some places wherethe expectations are high. I understand it's
also coming into a juncture where,you know, the three losses to Michigan,
the not making the playoff last year, the urgency is pretty high here.

(19:41):
I guess just sort of what perspectivedo you have on kind of the
stakes that there are for Ryan thisyear and the decision that then he makes
to bring you in to kind ofhelp solve that. Yeah, I think
the expectations can be no harder thanthey are in your own brain, you
know. And I think if youtry to worry about what other people are
thinking in their brains, you're goingto get screwed up little bit. So,
you know, I talked earlier theone thing about Ryan that I know

(20:03):
about him and has always been.He's the ultimate competitor. So he's got
there's nowhere that has higher expectations ofOhio State than Ryan does, nor the
rest of us that joined him inare part of this and that are working
with him. So, you know, I don't think I think sometimes you
can spend too much time thinking aboutthose things. You know, what you
really have to do is just asthere's a big sign as you walk into
this place, it says when themoment, you know, I think that's
a real thing that we have todo as coaches, is to make sure

(20:26):
that our players aren't worried about what'sgoing on in the future, or or
aren't worried about what's going on inthe past, or worry about can they
get a little bit better today,you know, and can we make improvement?
And I think the one thing thatI've seen here, and I've only
been here for three weeks, butthere's a consistency to the players approach when
they walk in this building every day, which is it's unique. It's not
like that everywhere else. And it'sone of the things that I remark to
Mick when I you know, hesaid, hey, what do you think

(20:48):
and I was like, it's impressive. It's impressive the culture of the players
that are in this program right now. But I think it speaks a lot
to the leadership. There's there's alot of older players on this team,
and they've set the tone for theyounger players, and I think the younger
players have done a great job offollowship and getting right in line with that.
He's never hit it over play callingto someone before. What does it
mean to you? I guess hetechnically did it to Bill when he was

(21:08):
here for a couple of weeks,But what does that mean to you to
kind of be getting that responsibility fromhim and he's calling essentially the offense that
you gave it? I guess insome way. Yeah, I still think
the play calling part will be acollaborative effort. And by that I 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,

(21:29):
you can just hen point the fingera 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, someonethat's calling the plays isn't isn't like pulls
one out of left field that youhadn't practiced and hadn't been part of your
offense and said, hey, let'sdo this. You know, we're not

(21:52):
running the annexation of Puerto Rico.You know, we're not coming up with
something special you know in the middleof the 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 youput it all together, and then how
you practice and train for that sothat you get a chance to execute it.
Because the player's confidence comes become comesfrom their demonstrated ability that they've done
this so many times in practice thatwhen they get out on the field that

(22:15):
this is like that to them.You know, 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. Soyou know, I think it's that whole
part of it that is really thekey to being a really good game planning
team, right Doug Lane reefing NorthChip when you had that feeling when you
were coaching the quarterbacks during Bowl.Did you consider at that point maybe resigning

(22:40):
as the head coach and thinking likethis is this is not where I am
anymore. I'll leave and then I'lllook to see what else is out there.
No. I never thought about quittinganything. So, you know,
I just is there an opportunity thatI think I can that fit, you
know, And I think that's theyou know, it's no different than when
you're talking to a recruit about themdecision on where they're going to go to
school. I think that where theyshould go to school is where the best

(23:02):
fit is for them. So,you know, I just entertained some opportunities
and I always felt I felt likethis 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 die. ButI mean, that's how I think
I think about things. Is Ican't picture that. I know someone I
was on the Nike trip and theylike, how much longer are you gonna
go? When I said I togo another fifteen twenty years. I don't

(23:26):
think about I don't think about retirement. I don't think about any of those
things. That's just not kind ofmy mindset that you know. I love
football and in the as long asI can 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 thereanything that you wish you had done differently,
or anything you regret, or justthat the circumstances that presented themselves.

(23:47):
Do you think that you handled thatdeparture the best that you could have?
Yeah? I mean I got anopportunity to tell my players personally. You
know, I think in this dayand age of the internet, where they
read it somewhere else and you haveto text message him. You know,
that was always important to me thatI wanted to make sure I talked to
my players and explain the reasons ofwhat I was doing. I wasn't leaving
to take a head coaching job somewhereelse. I wasn't thinking that the grass
is greener at another university. Wasjust in my personal situation, this is

(24:11):
what I wanted to do. Iwanted to take an opportunity to go be
a position coach and coordinator, andthat's how it fit. You know what
I was happy. Is that Ialways thought to Sean Foster, I think
the world of them, and Ithink he's a special you know. And
the fact that that they were theygave him the opportunity to take over there
was you know, it worked out. I didn't have any say in that

(24:32):
decision, you know, I wasgone. But I always thought that the
Shawn would be a great head coach, and I'm really proud of him and
happy that that he got the opportunityto take that job right behind him or
actually have your reputation as innovator.Was part of the appeal of this is
that you get to get in theweeds a little bit. Uh maybe not
mad scientists, maybe too too strongof a word, because you're working within

(24:55):
the system. But was there anappeal of I get to get my hands
very here year again and innovate andget back to that side of things.
It was, But it was reallymore important of who I get to work
with, you know, and soknowing you know, I've got I know
a lot of guys on the staffbesides Ryan also, so you know,
when I know what their mindset isand what their values are and how they

(25:17):
do things, and so I wantto be a part of that. But
but there's a part of that.Yeah, how much of a teacher you
get labeled and innovators the teachings arepart of this. How much it is
of a teacher are even? Howpatient are you? Yeah? I think
we're all teachers. I mean,education is the transportation of knowledge, you
know, So it really doesn't matterwhat the coach knows. It matters what
the players understand, you know.So you have to be able to make

(25:40):
sure that while you're implementing things iswhat resonates with them and how does that
come back to them. So,you know, a lot of our teaching
styles that we've learned is more ofthe Socratic method of there's a lot of
questions, you know, and alot of check for understandings, just to
kind of find out where the playersare coming from, because it's what they
know that that's ultimately gonna win games, not what we know. You know

(26:00):
that we're not playing the games,we're not stepping across those white lines,
you know. And your job asa coach is to create an environment where
they have an opportunity to be successfuland then get out of their way and
let them go do it. SoI think the teaching aspect is huge,
and we continue to research, youknow, some of the latest trends in
teaching to make sure that we aretransporting that knowledge to our players. The
second roll left Steve Hellwaggen twenty fourseven Sports. Yeah, coach, just

(26:23):
treius, you got five scholarship quarterbackswith differing levels of experience from age and
everything else. Not to annoyed him, but just want to ask specifically about
Will Howard coming in after starting partof two years at keys a stage.
He just seems to promote this ideathat he's a football player, you know

(26:45):
above all else. Just how impressedare you with his makeup, his experience,
what he's bringing to the table walkingin here right now? Yeah?
Really impressed. You know that youdon't have to talk to Will for more
than five minutes to kind of knowwhere he's coming from. He's really focused.
You know, he knows he's gota short window left in his college
career and it really wants to capitalizeon what that is. There's a maturity

(27:07):
to Will, you know, Ireally I've had experience. My experience in
this thing since the transfer portal openedin college football is some of the best
players I've had an opportunity to coachaward transfers. Sometimes when you're a 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're a
transfer, is that I've got ninemonths, you know. So there's a
sense of urgency I think when you'redealing with with transfers, and I think

(27:32):
Will has exuded that since he's beenhere. But the other thing that I
just in the short time that Willhas been here is how quickly he's fit
in with the entire team, youknow, and how much the rest of
the players respect him. You know. He was one of the Gold Award
winners for his work in the weightroom in this offseason, so that says
a lot for him coming in hereas in a short time being able to

(27:52):
win a weight room award, youknow, to start off, you guys
hope to have the number one internallyexternally at the end of spring or I
guess, just how do you I? I 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 can anointsomebody or force the issue because the players
know. The players would understand.They see it every single day, you

(28:14):
know. And there's a team chemistrypart of this thing too. So we're
not gonna force the issue a butI've always seen it play itself out.
So I've been fortunate that there's alwaysgonna be some quarterback battles that at some
point in time at every school there'sa quarterback battle, you know, and
then and really you gotta let themplay it out on the field, and
that's where it has to That's that'swhere it has to be decided. Just
a couple Hey, welcome than youwere excited to have you here. I'm

(28:40):
kind of to talk about the innovativepart. Ryan said that that's something that
he's always loved about working with you, and now he wants you to bring
that here and how it would fitwith Ohio State. Do you have any
idea what that's gonna look like yetor is it just way too late?
I have no idea, you know. I I think part of it is
is you're trying to put the playersin position to make plays. So a
lot of that comes from getting tounderstand the players and what their skill sets

(29:03):
are and how we feature what theirskill sets are, you know, and
and the one thing after day one, I can tell you that there's a
lot of skill set out there,you know. So that's that's what gets
you excited, you know, that'swhat That's what you jump out of bed
in the morning and you're excited togo to work because of the talent that
you get to work with. Butthe one thing that's the most impressive is
the work ethic that goes along withthat talent. You know, it's not

(29:25):
just empty talent. It's you gotsome kids who want to I mean all
of them since I've been here,want to work. So that's what gets
you excited. But I think assessingwhat the skill set is you know,
that we have available to us onthe 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

(29:45):
coach national championship cal Over teams thisprogram right now and moving into a situation
where you got to win Quicken now, So does that feel like pressure here
for you or is it a littlebit of excitement or both? Well,
I've always subscribed to his pressure iswhat you feel when you don't know what
you're doing. So if you don'twant to feel pressure, and then you
should know what you're doing, so, you know, I think it's it's

(30:07):
part of that, and I thinkpart of our job with our players in
terms of the education process is gettingthem to understand that too. Is that
you know, it's it's about yourpreparation. It's about you and your development.
It's not about that you can't begoverned by what other people say.
It's it's what's my mindset and howam I intrinsically motivated and then how do
I really compete against myself on adaily basis to get a little bit better.
You know, we got a littlebit better today because we get out

(30:30):
on the field today and got achance to do some football. And then
the challenges when we get back onthe field on Thursday. Can we be
a little bit better than we wereon Tuesday? And if we're doing that,
then we keep stacking good days ontop of good days, and I
think we'll be in good spot.And welcome, thank you. I'm gonna
ask about the pros and cons ofcoaching from the box and coaching from the
field it's interesting talk to some offsome coordinators. Tom Herman talked about he

(30:52):
swore he wanted to coach from thebox, saw the game so much better,
sterile environment, not all the chaoson the field. Some coaches you
talk to the like, I wantto be on the fields and look at
my guys in in the eye.Where are you as a as a coordinator?
Honestly, And I've thought of thisa lot. I thought of it
a lot during COVID because we hadthe empty stands, you know, so
I had thought about just walking upinto the stands for a little bit because
I had a better advantage. I'vealways believed you can see the game better

(31:15):
from up above, but I believeyou can feel the game better from the
field. So if there was anyway we could get a zip wire where
you could do both, you know, coach called from there and then zip
out of the field get a chanceto talk to him, because it's a
different deal when you're talking to thequarterbacks on a phone, you know,
than being able to look in theireye and kind of see where they are
with it, and part of itis the field part of it. I

(31:36):
remember when I coach Ryan once wewere playing Ukon and he got hit hard
going out of bounce and he justwalked by me, and I was a
play caller, and he was like, run the next play, and I
just kind of looked at him.I saw the look in his eyes because
I don't think he could have thrownit. You know, he was still
trying to get his win back.But you wouldn't know that if you're up
in the booth, you know,and you call a pass play from up
in the booth and you're like,how come we can't complete that? Well,
he just took a shot going outof bound. So it's that fine

(32:00):
line and I don't have an answer, you know. I think I think
it's feel on the ground and it'ssee from up above. Maybe in this
day a technology, they'll figure itout. But we'll see how that that
that operates, and whatever Ryan feelsis the best for the team is what
we're gonna do. So your teamsat the Oregon were obviously you know,

(32:21):
we're playing at this past pace andrun a bunch of plays per minute and
yep, maybe not by fall prettyfast. What role do you see tempo
and having an offense and in thestation in college football? And has maybe
changed. I think the game isalways evolving, you know. I think
when I left in two thousand andtwelve to go to the National Football League,
Oregon was the only team that wasplaying really really fast and had shiny

(32:44):
helmets. And when I came backin twenty seventeen, everybody had shiny helmets
and everybody was playing fast. SoI think the game is always going to
go up and down, and there'sgonna be different cycles that it goes through.
I think tempo is part of anoffense, but I don't think it's
an offense, and it's I thinkit's more of like if you go to
dinner, it's a side order.You know, it's not the main course,

(33:04):
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 gonnarun the ball every single snap in the
game. You know, there there'sthere's not a game of absolutes anymore.
I think the ability to be diverseand and have it as a tool in
your two box, so to speak, uh is really how we would look

(33:28):
at using it here are now workfamiliar with it then, I think so,
you know, I think when youfirst started going Temple, there were
people in the NCAA. They wantto outlawd They want to make an NCAA
role that Yeah, you couldn't doit, you know, and I'll I'll
give coach Shaping credit. I mean, I think obviously Nick was the first
one to do it. He wantedit outlaud and then all of a sudden
he adapted it and said, allright, we like this, you know,
so we'll keep it in. Butit's I think people have it doesn't

(33:52):
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.
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

(34:15):
Jim played against the you know,it was they could have been a four
down defense and those guys would havebeen great players. But it's not the
scheme. I think that the coachesthat do it the best way is they
insert their players and put them inthe best position to make plays. And
now, now will Temple be partof it. It'll be part of it,
but it's certainly not going to bethe main course. And awesome.
Sorry last question, Tim, Oh, thank you very much, Jerry uh.

(34:37):
Number one, there was the greatmoment there when y'all were warming up,
when you were you were talking withTim Walton and Caleb Downs comes up
and conversing and as you're in thiskind of a two part question, but
number one, what was just yourtake on the talent you saw on that
field today on both sides of theball. Where where would you rank it?
Yeah, I'll rank it. I'llbe very transparent. As I was

(34:58):
telling Tim and Caleb the great offensiveplayer I thought Caleb would be, could
be and should be. But I'mnot the head coach, so I always
turned stretch as a as an offensivecoordinator, I'm always looking at the defensive
players like I could use him.Oh what could I do if I had
him? What could I do ifI have him, but I don't.

(35:20):
I don't get to choose him anymorebecause I'm I'm not. I don't have
the pick. But I was justtalking to him about he's He's a great
young man. And if you watch, if you want to watch a highlight
type watches, you know, Iunderstand I came up a rough season,
but I don't think it's a stepdown of where I can play. You
know, I think when I'm atthe top of my game, I'm still
you know, top five player inmy position. And you know, I

(35:43):
play the run in the past andI bring leadership and that's not anything I
discount. Can you plan to behere for Mini Camp ram the start of
Dreaming Camp? Yeh? How difficulthas it been the last two weeks to
not be here? And you saidin your podcast the first time you've never
know, Yeah, it w itwas difficult, But like you know,
the thing I got very frustrated withwas just when people questioned my communication with

(36:07):
the team. You know, Iuh was communicating with guys left and right,
and you know, front office,coaches, teammates, and all I
care about is how I am withmy teammates. I don't want them to
ever think I don't care about themor how I'm not in it. And
you know, you can say whateveryou want about me. But besides that,

(36:30):
but I always dedicate anything I canto them, and I don't want
that to every question. And Theayasaid that it felt like sometimes you were
holed up somewhere watching film, youtext your miss this or want well,
like the first day, he wasbatting all up Russ's passes, so I
had to let him know, youknow, I, uh, you gotta
take advantage of that. You gottamake sure guys are you know, uh

(36:52):
know that you you still care andyou 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 withGunbar or other people. You know,
tovi y, so you're that you'realso talking with him and you you've given
him a pointers during the off season, just constant communication. How do you
see him grow as a person,you know, as far as how he's

(37:14):
approaching things and how he's paying readyfor this season from his rookie year.
Uh, you know, I thinkthe thing with Keanu is he's more comfortable,
you know, you know it sincehis first time around the track.
You know, it's actually like hecan you know, uh, catch his
feet under him. You know,I always think when you're in your rookie
season, you're going from bowl game. I don't even know Wisconsin playing in

(37:35):
a bowl game. Sorry, Wisconsin, I don't even know. But you
know, personally, I just thinkwhen 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 training campthe regular season, you really don't get
a time to really catch yourself.You know, he understands the playbook.
Now he can be more vocal,you know, And I think when my

(38:00):
absence now other guys absence, youknow, you need guys like that to
step up and be ready for thoseopportunities you had saying you have during the
season was the more thorough What wasjust tightened down everything, you know on
my left side because I was overcompensatinga little bit, but you know it
was there wasn't anything that lingers.You know, I'll say this, a

(38:22):
growing is not like an a clIt's not like anything's that we're gonna get
afected again. And you know,you know I'm feeling good, able to
do everything squat and heavy with powerand speed, so you know, it
feels good to get after Again,what do you think of what the team
was able to accomplish? A shofeas return to bring guys like Russian and
things, and you know, Ithink they're all good acquisitions. But you

(38:45):
know, you never want to beknown as a paper champion, so can't
win the off season. I thinkthe work gets done out here on the
field, gets done in the classroom, It gets done training, you know,
and then you see where you're atin training camp and then you build
on that. You know, Ithink we got the right guys in the

(39:05):
building. It's just about uh,putting in a complete team on the field.
Cam how temper called is it toseparate the business part of the game
in the actual football player? Youmus uh, you know you always wanna
you always have to treat it likea business because you know one day it's
gonna end. Uh And that's anyjob. Uh, It's not like in

(39:28):
college where you know you got fouryears guaranteed. I don't know, well
now you you don't even know whatNili know. It's crap. And the
transfer portal portal. But you knowyou have to I still have love for
this game, and I still workmy tail off and I still put everything
into it, and that's not gonnachange. But you have to know,

(39:51):
uh, what you bring to theteam and what your what your value is.
Cam, you did it feel tobe out there with your teammates today?
Emotionally great? You know we gota new uh you got a new
training staff and still learning the thewarm up a little different, but 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

(40:12):
doing by myself. I actually likehaving more people around, cause like kind
of go stir crazy crazy when it'sjust you and another guy, You're like,
damn, I gotta go back upfor another rep already. And so
you know, it's nice to beup here and get a chance to,
you know, be with my guys. Cam. Were you confident and deple
We'll get done with your emotions.Oh, I'm gonna we'll try to remain

(40:37):
pretty neutral because you know, Idon't wanna be too either way. All
I know is I want to behere. But we'll see what happens.
This is my last year here.I I I've had a great career here,
but I'll look forward to play nextyear. Can you with that second
surgery you said it this time wason the left side. Was the first

(40:59):
time around on the right side,right side during the season, left side,
and that was just tightening down mycorner. My corma saw it wasn't
the same as my ad doctor.You know, you can ask doctor Bradley,
uh doct doctor Zuckerbron who uh didthe surgery as well. You know,
I if anything's gonna help me andyou'll make me a lot stronger for

(41:22):
hearing up. Did you say youwere training with another guy? Who have
you kind 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 ColeHaley, he's my guy, traded h
trained trained Uh Heath Miller, BrettKeesel, the multitude of guys that I

(41:43):
all respect and we've just been gettingafter it. Can we's very few guys
historically thirty five to get paid bigcontractor you think that's held against you.
I think there's not a lot ofhistory behind it. But you know,
for me, I I look atas I'm not going to be like anybody
else. You know, my gameis different from everybody else in this league.

(42:04):
You know, I like to think, you know, I can play
the run in the past, andthen that'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 powerlisters, and you know,
my game's built on power and technique, and those guys go into their forties
and so you know, that's whatkind of research I'm doing behind the scenes.

(42:27):
But you know, I I we'llsee what happens. There's there's not
a lot of history, but I'mhere to make history and I'm here to
you know, win another super Bowlhere and you know, have a great
season. Do you have a setgoal over yourself or how many years you
want to play in the NFL?Or do you just take things here right
here? You know it was itwas tough answering that question right after the

(42:51):
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. Uh, you know, but in my mind,
I got three years and I wannamaximize'em. I wanna play at
a high level and I wanna godeep in the playoffs. And you know,
we got a good team and I'mgonna do my part to be ready

(43:14):
for all those situations here. Ifyou plan on practice when you report to
Latrop, or is your corossibility thatyou might pull in and enforcitations. I
I have not even thought that far. I'm taking a day by day uh
you know uh uh. I toldmy agent and we talked about it.
I mean we were cool coming outhere. You know. I'll be here
for many you know, and thenI'll be there for training parent you know,

(43:37):
I don't know what the work entails, but right when we get there,
we'll we'll cross that bridge. Whyis it or remain a stealer for
those three years? You know,there was a conversation between me, Omar
and Mike t And there's certain guysthat are one helmet guys, you know,

(43:59):
and I want to be one ofthose one home of guys. And
you know, there's a there's ahunger and desire there. But that doesn't
mean just hanging it up and callinga career. To me, I think
Uh, you know, I gotmore bullets to fire and uh, you
know, I'm excited to do that. What's the meaning last one? You?
And what did your impression of him? What does he do well that

(44:21):
you're like, okay, yeah,this is this is the quarner. I
want to take card closely born deep, those hard Yeah, you can get
it right after your visit. Imean when you came down here, was
there a thought process that you couldcommit. Did you come down with an
open mind or did you kind ofhave a feeling that this was gonna be
the weekend of you made. Icame down with open mine. I didn't
know about the most mad and reallynow, but then I got here,
I felt the uh family, I'myour players of what was that moment like

(44:45):
for you talking to coaches, tellingme and theard and telling your family?
Just what was that like for you? But it was great? Uh,
I have a mom, my dad, all my brother's in the room there,
yeah my command. What was thatreaction? Well, my everybody already
knew except some things and then payfriends, So what does coach that when
you think of like just to commentor the yeah, just an Ohio state

(45:08):
back, you know, whether it'sphysicality, Like, what what are the
first things that come to mind whenyou think of the don't high share or
any back speed of power? Yeson and tell you got it? Yeah?
Is that something that I mean youfeel like you have to you know
we're going or is that something thatyou're like, Yeah, that's the kind
of back I am. I'm justgoing to be next to mine the life.
I mean, that's the cop backI am. But you go all
the Yeah, it's well, whatare kind of a few of those things

(45:30):
that you're like, Yeah, Ineed to work on, like over the
course of the next few months ofjust everything, make sure I keep all
the detail law, security. Whata coach I tell you that he likes
that's your game? Is it tacklesyour speed or what is he like?
Now? He said you like Marrowsoff the backfield game and he liked that.
I'm not what's kind of your mainI mean, obviously as an in

(45:51):
state kid committed to this class,what's your pitch now to other recruits and
be like, this is why youshould join Ohio States twenty twin class.
It's a real famine the spirit,everybody getting them on, everybody talking to
everybody, joining other what'd you saywhat you gets bringing to well? I've

(46:14):
always looked up to Bo Jackson watchingthis film. Do you uh that's funny?
Do you think that your boy styleand here a history perspective in just
the way that he you know,really totally Yeah, I think that what
you want to go with it?Yeah? I think I can. I
think the speed that power, Yeah, I think I s Who are the

(46:35):
main guys that you're you're talking toright now to join the store? I'm
really talking to everybody, uh,the listening room in that part of commisil
and any guys that you want tojoin the class. Anybody at the top
of your listen not there. I'msorry if you've already got asked this,
but coming up here as a asa recruit, as a commitments here?
What what did you want to showtoday? What did you want to get

(46:57):
out of this experience? It wasn'tup in the show nothing. I just
wanted to this working with love.How did you feel like that went?
Obviously he's still relatively new here,but he seems to bring it a little
bit of a different energy than thansome of these camps in the past.
I feel like a really good Yeah, do you sense that energy. I
mean when you're out with him,it's yeah, I feel intense in he's
different than other guys though, right, I mean kind of how would you

(47:19):
explain his coaching than some of theother running back coach you've may have worked
with in the path. It's justintense sense, like go, go go.
Did you talk to coach lack onewhen you even at organ? I
did? Okay? So when whendidn't? He didn't work? And get
him alder like Rufford around like halfof the season, like not too far
after? Okay? Is that Imean? Is it was? He kind

(47:42):
of the same guy that he isnow, so just just in a new
uniforms. Yeah, and you guysobviously added Isaiah to the class, and
there's no secret they would like toadd another one. What are your thoughts
on being in a class with threedifferent running backs like that? I have
no problem get in the past threeor not? Then on what do you
like about Isaiah? I don't knowyou, you've never met him, but

(48:05):
just damn on the first when youcommitted. Who were some of the guys
that we should hear from the particularlyabout after they come up? I'm not
really a couple of linebackers take theurey spell. That's you black. I

(48:28):
appreciate. I mean, obviously you'vegot a couple here before you did hear
it. I'm curious about how youput so high and straight thing. How
do you do? It's pretty youstarted pretty good. But I mean in
terms of the guys, don't youwant to join? You're just your camp?

(48:52):
Sure? Great? Right? Whatdo you want out of a quarterback?
Like a white? You're missing atypical This is part great Rochester.

(49:40):
Thank you brothers music coaches days,be very much con Thank you very much,
per see, thank you once again. You're music. You're talking with
Moss and tell you about that?What do you like? It's the first

(50:04):
time I met him. Know,we just finding Yeah, so what do
you think we came where? Youthinking? You know? We were off?
Yeah? So like the locks ofsilver locked Alyss, what's been like
for you to cluding out of Californiabeing avent fund today? It was a
little honestly like helped me adore Likedifferent being a hot a state here there's

(50:34):
when you were difficulty. It's definitelydifferent. So flying here a new generation
of recruits where I don't think anybodyoutside looking at you over the questions,
the strength of your commitment, Likeyou're locked in the last state and you
send it over and over, butyou're making visits around the country. You've
seen other schools. It's almost atotally different mindset. In nineteen that was

(50:58):
like the first year we were makinga transition, and then you know,
COVID hit and then you know,every year it just seems like there's something
else. And I because come tothe conclusion that every year is going to
be different and we have to adapt. But there's certain things that we're not
going to change. There's certain valueswe're not going to change. It just
you know, you know, principlesthat have you know, stood the test
of time. And I shared thiswith a group before when I started doing

(51:22):
some some research as we were doingsome some of our recruiting you know,
introductions and some of our you know, talks about you know, the traditions
of Ohio State. We talked abouthow Ohio Stadium was built, you know,
and when you when you when youdo your research on that one hundred
years ago, you know, folkshave the idea of building a stadium over

(51:42):
sixty thousand people, and that's becauseof what Chick Harley was doing and you
know, they had a wooden bleachersover here, and all these people started
coming in and the idea of bringingin a stadium that of our sixty thousand
people at the time was like,this is crazy. What is college football
turning into? And they instead ofgoing to the state or going to school
the community, they went to thecommunity to raise the money they raised over
at the time over a million dollars. Well, I fast forward one hundred

(52:06):
years and the conversation still might belike, what is college football doing right?
And in this situation then, Il we had to turn to the
community for help, and Bucky Nationshowed up again in a big way.
So although the landscape is changing,I don't know if you know, one
hundred years later, if it's thatmuch different. It's just in a different
time, in a different you know, set of issues that we're working through.

(52:30):
But I think it's exciting. Ithink there's a lot of positives to
it. I do. I thinkthat we're taking the next step with the
revenue sharing to try to institutionalize someof it, which would be big for
uses. Yeah, every year's gotquestion. It seems like this year's team
has money, Your questions of linespecifically, if you look ahead to a

(53:00):
month, what are the real questionsthat you have in your mind about position.
I would say on offense, youknow, we've got to square away
the quarterback as you know, Ifeel like, you know, the offensive
line on the right side, wegot to solidify that. I feel like

(53:21):
we got to build, you know, enough depth at receiver that we feel
like we can put in five orsix in the game and feel good about
it. On defense, I thinkwe're still looking to figure out, you
know, who are going to bethe guys inside, you know, the
third, the fourth, the fifth, defensive interier alignment that we're going to
put in the game. And thensame thing just just I would say depth,

(53:44):
a little bit of safety, justto kind of see who those next
guys are. They're going to stepup and so we know it's going to
be a long year. We're goingto need everybody and and so in a
lot of those areas, it's depthspecial teams wise. You know, punter
is going to be you know thatthat is significant. You know, we
just brought in Nick and you know, so there'll be a battle there.

(54:07):
So I'd say those are probably theareas we're focused on the most right just
to fall on the offensive line,there was I think a school of clog.
You guys might look for a transferin that post spring window. Did
you guys do that? Did youguys not find the guy or were you
just confident the guys you had,just like you know in January, if
if we're going to bring somebody in, it's to fill a hole. We're

(54:29):
not just gonna bring somebody in tobring somebody in, Like in all positions,
we'll always look to see what's outthere. We did evaluate some of
the guys that were out there,and you know, you know, we
felt like coming out of it aswe evaluated it, you know, there
was a couple of guys that youknow, we checked on, but but
ultimately like based on where we wereand some of the young guys that are
coming up, you know, wefelt like we saw some progress in the

(54:51):
offensive line in the spring. Soyou know, it wasn't there wasn't as
many folks in the portal, youknow, in after the spring. So
we looked at it, we identifiedit, we did our due diligence,
but you know, we're gonna gowith through. We have now second round
bills right, you're bet. Itwas interesting that you have two of maybe

(55:12):
the top five ers of guys insport and then a bunch of guys who
haven't plenty maybe someone that I knowmy question, but did you consider trying
to add there? Understanding that probablythe difficult sell. We have such talent,
how to bring somebody of these experiences? Like what were those conversations like?
And how did you sett al onbeing comfortable with you know, Trey
and and well, like you said, you know, I think we're we

(55:34):
will get some experience there with thosetwo guys. And then you know,
we felt like coming out of thespring that James and Sam both did a
nice job and you know we're gonnahave to play them and they're gonna have
to you know, take on alittle bit of that. You know,
we have you know, started havingconversations with Caleb Downs. I was part
of the recruiting process of possibly youknow, doing a little bit of running

(55:54):
back as well. It's something thathe wanted to do. So we've been
having him in some of the meetingsand some of the individual drills. Is
as a possibility there if you knowneeded so down the road to continue to
build depth at that position. Butyou know, I think, you know,
we feel like, you know,if you have you know, four
strong running backs going into it,then you know that's gonna be that's gonna

(56:15):
be enough to carry the season.I do think that the quarterbacks will run
the ball more this season, sothat should take some carries away from them.
But to your point, you know, James and Sam are gonna have
to step up to the guys thatwe can count on. Save that for
another day. Yeah, just fallup. Is he capable of stepping in

(56:38):
and being running back? We'll see, we'll see. We talked about in
the recruiting process, you know,the first time around and more specifically in
the second time around, and sohe's you know, he's been around a
little bit just to get a feelfor it. We did very little in
the spring. We did I thinkwe pitched them an option or something like

(57:00):
that in the spring just to kindof get them going. But we'll see
where that goes. We don't havea specific plan right now, but we
do want to introduce him to thatjust the same thing like Lorenzo Styles has
played Recier where he did that inNotre Dame. You know, he's out
there a little bit, just kindof learning. It's healthy. You know,
you're seeing it from the other sideof the ball. This time of
year, you can get away withthat a little bit, a little bit

(57:20):
in the preseason. Where it goes, we'll see, but you just never
know. And we're trying to putsome contingency plans in place because it could
be a long season. Yeah,this is my forty first year covering of
house Day. I don't remember everexpectations like this In the summer. There
were some of them were almost asbig. Sure do you sense that too,
And what is that pressure like asyou're working through a summer. Yeah,

(57:40):
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
I said you got to beat theteam up north, and when every game
after that, that's just the expectations. And when you come up short,
you know, you've got to figureout a way to get those things fixed.
I think we have done that.But the expectations are the same every
year. Pressure is the same everyyear. I just like the pressure when

(58:01):
you've got a really good team behindyou. So that's what we've got,
right now, and you know,we know it's going to be a long
season. We know we're working towards. But I will say this about this
team, Well, we've been talented. That's there's been times in the past
we've been talented. I don't knowsince I've been here, if we've been
this talented and this experience together withguys that have played a lot of football,
fourth and fifth year guys, andthat doesn't matter, we'll go extor

(58:25):
Stephen. Since you right up,maybe maybe this is just talks because it's
summer convias, so you can nowjust have conversations. Maybe we're making a
big out of nothing long term situation. But we've seen it around college football
in league guys playing both sides ofthe ball and doing it quite well.
Right Travis Suner is doing it outin Colorado and Kaylen Dallas has been department
turns, so we see what hecould do with the ball. But there's

(58:46):
also the stamina aspect of that justgetting through sixteen game season. So I'm
not saying it's any forty snaps orsomething like that, But what about his
athleticism, what he brings to thetable, And let you know that if
you wanted to explore it a realgame. He could last and still be
an effective See. Yeah, youknow, we'd have to see all that
he did it in high school.But we got some really good running backs

(59:07):
in a room. So it's notsomething that we're planning on doing, but
uh, we all we are gonna, you know, work on a little
bit Caleb. Caleb enjoys that partof it. We did agree that that
was something that we were going tolook into. Where it goes, I
don't I don't really know right now, but I know that he has the
capability to do it. He hasthe athleticism and do it, and you
know, we'll kind of see whereit goes, see see how he does,

(59:27):
and you know, maybe hand theball Tom a little bit in the
preseason because again, it's going tobe a long season. We have to
make sure we have continuoency plans inplace. But I know it's something that
he enjoys having the ball in hishand. So even during their first time
around the recruiting process, we even'ttalked about him coming in as a as
an offensive player. Ultimately we thinkhis ceiling is highest on defense. But

(59:50):
you know, but I also agreeI think that having you know, guys
go on the other side of theball and just see it. Listen to
meetings is really healthy for the development. So we're gonna do that regardless.
Your defensive recruiting right now is maybefurther along it's been in the years past.
And I think we passed numerous questionsabout in the past, but is
this a product of seeing it overthe last couple of years and now it's

(01:00:13):
not just telling you guys, hey, this might look like this. They're
seeing it in real time. Yeah. You know, we talked about it
when Jim first came in, andI think Tim Walls is an unbelievable job
as well in the back end,and you know, Matt stepped right in
and James and Larry. I thinkthey're all doing a great job. But
like you said, you know,it's one thing to talk about it.
That's theory testimony is just look atthis is this is what we're doing.

(01:00:34):
And then I think you're seeing alot of guys just excited about playing in
this defense and they see the capabilitiesand the flexibility too. You know,
right now, the way we play, excuse me, the way we play
right now is based on you know, we have four really talented defensive linemen
that are really good, and wegot a lot of that to those positions.
But there's also flexibility with some ofthe things Gym's done in the past
that you know, we're definitely lookingat and some of the recruits that we're

(01:00:58):
looking at who brings some versatility passrusher, you know, we have that
jack position and those type of things. So, uh, that's exciting as
well. And I think you're seeinga lot of the recruits, you know,
really get fired up when they gethere. People have Yeah, coach,
first couple years, your identity waswas very very from an awful standpoint
and air and out type team.Look at the keep as talent and the

(01:01:20):
play makers you have there. Hasyour identity changed? I guess what do
you think the identity is of thispointy point four. We'll see as we
go, But you know, weknow what we need to do to play
in the big games. That's neverchanged. And we have to be able
to stop the run, run thefootball, take care of the ball,
and there'll be opportunities to throw theball that'll happen, but you know we're
gonna have to, you know,do those things to win close games and

(01:01:45):
play situational football. But I think, you know, you won't really get
a feel for what the identity ofthe team is until we get into probably
the beginning of October, you know, and I think we all have ideas
of what it could go. Butyou know, now that we're playing in
a playoff format, just like alot of those NFL teams sometimes, you
know, they don't really quite understandtheir identity until they get about halfway through
the season. I don't think I'lltake that long. But you know,

(01:02:07):
we're able to play some games andkind of work through some things. And
I don't think our defense is goingto change a bunch in terms of what
we did last year. I mean, it's a lot of the same guys
back could look a little different onoffense. Got time for two more go
to Doug Limmer's Okay, right,you lose an important recruiting staffer to promotion

(01:02:28):
at Michigan, just the second time. So much gone to Michigan this offseason.
How do you react to something likethat? Is something that someone like
that would take information that was learnedhere that could help the Michigan or highest
stages. Yeah, all good questions, And you know, I just I
want to talk about the guys thatare here, you know, the staff

(01:02:52):
members that are here, the coachesthat are here, the players that are
here, the ones that are Buckeyes. Joe, Didjon the scheduling changed,
it was announced yesterday. Did theycome together? Didn't have anything to do
with the expanded playoff maybe being alittle different. Yeah, you know,
I don't know all that came incame with it. I know it got

(01:03:13):
presented to me a while back,and you know I was on board with
it. So yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we
do have to look a little bitdifferent at our scheduling as we move forward,
based on the way the format isat the end of the season.
That's quickly About the linebackers. Igot in here a little bit late.
How do you feel about your linebackers? Cody seems like he always is the
betterments is like he's lacking as astarter, CJ. When do you see

(01:03:35):
his role being Sonny? When doyou see his role being Gay and all
this guys? Yeah, good versatility. All those guys are vel Reese,
Like you said, CJ, Gabe, Sonny, Cody. You know I'm
missing a couple, I'm sure,But like that was that yeah, rvel
Yeah. I mean these guys arevery versatile guys. You can see the
length on them, and you knowthey do a good job in terms of

(01:03:59):
like fitting the runs to know howthe ship runs right now, so they
know how things should operate. AndI gotta spend time making sure those other
guys get ready and get caught upthe speed in a timely fashion. It's
great. Uh, he's taking agreat step forward. Like I said,
he he's the next guy up man. I mean he's been extremely you know,

(01:04:21):
important on the growth of our secondarybecause now you know we're working him
inside some Uh he's played outside atboth corner spots. You know, he
got that it factor, you knowwhat I mean. So so we look
what he brings the energy to competitiveness. We got to build off the last
year uh and expand the role forhim and make sure he's uh, he's

(01:04:43):
ready to go. But he's beendoing great. Tat bit is Uh.
We're just authentic really not giving alot of recruiting talk. It is what
it is us. We try toshoot straight honest communication, honest assessment,

(01:05:06):
the character, the value, thework at it, and the main things
the competition. You gotta compete.If you don't want to compete, it's
not gonna be the place for you, because that's the that's the thing that
will get us where we need togo is competition in the room. And
those guys here love to compete.We sell that we're looking for guys who

(01:05:27):
embrace that, who chairs being inthose spots. And you can take time
to grow. You know, youdon't have to have the pig mentality of
problem of instant gratification. You know, you can develop and grow so and
sometimes you may be behind a guythat's a really good player. Is nothing
wrong with developing and growing and playingwhen your time is right, and if

(01:05:49):
the time is right right now asa freshman, like what Jermaine did,
you play early? You know.So we try to also sell that,
you know, we care about themas people and try to prepare you for
life after football. So it's biggerthan just football. Don't you prepare you
for life, whether it's the NFLor ow with a regular career in the
workforce. We want you to prepareyou as a young man, and we

(01:06:09):
try to sell that and preach thatto the parents with to remain and having
that in fact that you mentioned androlling all these different spots. Do you
anticipate you know, there wasn't alot of rotation among the cornerbacks last year
when everyone was healthy. Do youanticipate maybe rolling him through the rest guys
here with the longerst season potentially.Yeah, we play it by here,
you know what I mean, Wesee how it goes by the time we

(01:06:29):
get into camp. But you know, obviously he's earning his stripes, so
you know, I mean, whenyou earn your stripes, you know,
the job to create opportunities for you, you know what I mean. We
have to see how it goes withall that other stuff, you know,
once we get closer to the seasonand we'll get into game plan stuff.
But he's doing a great job,and he's and he's taking a great step
forward. Tim is the way thatyou can build or the way he kind
of established right now, it seemslike it's like the centerpiece relationships and kind

(01:06:54):
of building mind. And I'm curious, is that something that you came in
here with you, like a coupleof years ago with you. Is it
something that you're like, it's coolto be to the course of your position.
No, it's been there for awhile. I've been doing that for
a long time. It's all aboutrelationship. If you develop real relationship and
your authentic and your communication and youhave honest feedback and you have the you

(01:07:15):
know, direct teaching. The guysthat have valua and character and they appreciate
that stuff, they'll embrace that.So, but they have to know your
care and you have to know thatit's real, and they have to know
that you you're really concerned about theirwall of being as a young man.
And when you get close to themand spend a lot of time with them
off the field, you could coachthem hard and you can. You can
and you can. You can saytruthful things to them and then they'll embrace

(01:07:36):
it and you have real conversation becauseyou know the only goal is to help
them get better as a young man. A years ago, the receiver room
is so far ahead of the moreto really get kind of skewed that evaluation
some homes doing. And how's thatdynamic change in these two years as the
group's gotten older and you can bemore talent. Yeah, it's done balanced

(01:07:57):
up a little bit. Now.That goes with great competition. We have
the we go against the best receiversin college football, so that helps escalate
your growth process because if you don'tfigure it out real fast, you'll get
embarrassed. So that competition. Butwhat happened with that, eye guys start
competing, eye guys start growing.Eye guys got better and now is even
up a little bit, so whereyou get really good work at practice to
day, you know what I mean. So it's competitive, it's fun.

(01:08:19):
Those guys both on both sides ofball care about each other, so it's
great competition. And they're all real, real close, so you know what
I mean. It's that stuff thatgets us better. Uh, that will
prepare us for Saturday, I saidmy first day of practice, Actually receivers
kind of got them kind of Well, no, it's just it's gonna competitive.

(01:08:41):
Man. They got the best groupin the country that you're going against
every day, so you have tobring it every day, you know what
I mean. So they we gota great quarterback room, We've got a
great receiver room. The running backsare really good. So when you out
there going against them, it's deep, so you have to be ready for
it. And obviously, man,we're seeing a lot of good stuff with
with with day and coach Kelly doingover there and so it prepares you a

(01:09:03):
lot and it helps us grow.That are wide receiver room kind of in
it like a part of your regree. Bits like these are the guys you
get to play against. Yeah,always, because you know that's where you
get better iron shoppings iron So youknow, you get to see that every
day at practice. That helps yougrow. It's no better uh thing to

(01:09:26):
go against every day than to seethat on a daily basis. Also,
Oh, we just moving a lotof guys around. You watch that practice.
We have a lot of guys inthere right now. You know,
we probably have three or four differentguys in there. Obviously Little Lorenzo's in
there, Jermaine is in there,k Miles, We we have we have
about four or five guys moving aroundright now. We just try things out
in spring ball, see where thefit, you know, see what things

(01:09:48):
work together. So there's gonna probablysome more guys in there. You know.
We move it around to try tojust get the right fit throughout the
end and see how it goes bythe time we get ready to start the
season. He can run and he'sstrong, you know, I mean,
he's fast, uh, very seriousabout his business. Uh, he's big,
it's two hundred pounds. He canrun, he's strong, he's conscientious.

(01:10:09):
You know. I mean, he'sstarting to grow and he's starting to
get get better with it, youknow I mean, so we looked for
big things for him in the spring. What do you want to see this
spring? Keep competing, you knowwhat I mean. Now he's made the
transition. Competing today, you knowwhat I mean? You start going in
that transition is all just like himJermaine last year. You throw him in
the fire, you let him go, you compete, you go. By
the time we get out of theend of training camp, ye'll be them

(01:10:30):
figured it out. You have allthat. But now you just throw it
all at him. Compete, continueto grow, continue to learn. He
has the skill set, he hasthe length. Now you just got to
put it all together. And ittakes time to do that and hopefully you
see that by the time we getin the training camp. Seems like midway
through spring and kind of clicked forJermaine last year and he started to see
him in h could not be morehapper to be here, super happy to

(01:10:53):
be here at T two as wellor right to work. Hello, everybody
there is Robinson Universe, Missouri.I just want to thank you, mister
Bill will moant to your coach Gannonfor this amazing opportunity. I'm glad to
be here with Marvin Harrison right nextto me, so phel great. I'm
really excited and I'm excited for thisjourney. See fifteen here in town.

(01:11:31):
Marvin, when did you know theCardinals were going to select you? Did
you know before they called or wasthere an agreement in place before? No,
I did not know until I gotthat phone call from the Arizona Cardinals.
Marvin Richard Science FOXTN, Welcome tothe valley. I know kind of
tweeted to you, tweeted out toyou once you got drafted. What was

(01:11:54):
it like to get a message fromthe franchise quarterback and what kind of thoughts
have you had about teaming up withthis guy in the near future. Yes,
sir, it's been great. Healways want to support and love from
your quarterback and Nika is a greatplayer to excited to play with him,
and it's gonna be my job tomake his job easier. Darius Darren Irban
from Azycardinals dot Com. I knowthat a lot of players these days aren't

(01:12:17):
sticking in one school, uh fora long time. And you did it
for five years. I mean evenMarvin did it for three. Like what
what went behind that? And whywas it meaningful for you to stay at
one school? Yes? At Missouri, you know, we had some tough
seasons, but we were really builtwith an edge energy, details, good
in emotional consistency. And I justfound myself just trying to grow and get

(01:12:39):
better each year and also as ateam, you know, win more games
each year. And that was mythat was my home, that was my
family. I was blessed to youknow, get two degrees as well off
the field, and I just lovemissou two degrees. Wow. Marvin Mbob
McMahon at Arizona Republic, congratulations,Thank you to both of you. You're

(01:13:00):
known as all business, and Iwant to know how that's going to serve
you well in this league. Frompersonal standpoint, your brand, everything you
do in a daily preparation, there'sa lot that goes into being all business.
Tell me what that is to you. Yeah, I mean that's just
being a pro. It's called andraised and grew up to do and keep

(01:13:21):
the same mindset, same attitude.That I've had throughout my whole career.
Once I get here, continue towork hard, be consistent and discipline,
you know, and all that Ido. So I'm looking forward to put
in the work. Hey Marvin JoshWayne ESPN. What were the best pieces
of advice your dad gave you aboutbeing an NFL player? I mean,
yeah, it takes a lot ofwork, a lot of preparation. You

(01:13:43):
know, from Monday to Saturday,it's all work. And then Sunday should
be the easy part. I goout there and have fun, ready to
put the work in. So itstarts with the work first and then no,
when Sunday comes is reek the benefits. Hey Darius Howard Ballzer from Cards
Wire. I can't help but noticethat ring on your finger. Is that
a cotton bowl ring? Yes,it is the cotton bowler. You showed

(01:14:08):
it to Marvin very quickly. Nothat I was telling Marva. You know,
he was glad he didn't play.The whole week leading up. You
know, you see Ohio State.Everybody said, okay, Marvin Harrison,
and now is he gonna play?To go play? He didn't play,
so you know we lucked out.So Hey, Marvin, Paul KELBC Cardinals
broadcasting. Do you believe that receivershave to earn the trust of their quarterback?

(01:14:31):
And if so, what does thatusually require? Absolutely, you got
to earn the trust of the quarterback, and then it starts, you know,
every day in practice and being consistent. Really and you can't just do
it one day. Can't you doit for one week? Has to be
you know, done over and overand over again. I think that's how
trust has earned. So no matterwhere you get picked, when you're first
receivers, round seven, doesn't reallymatter. Have to go and earn trust

(01:14:54):
for the quarterback, your coaches,your teammates. So it all starts in
practice. What's gonna on, guys? Good to see again, Tyler Drake,
there's a sports systems for Darius.What's the feeling of just being able
to represent your school as that firstround pick and what kind of impact can
that have for those guys following inyour footsteps? Yeah, it's awesome.
I feel like I'm setting the standardgoing forward. But best the name was

(01:15:15):
Zoo is known as Delon Zoo,so I'm just added to the family.
But now I feel like I'm settingthe standard for my younger teammates that this
is attainable if you work really hard, be consistent, and really get trust
your shrimp coach. I feel likeevery program is built out the strimp coach
and that develops all the habits onand off the field. Darius zach Ershmanezcardinals

(01:15:35):
dot Com Right over here, JJmentioned that he loves the violence that you
played with. You mentioned the differenttendencies that you picked up. The emotional
consistency is the great. How doyou balance that the violence with discipline on
the field. Honestly, just throughpreparation and practice. I'm a big guy.
I'm a big believer in inside hands, so that's why I'm always working
my hand placement and then I liftweight, so you know that's all connected.

(01:15:59):
So I'm just trying to be focusedon my technique as much as possible.
Hey, Marvin over here, DavidBrant with the Associated Press. You
know a lot of rookies come intothe league and they get a little bit
of leeway. It's like, oh, he's young, he needs to grow
and stuff like that. But obviouslyyou're gonna be expected to be the guy
here really quickly. How do youdeal with that pressure? How do you

(01:16:20):
go about just so much being expectedof you so quickly. I mean,
yea, I have high standards formyself, but I'm just gonna go in
there and try to work, youknow, the best I can. I
just want to help the team winreally, so without that role I play,
you know, come September, letme do my best. Know do
that role now. This one's forboth of you, guys. The fans

(01:16:41):
want to know who you guys areon the inside. I don't know how
much you're willing to reveal to ustoday. A lot would be nice.
Can you tell us what you liketo do away from football, what pisses
you off about things, and youknow, what what makes you roll.
I'm pretty simple, like you know, be in my apartment, watch the

(01:17:03):
movie. If I go out andI go to a restaurant, get some
food. But other than that,I may do too much. And then
I'm pretty easygoing, guys, soI try to nothing bother me too much.
Yeah, I say the same thing, A real chill guy, just
really obsessed with football. But outsideof football, Like I said, I
got my two degrees. I gotmy undergrad hospitality management and the minor and

(01:17:23):
business. I got my masters andpositive culture with its FLA leadership. So
just thinking about being well rounded andthen I do philanthropy work. I start
my own nonprofit foundation Darius Robinson HelpingHands Foundation, but really just football and
then everything else. Honestly. Congratulations, guys, Welcome to the Valley.

(01:17:44):
I'm Robbie Baker with Fox ten.Darius, This is for you. After
the draft last night, you hada great response about how your process and
preparing for a game. Just kindof wondering where your love for kind of
the grind comes from, and thenyour love for that process comes from.
I would say my junior year becauseI played literally off and on, but
I got my junior year and Iwas playing high school and my whole goal
is just to earn a scholarship forDuring that process, I really fell in

(01:18:06):
love with the game, fell inlove with working out relationships with teammates,
and now it's kind of like myadvice and I can't let it go and
just kind of finding ways to alwaysget better, you know. Luke g
Liting here with twelve Sports, congratsboth of you walking to the valley.
This one's for you. Marvin.I'm curious your thoughts or what was that
conversation like with your dad after yourname was called and you were able to

(01:18:28):
be drafted by this organization, andhow surreal is it for you to be
following your own father's footsteps but inyour own way. Yeah, I mean
it was very brief. Actually,just in the second graduations, I walk
up to the stage and then Ihad to do a bunch of interviews afterwards.
So I don't think it's hit bothof us yet. I don't know
what's happened. I think, youknow, one of Michaels always make him
proud, so I hope I didthat. Marvin bo Brock, pH and

(01:18:53):
X Sports. When do you anticipatecatching your first passes from Kyler Murty?
I don't know. I don't know. I guess we'll see, hopefully as
soon as possible. Darius, youmentioned philanthropy, and I know there's been
it's been talked about how you tooksome of the NI nil money to do
get back to school for the kidsin Colombia. Where did that belief in

(01:19:15):
doing those things come from? Isaid, my family, my brother and
my mom really instilled that into meand to me at a young age.
Just give back your blessings to others. In my fifth year at Missou is
the best year in my life,So why would I not share my blessings
with others. So that's what reallymotivated me to do that. And now
being in NFL, you know,my goals to do three events each year
and just give back because you know, it's life outside of football and bigger

(01:19:39):
blessings out there. Marvin, youobviously played with a number of highly drafted
receivers at Ohio State. What sortof feedback have you gotten about the NFL
from them? And you know aboutmaking the transition in the league itself.
Yeah, it's a long season.I think going from in a twelve game
record season you have in college towas it seventeen games now? And you
got three preseason? Really just thebiggest challenge. The game stays the same,

(01:20:02):
obviously, we're all skilled and verytalented athletes, so the mental part
is probably the biggest thing and thebiggest change from the college to pros.
Marvin, what's your timeline for hiringan agent? Right over here on the
way part right, you haven't hiredan agent? Why is that? Is
there a timeline to hiring one?And are you going to sign the NFLPA
licensing agreement. I'll continue to talkto my team. We do what's best

(01:20:26):
for me. I'm moving forward.We just take it one day at a
time. I just got drafted,so I'm trying to enjoy the moment and
be happy while I can at themoment. Hey, Marvin, we'll say
Romaro, Arizona Republic Welcome. Thencan you just kind of share a little
bit about you touched on it brieflyhere, but just a little bit more
about growing up with your dad andyou know, the experiences you had in
Indianapolis and games and so on andso forth. Yeah, I mean,

(01:20:48):
there's no better role model, coach, mentor that you can have. Sup.
All the way through college, wewere captains together Ohio State, so
we shared a lot of we shareda lot of time there together. And
then before Pro day he came upand we threw that night before Pro Day,
and we've i mean, we've playedin touch. I feel like pretty
well, he's just an awesome humanand even a better teammates. If I

(01:21:13):
could ask you quickly, what didyou make of what he was able to
do after you saw him and youplayed with him the year before and he
came on and did what he didhis rookie year. What did you make
of what he was able to doin his rookie season? Man, I
just to be honest with you,it was no surprise to me or anybody
in that Ohio State facility. Justwe knew how to do a special and

(01:21:33):
when he got the chance, gotover the right people and the right coaching
staff. The dudes unbelievable. BrianBearfield, Hey, Kay, welcome to
Houston. Brian Bearfield, big Sarchmedia for everybody just called me storage,
as you could tell by the hats. So kay, I don't want to

(01:21:54):
take you back down memory lane forjust one second. I just looked up
some of the stats. So youwere in high school. You were running
back one thousand and four into seventyseven yards your senior year, seventeen touchdowns,
linebacker one hundred and sixty three tackles, four intercessions. You broke your
high school scoring record in basketball overallathlete. Even when you got to Ohio

(01:22:15):
State, you didn't really you werelike a hybrid. They didn't really know
where to put you until you endedup at tight end. So I say
all that to ask you what theHouston Texans are getting an athlete who's willing
to play anywhere and everywhere they needthem. Correct, one hundred percent.
Yeah, that's one hundred percent,one hundred percent correct, no doubt about
it. I'll do whatever we gotto do here to win ball games.

(01:22:38):
And I mean they got awesome players, awesome coaching staff, So just super
super blessed here. How much didthat how much does that background help you
or help you to get through youknow, college and now'll get you to
where you are today? Uh?I think every day I've been thrown in
a million different directions, pulling amillion different directions. And to be honest
with you, I mean nothing's evergone like how it's spoke still on pin

(01:23:00):
the paper in my life and mycoaching career, so I mean my playing
career, excuse me. And it'sjust I think I'm just I feel like
I'm battle tested and i feel likeI'm ready to go. Thank you?
Yeah cool, cool, You're unmute any better? Katie got me?

(01:23:27):
Yeah, I got you now.Cole Thompson USA Today Texans Wire, Congratulations
are getting drafted. I just heardyou kind of mentioned a little bit about
coaching. You're talking about your coachingcareer, not your playing career. Do
you want to get into coaching afterwardswhen you're done playing football? No,
No, it's a lot of emotionsgoing through my body right now. So

(01:23:49):
regardless, No, I'm not playingon getting coaching. I'm playing on just
playing as long as I can.Just a quick follow up, and you
look at a guy like Tamiko Ryans, who is a former player that is
very close to the league, onlyhas been out for about seven years.
What does it mean to be playingfor somebody who's translated over to this new
side of things but also understands whata player goes through on the daily basis.

(01:24:12):
I think that makes the biggest differencein the world. And I think
you can tell by the way theplayers respect him and just how and the
job he's done in the short timehe's been there. I mean, the
dude's unbelievable. He seems like anunbelievable person. I'm just really really excited
to be able to plan ner NathanCody heyk Cody Davis from Sports Illustrated.
You and I met at the NFLCOMBA. By the way, Yeah,

(01:24:36):
I would like to know, man, what are what type of tid end.
Are the Houston Texans getting, Man, I'll tell you what they're getting.
Just a complete utility player. Basically, I'm going to do whatever you
asked me to do at one hundredpercent, one hundred percent everything I got
every single time, and just I'mgoing to be the exact gluve in the

(01:24:57):
locker room. I'm going to bea dude people can come to when things
go wrong. I'm so e shityto help his team anyway I can.
Kim, Hey, Kate, it'sKim Davis with Chalk Talk. Congratulations on
getting drafted by the Texans, right, kind of following up on what Cody,
just to ask you from your constationwith CJ. I know he's spoken

(01:25:19):
how you have the staff, butwhat do you know about this just from
what you've seen this offense? Andalthough you're utility player, what excites you
most about it other than obviously playingwith CJ? Now? I just think
one. I think Dalton Schultz isa great player. I've watched a lot
of his film growing up and justeven the last couple of years study a
lot of what he does, especiallywas on the Cowboys and now just to

(01:25:41):
be able to learn from a guylike that and take notes and tips how
he handles his life and everything.It's gonna be awesome for right now,
in long term down the road.And one quick follow up, what do
you know about the city of Houston? Have you spending time here? No?
No. I trained in Briscoe,Dallas for a little bit for a
couple of months, and then thatwas really about it. Other than that,

(01:26:02):
I've never really been to Houston.But I mean, I'm really excited
to come. All right, thankyou the media, you too, Aaron,
Hey, Kate. When it comesto blocking, some tight ends embrace
it. Some do it because it'spart of the job. What's your mentality

(01:26:23):
toward blocking? And I have afollow up? Man, I love blocking,
h I do. I'm gonna throwmy face in the fire chance I
can get. I might always bepretty, but I promise you're gonna get
every ounce of power I got.And the draft process as a proven guy,
did you go on a lot ofvisits did you work out privately?

(01:26:44):
We're someones that you remember, Andwhat kind of level of activity did you
have with Texan's Combine meetings, etcetera. Yeah, thank you, Yeah,
we had. We had a formalat the combine and I've always,
like I said, always talked toCJ. So just having that and then
just throughout the prox we had acouple of zoom calls here and there,
and other than that, I mean, I trained the Ohio State coach Mick

(01:27:08):
and coach at the train coaches upthere with training a group of me,
Tommy Iickenberg, and still Chambers,my roommates that we lived with in the
afternoon, and that was really aboutit. We just trained and play ball
at that point. And the otherteams. Did you go on trips and
things like that. We took onelocal visit to the Bengals. That was
it. We have time for acouple more. Go ahead, sarge,

(01:27:30):
Oh Kate, I know that.You know we asked you a lot of
questions about playing with CJ. Butyou've been scouted as a tight end,
but can also be linked out tothe wide receiver position. Being at Ohio
State for as long as you were, what did you pick up from a
lot of those great Ohio State widereceivers that came through the time you were
there. You just watched, Imean, you watch those guys go about

(01:27:53):
how they handled releases, how theyhandled their feet atop and the routes and
everything. Like I mean, forme, I've never played it in my
life. So starting you were literallystarted from square one, absolute square one.
So learning slowly with them, andthen this is a business and you
have to do what's best for hiscareer and his future as well. So

(01:28:14):
you know, obviously has familiarity withJoe Brady and at one of his best
seasons with them, So you know, I think he's gonna be a big
part of their offense and continue togrow as a receiver. You know,
it's a lost for our room becausehe's a dynamic playmaker. He can play
inside and out and just his energy. Man, I think he really became
one of the favorite teammates on theteam because he kept things light, but
he also was a really hard workerand and made plays when we need him

(01:28:38):
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 andhe's like my best friend. But on
the other hand, I get tosee him, you know, continue take
steps in his career. He's stillvery young, so he has a lot
of good football ahead of him literallymm hm offense and be different the offense.

(01:29:04):
Yeah. Yeah, we haven't honestlyeven started install yet, so I
haven't even got a lay of theland quite yet. I'll probably take a
look at just got our eye passwithin the last few days, so I'll
try to take a sneak peek atwhat we have looking for. But you
know, I know with him talkingto zach Ertz, he does a great
job of trying to get his playmakersinvolved, which I think we have a

(01:29:25):
really good group of guys from therunning backs to receivers and some solid tight
ends as well. So I'm justlooking forward to see where I fit into
that. And you know, Ithink with him, his biggest things is
making sure the playmakers are making playsand trying to fit the scheme around that,
which is always good to hear,good to see to this offense.

(01:29:51):
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely,you know, an adjustment obviously when you're
learning a new offense, and it'skind of the same mentality I take into
last year in years past, whereyou kind of just want to take a
day one approach, kind of erasewhat you've learned in the past, but
at the end of the day,I think, you know, schemes in

(01:30:14):
the NFL are relatively similar. Isjust the names and the formations that may
be a little different. So justgetting used to the terminology and Cliff's offense
is just going to be something that'sadjustment for all of us. But the
good thing about it is I gotsome good time on my hands to really
put some work in studying when Ileave this place, so I could come
in here when we have walkthroughs andwhen we start to put our helmets on,

(01:30:35):
we can really hit the ground running. So so far it's we haven't
learned anything yet, but my approachis the same, try to take good
notes in there, ask good questions, and then study on my own at
night. I know you like totheason, Yeah, yeah, I think

(01:30:57):
I got some really good work downin Florida. It's just working on my
footwork, just being better at thetop of my routes, sharper on my
speed cuts, dig routes out routes, and just being cleaner with my footwork
at the top of the routes.I think, you know, with a
little bit of zone covers that we'veseen in the past with some teams kind
of running more too hot show,You're gonna get a little bit more of

(01:31:17):
catch technique where guys are kind ofsitting at the top of your route.
So I want to be better atbeing efficient to getting out of those routes
when the guy's kind of sitting atmy depth, whether it's a fifteen yard
comeback or a twelve yard crowl route, you know, being able to get
out efficiently so I can keep creatingkeep the separation within my route. So

(01:31:39):
obviously I'm always still working on myball skills and making sure I'm just catching
a lot of footballs in the offseason, but just really being better at
the top of the routes and youknow, sharper out of my cuts is
something that I think I can improveon. Good to see you too.
You know you're obvious team players.What is the challenge you're going to have

(01:32:03):
and locker room? Yeah, becausethere's so many different personalities. Yeah,
I think I think that's really startedwith coach Quinn in the way he's really
integrated everybody over the first two days. I think we haven't even gotten into
x's and o's quite yet. We'vejust really beginning to know one another.
Getting out there with Chad and thestrength coaches and getting some good workouts in

(01:32:26):
just kind of creating a foster inan environment where everybody's the same and continuing
to have a competitive environment. Ithink that brings out the best in one
another. And obviously, you know, you have guys like Zach Ertz who's
played a lot of football and wona championship, Marcus Mariota, obviously,
Bobby Wagner, who's a future Hallof Famer. So you got some guys
who have been brought in here whoknow what it's supposed to look like at

(01:32:48):
this level. And for myself,I just want to continue to add uh
my value and be even more vocalthis year than I have in the past,
especially with possibly a new quarterback comingin. I think that can really
help our offense. Have you know, some more unity with the guys who
know what it looks like, helpingbringing those guys, the younger guys along.

(01:33:08):
I don't know, if you hada chance to watch Dan quinn opening
conference, he didn't want to usethe word rebuild. Yeah, changes going
on with franchise, all the newchanges and new coaching staff, all the
new players. Is there a certainword you use or how do you view
everything honestly, I just think ofit as a as a new year.

(01:33:30):
Just talking to Sam Cosmy, Uh, we've been here for a few years,
so it's a lot of new faces. I think. You know,
this is probably the most I wouldsay turnover we've had in the last few
years. So there's guys coming fromall different areas, walks of life,
and but I think the one thingis the same. They're all coming in
looking for an opportunity to compete,take another step in their careers, and

(01:33:51):
prove that they're one of the bestplayers at the position. And I think
coach Quinn has emphasized that we're goingto have the opportunity to prove ourselves.
Whether you're a ten year ved ora second year player. You know,
this is a clean slate for everybody. So I think it's just about getting
on the same page, enjoying comingin here and working together and also just

(01:34:13):
pushing each other in these workouts,and then when we start getting on the
field, uh, really get thatcompetition going. Try to simulate as we
go along in this off season processof how the games are going to be.
Hey, how are you doing?Good to see too? Yeah,

(01:34:43):
I think coach Quinn has really assembleassembled a very unique group of coaches.
There's multiple head coaches, there's multiplequarter uh coordinators that have come from different
places, and so you have guyswho have a lot of football experience,
some have played, some have coachingbig games. And then you bring in,
you know, the the talent thatwe have defensively and offensively. And

(01:35:05):
I just think you can feel theunity and the sameness and the message that
he's trying to preach to our team, and it's we're gonna be tough and
we're gonna be competitive, but we'realso going to have fun. And he,
like I think he said in YourGuys' interview, he said he likes
to do you know, hardship withgood people. So I think that's fun.

(01:35:26):
You know, a guy like melikes to put my nose down and
grind and work. So I knowhim and I are going to continue to
hit it off, and you know, it's just my job to help bring
other guys along with me. Thankyou more like your next step as a
vocal leader? Yeah, what doesthat mean to you? I think for

(01:35:49):
me, I've I've grown a lotin my vocal leadership. I think I
try to always find the balance ofwhen to say something when not to say
something. I think I never I'vealways wanted to be a person when I
say something that means something like youdon't want to be You're giving all the
motivational speeches, but you're not backingup with your play, or you're talking

(01:36:09):
so much you kind of your messagegets drowned out. And so it's kind
of continue to find that balance ofwhen to say things and when to kind
of just take a step back.But I think I've I've gotten a really
good feel of how to do that. I think obviously with a new coaching
staff, you just try to understandwhat they how they want things done,
and you try to, you know, bring what you do well into that,

(01:36:30):
and you also try to encourage theguys who haven't taken those steps in
their career to do that as well. So I think for me it's just
really starting in my position group.I think we have still a very young
group, kind of inexperience for themost part, but I think we have
a lot of talent in there,and it's just my job, in Bobby's
job, and to continue to bringthat group along as we go throughout this

(01:36:55):
season. What I yeah, approach. Yeah, I hit it really hard
this offseason, so I kind ofstarted training a little bit after the Super

(01:37:15):
Bowl, so I got a goodsix to eight weeks into where I feel
football ready right now, which isgreat for me because you know, obviously
we're probably having a mini camp atthe end of this month, so that'll
be I'm already in football shape,So that's that's exciting to know that I'm
ready to be able to run routesand get going with our quarterbacks and get
going with our system. So youknow, as this off season goes on,
I just trust the plan that Chadand the guys have here. I

(01:37:39):
want to be here for all theworkouts and things like that and be a
part of the team building and justcontinue to learn the playbook as we start
to install things, and uh beat a point where I could go out
there and be confident in my gamewhat I've worked on this offseason and and
put that into how that fits intothis offense. So I always try to
pride myself on knowing multiple positions justto have be flexible for the team and

(01:38:00):
be flexible for myself, so I'llbe ready for whatever they wherever they put
me. I'm surprised you're going tohave a new quarterback this year. Yeah,
yeah, you never well, Idon't say never, but it's it's

(01:38:21):
always tough seeing like someone you builda really good relationship with go on and
move on in their career, andespecially your quarterback, because as a receiver,
you want to continue to try tobuild that chemistry, you know what
I mean. That was only ourfirst year playing with one another, and
I feel like him and I hadour h We made some great plays and
we had some you know, roomfor growth, and I think that comes

(01:38:42):
with any new quarterback receiver relationship andso but to see him go in a
situation where have a chance to competeand play under a really good quarterback in
Geno, you know, I thinkhe'll he'll really like playing with receivers like
uh, well throwing the receivers likeLocket and and and Jackson Smith and Jig
but in DK, you know whatI mean. So I think he's going
in a situation where you think different. Uh it's more mentally they any thing

(01:39:06):
though, like Lessid, I wasalways my uh best side back in college,
but since I got to IF,I've always been playing right. But
you know, it's a it's agood challenge for me and I can show
people I can actually play right handleft, So it's a versatility thing.
So I'm happy about it. There, you moved around a lot throughout your
career that it's Jumbo's side tackle.I guess in the sentence and playing book

(01:39:28):
the left on the right side.Do you think you kind of benefit from
focusing a little bit more on theright side? Yuh, a little bit.
But you know, there is anew system that we have, like
I been found my mindset most onthe right, but also have my mind's
on the left too, just incase something that's happening to like you know
what I mean, like Cohen oryou know, Pete, of course.
But I'm always gonna be ready forlove no matter what. How quickly have

(01:39:49):
you felt like you picked up thisnew system that you're working in there?
You know, it's we actually prettyup picked up pretty well because it's the
same system that I'm used to backin the hot stay because we was more
like spread kind of how I say, so, you know, it's pretty
good. It's one of the likethe draft process off seasons A lot of
people outside of the building to yourparaders get the right tack. Kay,

(01:40:11):
A lot of yeah, alright now, But a lot of people in the
building were like, we have theright time what we did do. Get
motivated about that. You follow itlike if you had a nature do it.
Though I don't I read into ita little bit. But also the
same time, like they not hereof course, but I don't really care
what they say. I know whatI can do, and they team know
what I can do. So theytrusted me right now and I'm not gonna
let them right down. How hardor how easy is that to compartmentalize that

(01:40:34):
and use that as fuels going forwardrather than to kind of merity. Uh
I, I just keep them seats. Everybody knows that one person I don't
really care for him. And alsothat's all good, but it's all love.
I love uh outside of this.But you keep doing me, keep
it better, keep on these nights, doe what I can do there.

(01:40:54):
You've been a outspoken about your supporterof Zamir, and obviously it's just his
chance now to be the dog.What is it about him that you bought
in so early? The reason whyI bought so earliest cause uh, I
was at a house state. Theyalways taught us to actually like to get
it, and that's since I gothere. I'm'a always wanna go get it
and I got picked late, andI always wanna prove people wrong. You

(01:41:15):
know, I think prove people wrongall my life. I wanna keep doing
that, which I guess for justlike compilating, like the set, you
feel like a community year nine daydifference, nine day difference from my first
year and my second year to now. Like now, my guy, I
know I can play. I knowI can go against one of the best,
specially with Max anybody else that wewant to play this year, and

(01:41:40):
I know what I can do.So all I do now is actually meet
my potential and should do it andhelp everybody else out on the team as
well. You've practiced a lot againstMalcolm and he's really come into his own
man. What is it about Malcolmthat's helped him make that next step there?
Yeah, Malcolm, he's quiet,he doesn't really say too much.
He comes to the work every day, do what he does, and he

(01:42:00):
works hard. He doesn't lilit twiceor anything. Yeah, he'll get mad
over a co respost. At thesame time, they like he has a
mentality of at all, Like he'she don't really care what y'all think or
anybody else thinks for up, soit's just like, alright, just keep
going. That's how everybody is onthe team about Tyrae's too. You got
that same mindset. He does havethe same mindset up at a little nervous,

(01:42:23):
but uh nah, he nah.He has definitely grow up a lot
from his like first year here tonow like he has, but he's he's
growing up a lot mentally too.Until you guys are reimagining the offensive line
a little every year out there rightside, yeah, uh farm there next
to you on the on the onside too, and then drafting the guys

(01:42:44):
on the line here. How longexciting is that to be part of something
that's that's kind of being you know, having that trust but also being reinvented
a little bit. That's great,you know, but me and doing those
like they gonna keep placing us,of course, but all the same time,
we gotta keep going, you know, Kames, really what they did.
What we gotta do is saying,but what what can we do with
you? Sorry? Don't put alot of them outside a little bit more?

(01:43:08):
How how long were you work.You been working pretty well, you
know, you say, the restwe had like a a little rooking moment
a little bit, but you know, yeah, you know those those tougher
conversations, those ones where we mightdisagree, where we do agree, where
where he's got his two cents onit, which is, you know,
always the best two cents I've heard. But me being who I am,

(01:43:29):
you know, I'm I'm I'm gonnathrow my two cents in there, you
know. So that's just uh,it's been awesome, man. We he's
he's you know, a resource forme, just a person that I can
always bounce my thoughts off of.And now, you know, just a
year you said, thirteen months.Now I feel more comfortable just you know,
bringing certain things up. You know, you never you never wanna come
off too strong. But I'm acurious guy. I got a lot of
questions. I like, I likefootball a lot. I like to talk

(01:43:50):
talk the games. So you know, come to find out, he's the
exact same. So we, uh, you know, we get along well,
and you know we're gonna keep keepbuilding that relationship. Sometimes in this
league, playing you know, eighteengames, they tryna make it twenty you
know, it's like it sound likea little a little fever dream to be
honest, but but uh, ifwe can find a way to k you
know, stay up right out there, keep keep airing on his feet.

(01:44:11):
You know, I'm I'm excited forthat and uh everything that comes with it.
But uh but yeah, like Isaid, man, that's it's it's
harder said than uh or harder done, and said, I guess you know,
it's one of those things. It'slike that's a lot of games.
You know, all of a suddentake a lot of hits. They take
a lot of hits where they're notlooking, and it's just how can we
keep him healthy? Yeah? Yeah, are you when you think? I
do you ever received the room now? Positions you guys have made when more
money, healthy and everything, like, yeah, you know, I'm excited

(01:44:34):
to see it at at full health. You know, you've I haven't got
to see all the all the guysout there at once, and and you
know, it's one of those positionswhere every day is something might happen to
Nick up. You know, it'sjust a a tough position to stay out
there at all times. But Ifeel like we got a great group and
and the number one thing is howcan we stay healthy? How can we
you know, I'll be out onthe field, and I think having depth

(01:44:55):
like this and the group you haveis gonna help us. Having guys that
can do different things, that cango catch 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, morol,
and it's gonna be exciting your wholenumber Yeah, yeah, like yeah,

(01:45:18):
man, he's uh, it wasa brute. And then once he
catches that ball, I mean he'she's got great instinct of where the defense
is going. I think the taalleon this team is really good too,
And I think that I can comein here and make a big difference,
you know, and we can wina lot of football games. You know.
So that was my that was partof my decision. Your acutes.

(01:45:41):
How was that I'm one hundred percentnow and it was like a walk in
the park. It's like a sprainedankle, you know. It was very
easy you know, because I hadthe knee. The knee was pretty hard,
you know, and the Achilles wasI would say it's easy, you

(01:46:01):
know, just because that's just mymentality, and it was it was pretty
easy to be But you know,I've had these injuries and it's been storm
like the past two years, youknow, having have like good, great
games. The next thing, youknow, heard and then you know,
so got got the injury prone outthere, you know. But I think

(01:46:23):
the storm is over with, youknow, you know, and I think
I'm I'm gonna gonna take off now, you know, and there will be
no setbacks and the injury prone thingwill be gone out of the window again.
That's yep. I'll say, yougonna be back. I am.
I am excited. You know.He does a lot of great things,

(01:46:44):
and he's a great person and wehave a great relationship. It's gonna be
it's gonna be a fun year.We're gonna have a lot of fun.
We're gonna do a lot of greatthings. So I can't wait here.
What the injuries you've had? Isthat just bad luck? Is Is there
anything even a tribute to behind thismisfortune? Yeah, it's just unfortunate.
You know, but God has aplan always, you know, I don't

(01:47:08):
know what the plan exactly is,you know, I don't know, but
whatever plan it is, it's forme to be here. You know,
I had a great rookie year.I didn't I didn't really have the volume
as other people my rookie year,but I still had a great rookie year.
Six yards of carry, you know, things like that. I think
it was like nine touchdowns ten includingthe playoffs. And so there's always been

(01:47:33):
like, all right, guy,lets me show my talent shine a little
bit. Like even when I hadthe knee. So I had the knee,
right, A lot of people don'tknow, like I didn't get hurt
again. Whenever I got you know, got cleaned up. So I went
down in twenty one, right,had the injury, the knee injury,
and then came back later the nextyear, and and I played the first

(01:47:54):
few games, and I just feelthere was a lot of scars issue in
there. So I had to getit cleaned up. I didn't get hurt
again. I could have played thewhole year, but I got it cleaned
up so I can feel like me. And so after I got that cleaned
up, the first two games backfrom the injury, I had over one
hundred and twenty yards rushing right andthen went on had great, great ending

(01:48:15):
of the year, you know,one hundred total yards in the playoff game
we lost, which I hate themost. Stays, don't marry me.
I don't want to win. Butthen come back the next year hurt again
like torn achilles. So two reallyunfortunate injuries. But that's just God's plan,
you know. And I think thatthe storm is now over, you
know. And I do think thatI'll be able to shine my light to

(01:48:35):
the whole world. Are you concernedthat you have that label? You can't
standing three? I could care lessbecause I do. I know this out
there because as it should be,it should be. I got hurt two
major injuries back, not back toback years. But you know, so
I haven't been on the field asmuch as I should. That's true,

(01:48:57):
that is true. But it's notlike I'm having these little little dinky injuries
and sitting out. It's something Ican't control, literally, So that's why
I'm not bothered by it. Like, yeah, I am injury polling.
You could say that, you know, But I do think that the Chargers
are getting a guy that's gonna behealthy from now on. You know,
God will it, and it's gonnabe great. And I do think that

(01:49:20):
it's gonna be It's gonna be agreat. However, many years here,
when you've been on the field,you've been highly adopted, five pointy years
for very average for your career.Like, knowing that when you're out there
you're very adopted, how much confidencedoes that give you that really all you
need is is not what you needall the confidence in the world, you

(01:49:40):
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 Ihave the most confidence when I step out
there because I do know like ifHe grants me the health, it's over
with. I don't think i'll beyou know, I think it will be

(01:50:00):
a great year or whatever, acouple of years. However, many years
he grasped me great health, youknow. And I think just the work
ethic, my prayer and all thatstuff, that's what helped me have that
confidence. With the numbers will bethere, and they they might be higher
after this year. You know whatI'm saying, and it's crazy to think
about because I had six or sixyards per carry, you know, so

(01:50:21):
we'll see you living forward to runningbehind this line that they put together.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.I played with Bradley. I played with
him. You know, I knowthe Slater, I know all the I
know all the guys you know,and I'm excited. I think it's like
I said earlier, it's a talentedgroup. You know. We just got
to put it together win some games. Cause that's what I came here for

(01:50:43):
a year, or I wouldn't.I wouldn't say part of the recruitment,
but like whenever I decided I wasgoing to sign, it was great to
have him in the room. What'syour relationship, Yeah, we're great.
We're we have a great relationship.That's he's like my brother, So I
think compliment each other very well.You know, he can do a lot

(01:51:04):
of stuff too. You know,we got like a lot of people think
he's just power, power, power, but I think he has some other
parts of his game two, whichit'll be great because I feel like I
could do everything, and when oneget tired, we can roll it in.
We keep rolling win some games.So when you the two of you
get going, well, how doyou think that's gonna look for? What

(01:51:24):
would like? What will be thatpartnership kind of back there? I know
that's a hard question. How doI think it? I think it'll look
beautiful. You know a lot ofpeople call this a passing league, but
I think you gotta run the ballto win the super Bowl. You know,
if you look at the teams whowin the Super Bowl, they can
run the ball, they can controlthe clock, and so if we're both

(01:51:45):
good, it'll look great, beautiful. How would you describe the great running
offense? I would I would describeit as, you know, a great
offense. I think he gives aquarter, he's gonna give the court to
back a lot of options. He'sgoing to give the running back a lot
of options. He's going to givethe receiver a lot of options, you
know, and I think it'll beI think it's going to be great.

(01:52:08):
His offense is going to be amazing. When we talked to him, an,
you know, I was like,why are you going to build something?
Give rushing offenses throughout your career everywhereyou've been, and you said that
one part of it is just yougot a call place you got a call
run place as a running back.You know how much confidence, how much
insight does it give you? Youknow you haven't played all or that's going

(01:52:29):
to stick with it and allow youand the offensive line to get your resident
gives me a lot of excitement.You know, it's gonna be. Like
I said, it's fun to playin his offense, you know. And
I think he does have some goodthings in the past game too, But
like you said, he sticks withthe run, and that's that's the identity
you You want an offense that hasan identity, right, you won't be
looking everywhere else to find your youridentity. You want to have it.

(01:52:54):
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. Your full go for training. Look, I ain't gonna answer any
of the if it's up to me. Yes, Look, because I had

(01:53:15):
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 knowhopefully I can start. I think I'm
ready to start, you know,at the beginning of training camp. But
that's not up to me. AsI've learned. I'll tell you how,

(01:53:40):
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
know, and they're they're taking careof me, which that's what you want
in an organization. And so that'swhere that I'm from, which I appreciate
it. Like I really appreciate that, you know, because I'm the type

(01:54:03):
of guy, like I work reallyhard, 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's up to me, yeah,
I'm out there. But you neverknow, with any frustration for you during
the heading into free agency, youknow, dealing with with rehab and not
you know, having on a fullseason tape or production to go out there,

(01:54:25):
is there any part of that whereyou're like, gosh, you know,
had hit the open market with adifferent situation, you know, Nah,
I like it. I like,how would I say this, I
like it the hard way, butnot you know, I like it the
hard way. I like it.I like trial and tribulations. So I

(01:54:53):
mean the dice that I was giventhe role was I was coming off of
our achilles, and that was thatwas the lowest plan. So it was
beauty in that, like I wascomfortable. I was caught like there was
multiple teams, you know, Iwasn't. It wasn't like I didn't have
any other team. But I wascomfortable and sitting back and just enjoying the

(01:55:15):
process, letting myself get fully healed. So whenever that team, whoever I
would sign with, who now isthe Chargers, is going to get the
best me, you know. AndI think people all around the league know
that, like, Okay, thisguy, Okay, it's a high risk,
high reward type thing, right,not even a high risk for low
rice because you it's a business.Right. So I got hurt last year,

(01:55:39):
so not as much money needs tobe throwing there. But I think
everyone around the league knows that wheneverI am on the field, the numbers
don't lie, and so they knowthat, and a lot of teams were
like, all right, here,you can give you this but we want
you to be healthy. So whenI'm healthy, it's gonna be great.
The chance that I've been giving here, I'm so grateful and I know that's

(01:56:00):
gonna be. They won't be theywon't regret it. Are you the type
of person that likes the opportunity forme? You know? So I'm excited
about it. Did he help you? Oh a lot? He helped me
a lot, even fel like thefirst day, just trying to help me
get used to to write tackle.He got my feet used to write tackle.

(01:56:24):
Like my first day practice, I'mlike, dude, I still feel
he feel a little off. Idon't feel balanced in my stands, and
he showed me the small technique andto do with my feet, which I
still do even even though left tacklejust keeps a part of my routine.
That was part of my process andgetting to my stands. So stuff like
that that he taught me from dayone and obviously in practice was fun.

(01:56:45):
Just compete with him, you know. It's just to meet at the back
of the pocket and to tap eachother back to every rep like that was
competing, you know what I mean. So that's my guy. As much
as you love him on your theWest Side. How bittersweet, is it?
Certain? Yeah, that's the thing. That's not how. It's definitely
how I and and that's how Ithought about the transition will go. You

(01:57:09):
know, I thought it would beyou know, on homesoone timing, but
a cardinal his whole career. Youknow, you know, you want to
play here forever, you know whatI mean When I was talking about his
plans, so you know, youwin, you wish transitions like one of
those fairy tale like it's your time. But but again, either way,

(01:57:31):
you know, we talked about it. You know, that's that's the that's
how it goes, you know.But obviously you know he sees he's he's
been one of my biggest supporters.Again, I felt that everybody leads in
their own way, you know,not everybody's the guys coming around like and
that's not everybody, right, LikeI think for me, that's me specifically

(01:57:54):
on game day with the O lineafter we do one on one like that's
my like Hump did, like that'smy like big vocal time. I feel
like I've talked to Hump about this, you know, just recently talking about
how what I want to do forthe room is. I want to bring
that hump energy that he brought rightso last year, of course, some

(01:58:18):
traits been doing it for years,but the year when I spent on him,
he brought a lot of the energyand excitement and the happiness in the
room was just his natural energy towhere I only had to focus on me,
you know, I didn't have tomake sure other other guys would,
you know, feel some type ofway when they came in here because Hump

(01:58:40):
brought that. But other Hump's nothere. But I saw what he did
for the room. I want tobe that guy to make sure everyone's amp
to go to practice, everybody's hope. Weren't taking the field team one period,
you know it's a low day orsomething. You know, it's it's
a thing, But like, Iwant to make it feel like your parent's
a tripper right now. I wannabring that cause that's what me and Hume

(01:59:00):
did with each other. We willhpe each other up, dudes like dudes
about to get walked through. We'relit. So I wanna do that.
I wanna bring that energy. Iwanna make bring more guys, you know,
to do that. You know,yeah, I wanted to do that.
From day one, you know,I kind of I wanted to do
that from day one from talking tohim, and obviously it's that time.

(01:59:23):
I spend the off season before OTAstarted just being in myself, just thinking
about what the room needs, youknow, because I know I knew a
new role as one of the leaders, you know on my offense, is
that we need a guy like thatthat's gonna make sure the old line is
picked up ready to go. Everyday I was held accountable. Little things

(01:59:45):
are 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 to leave withpositivity, you know what I mean.
So but he the the energy yetwent beyond just the hype up the dal
one and stuff too. So that'skind of how I wanna be s goal

(02:00:06):
mine literally my whole life. Iwanna be a NFL team captain, like
specifically the NFL. I wasn't acaptain of high school, wasn't a captain
of college. But I made ajoke when I was in high school It's
like, did I feel like I'mnot gonna be a captain? To like
it? To the NFL. Yeah, but that would be awesome, you

(02:00:26):
know, but you know, ifit happens, i'd be great, But
not either way, I wanna assumea role as a captain from the respect
of the guys on the team,vidual award to me and to get back
to that world. Yeah, Imean, I can't say that. I
mean, I guess the biggest thingis that I felt like it has felt

(02:00:48):
like how it you used to inthe past. But it didn't take just
the first day OTA's. It tooktraining left and right once the season ended,
cause I didn't know what it wasgonna be sure, So I took
a lot of yeah reps just toget back to feeling like myself for day
one OTAs and then that whole firstweek. But now like today, specifically

(02:01:12):
just changing some small things with myfeet that I did today talking about a
line coach about some things I cando with my feet to get to the
to sell at the traditional angle thatI love to set on. Felt even
I thought I felt, I thoughtI felt great already by my Okay,
I felt even better at it.So I'm even more excited tomorrow. Now
I'm getting my feedback to how Iliked it the right side and on the
left side, so I'm excited.I mean, obviously, I feel like

(02:01:38):
in the league, whether I leftor right, you're still going against premier
guys. So obviously you have highexpectations for your left hand or right tackle.
But there's definitely uh like the thelevel of energy and like the expectations,
definitely taking a human spect cause nowconnected the blindside that stuff, that's
the tackle roles, you know.So so yeah, I would say in

(02:02:01):
terms of communication as far as justeven outside the facility and just stuff like
that, like really creating that buttackle quarterback bond even more off the field,
I think has been something that's evenbeen cool. I got a text
one day and I was like,hey, like you play left, And
I was like him, you know, yeah, I've been training both.

(02:02:21):
I've been training both. You know. I I aksed after the season,
They're like, honestly, you know, we'll talk to you some play in
the season. And I just gota text me like depending on what happens
with with 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 unders do what I did before.

(02:02:43):
I'm built on that bus. Iwas like, I might as alost
trained the left tackle now as ifI'm gonna be left tackle, and I'd
rather do that than training on righttackle and get the ko Hey you're the
left tackle. I'm like, oh, I didn't even I didn't even switch
my feet yet, you know whatI mean. So I'm like, let
me just prepare in advance. Iwas like, yeah, it's god,
you know. I think occasionally onthird down there would be a lot of

(02:03:03):
twists. I would just know likeit's automatically coming. And I fact,
that was my mindset for like thefirst half of the season. Like I
didn't have to go into a gameand was surprise like, oh my gosh,
they did that. I kind offigured like, okay, like this
is this is the type of rushmanagain, this is how this guy usually
rushes. But I get the vibe, this is how the ends like the

(02:03:23):
rush. You know, tackles thatare you know, first year guys who
got the premiere patch on. Ialready knew what it was gonna be,
already knew every stunt and honestly justknowing that it's kind of an advantage too,
So you're not you're not You're notold. They brought the twist of
my side again. It was neveran Aaron donaldick. You know, they're
coming out of minds, like threeplays in a row two minutes. I

(02:03:44):
knew that it was gonna win.It happen, you know what I mean.
I'm watching more than everybody else,and he rarely even goes out there
on occasional third downs on the dend. I said, you know it's
gonna be He's gonna pick me,you know what I mean, So fact
fact, it's kind of a it'salso kind of an advantage in the way
that's awso exciting here with the twoguys, this talent, this this background

(02:04:04):
at the top of that group.How much of your discussions with Ryan I
guess the interview process were about howyou might approach this and what do you
think is meaning the key element?You're getting the most out of those because
you got two guys. This ain'tmy first rodeo, No. I know
a lot of people look at say, well, this guy only been on

(02:04:25):
the field for three years westernon Tuckyand Oregon. Just because I didn't have
the title of a running back coach. Where I was at the Memphis I
never carried myself that way. Iwas carried myself as a running back coach.
I approached every day that way.So at Memphis we had Darren Henderson,
Patrick Taylor, Tony Poller, KennyGangwell, Tonyo Gibson. I've seen

(02:04:47):
talented backs, and I've seen thembe able to function with one another.
So I hear that all the timeabout well, I say my first rodeo,
same thing out there at Oregon.We Bucke, irivin Norwich and George
James. You go look at theirnumbers. They all functioned well together.
We learned how to play as one. So this ain't my first rodeo.
So and plus I know those twokids because I recruited them when they was

(02:05:09):
in high school. So I'm upfor the challenge and the responsibility of it.
Got right behind it. Damn Hope, Carlos, Just what is your
kind of coaching philosophy? How doyou get the best out of your running
backs? I get the best outthem because I love the young men.
My main focus is to change thehearts and minds of them, and they'll
play for me. I had justgot through reading coach Trestle's Winners Manual,

(02:05:31):
and it's somethday that I took fromthat book. You have your purpose and
you have your goals, all right. My purpose is to serve and pourtant
to the young men. Now mygoals is a football coach. All of
them are take care of themselves.So that's one of the ways. I'm
just real relationship based and I'm verydetailed at this position. I know y'all
heard me say it before, andI'm gonna keep saying. This is the

(02:05:51):
worst coach position in football. It'sterrible. Guys hire anybody to coaches position
and recruiters. Carls Lock is notrecruiter. I'm an elite relationship builder,
but I coached this position. I'ma ball coach, so that's who I
am. So I'm gonna pouring tothese kids. I think they kind of
seeing it now. And I jumpedin day one, I'm ready to coach

(02:06:12):
and phrase, you know, softbatched cookies. Where did that phrase come
from? Kind of what was thisboy? Let me tell you about that
boy. I've been called everything butthe name the child of God by the
people at the other places I left, so that I been getting Pillsbury needs
to give me a deal because I'vebeen getting I've been getting some DM and
texts do some of it. Someof them have been so funny. The

(02:06:35):
Saubat's cookie thing came from just havinga frame of mind, a mental toughness.
It had nothing to do with guysgetting in the portal and anything.
Now most people say I'm a saltbatchedcookie for leaving there, but actually I'm
not because it takes great strength tomake a decision to leave a place.
No, a weak minded person wouldn'tbe able to make the decision that I

(02:06:57):
made, So it took great strengthto do that. So I'm telling you
a boy literally in my DMS,it's some it's some great comedians out here
that have been sending me like tonsof cookies and out like it's funny.
Right behind him, Tony, howare you going about the assessment of the
talent in the room? Uh,over the past week or two? How
much is that on field? Offfield? Like, what's the process of

(02:07:18):
getting to know who you have asplayers? Well? I broke down well
me being a guy that loves therunning back position, and I already broke
those kids down because I recruit himout of high school. You know,
Q is from where I'm from inMontgomery. I was one of the first
guys to offer him just watching him. Great contact, balance, creative runner,

(02:07:41):
great hands and trey. I recruitedhim out of Virginia exceptional short air,
your bursting quickness and things that I'mgonna help him get better on.
And then I recruited James Peeples outof t out of San Antonio, Texas.
I knew what he was gonna whathe was gonna be TC and Sam.
Those two kids I'm getting to knowand I'm gonna help them prove that
game. But we got different runnersin there. I like to call myself,

(02:08:05):
I'm in love with this position.So I get the break down runners
and help their game. So talented, talented room, very talented. Uh
far back uh. Jeremy Birmingham PodcastCouch. How do you swear that that
the South past cookies are actually thebest cookies? To Philip brittin bigs or
those are way better than the countrychips and white things with territory, I

(02:08:26):
mean, do you do you haveto first find a balance there or someone?
Well, for me, I'm actuallynot eating any cookies now. I'm
just saying I'm not eating any cookiesthis year. I gave it up for
a fast or no sweets for mefor the whole year. That's something I
gave up. So they the termthe south bast cookie term. Look,

(02:08:46):
guys, I actually took that fromI represent the high school coaches of Meths,
Tennessee. I actually took that froma guy named coach Slocum. He
used to always say that south bastcookie. I actually stole that from him.
I give him credit for it,and I tell them all the time
he said, you I should havebranded that, cause you don't took it
and ran away with it. Butthat's just where that comes from. So

(02:09:07):
that that now was standing as youget to a high stand and you start
to look around the country. HowOregon's a big place, that's a that's
a major job right. How howdo you think that where your opposite of
logo arend Ja ran blocko. Whenyou get out out of the little free
and trail, how does that changethe way that you feel you're either received
or or does it add a differentlevel to to just feeling like I could

(02:09:31):
go anywhere and get anybody in thempry and That's the sangest thing for me.
This is a great place. Oregonis a great place too. But
guess what, whatever I put on, I know what I'm going to represent
for me. I N I NI know who who put me here?
Uh? I know I represented somethinghigher, you know. Like I told

(02:09:52):
you, I know what my purposeis. My purpose is to poorting to
people. So whatever logo I haveon, I'm still gonna be doing the
same thing. So this is agreat logo, great logo, but I
wear another logo every day. It'sacross I see around my neck. I
know what I represent. So that'sthe greatest logo I could ever wear.
So it doesn't matter what other logoI have on. I got that one
on. I'm going to any houseand be a recruit. Uh uh deep

(02:10:18):
right camera Tick Robinson and the athleticfrom which you you mentioned the time in
Memphis and themis four NFL running backsyou mentioned there Who you learned from that
time that you that you take overto manage you to grow and keep.
What did I learn from them?I just building a just teaching the kids.
We live in such a selfish worldnow, and I can tell the

(02:10:39):
kids all the times it's gotta bemuch more to football. The ball gonna
go flat one day. As Ialways say, what being in that room
there at Memphis is, it wasn'tfour five teaching them how to be a
b by being one. I tellyou them in all time, it doesn't
cost you anything to celebrate another man'ssuccess. So teaching them how to be
one, and then once they learnedto be one, they functioned in They

(02:11:01):
feed off one another. So that'swhat I learned from being there at Memphis
and Bachman let him in the road. Carlos, start of your career in
law enforcement kind of influence you asa coach and kind of shape where you
are. Oh well, I justgot through talking to somebody about that today.
When I first got in this professionand I got my own room at

(02:11:22):
Western Tech, I was asked,No, how was I was gonna be
able to handle my room? Isaid, Man, I had a part
with fifty one inmates. You talkingabout me having got six or seven guys?
Are you kidding me? I'm talkingabout me having to do traffic stops
or going on domestic you know,vience calls. It's simple, easy.

(02:11:43):
No, people don't know what youcare. Also, know, you gotta
have a certain demeaning about yourself.So when I walk into a room,
it's the reason why I go trainevery morning. This is when it's same
thing when I was a police officer. You look a certain way kind of
deter people from doing certain things.So it's just why I go train every
morning. I'm gonna look just asgood as my boys look. So it

(02:12:05):
helped out a lot. In otherwords, from Arl Right Austin Ward the
podcast Carls, Welcome to Columbus.What would it mean to I don't know,
revolutionize the way running backs are coach? What does that take? I
ain't even I'm not gonna say revolutionari. It's just good. It's some good
running back coaches out here. Everybody'sdifferent. It's some great coaches out here.

(02:12:28):
I just want the head guys whosay that on these jobs to not
just hire guys just you know,all coaches on your staff should be great
recruiters, not just some running backcoach. We coach a position. We
developed players as well. I justwant the coaches to realize, hey,
you know what, let me lookand be thorough about this guy that I'm
hiring for this job. Is heteaching the position. Is he development the

(02:12:50):
position because you're not gonna hire anybodyjust coach quarterbacks, are you. Well,
it shouldn't be like that for therunning back position either. And I'm
only passionate about it because I playedit. I love it, so it's
the only position I want to coach, cause I coach the other positions.
Yeah, I played dB in collegetoo, but I loved the running back
position so and I just wanted tosee it coach well. Ten many podcasts,

(02:13:11):
Yeah, a million questions all aska couple. Number one, when
y? When you? When yourwife? Whatever? You got the message?
Stuff? Or are we moving again? What was? What was her
reaction? Nah? She she justknew guy had given us gave us a
new assignment. Shit w 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

(02:13:33):
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 had
gave us a new assignment, Soit's time to go. What did uh?
What did coach they tell you whenyou heard you that he wants out
of you? That may be different. It's not slamming somebody else. But

(02:13:54):
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 to develop the position. Andthat's not taking a shot at the coach
that was here who I'm friends with. He said, they want somebody to
really get I like our edge guysthat we picked up, and I'm excited

(02:14:15):
to work with him. Do youknow much about how do you play against
him? Leonor Boyd? And what'swhat's been kind of earlier him? Uh?
I think he's super skilled Russia uh, a little good length, and
he's more athletic than I even realized. And I think guys like him when
they come to our scheme are thebest is brought out of him. So
I'm excited to see what potential hehas. He's year nine, so I

(02:14:41):
feel like you, as a dlineman, you can keep improving all the
way through uh ten years in thisleague. So I'm excited to see what
he's got. How old did youknow sorts of uh when he was assistant
here, and had you gotten toknow him a lot better? What's the
relationship? Maybe right now? Iknow him pretty well. He was always
uh, just a a dude aroundthe facility. He did our ball meetings,

(02:15:01):
so he's good in front of agroup. He's a good leader.
He knows the scheme really well,which is good. I was happy to
see him promoted. He called mein the off season, we talked.
I just congratulated him, and Ithink he's gonna bring something similar to what

(02:15:22):
we had with the Miko. It'llbe good. Do you know Brandon Stanley
well at all? And I mean, obviously Joey Platform don't know too much
about him. I've obviously heard frommy brother, but I don't even think
i've said high yet. I haven'tran into him yet, but I'm sure
i'll get to know him. Whenyou say it looks similar to Miko,
the energy or system maybe a littledifferent energy, but I think just knowing

(02:15:48):
the system from the front to theback, I think he knows how it
ties in. And he's been aroundwith some really good coaches, so I
think it'll be pretty pretty seamless.And I think we'll be firing on all
cylinders. You're three months removed fromthe Super Bowl now, so how have

(02:16:09):
you? I guess digested it,and I guess physically everything good to go.
Yeah, I feel really good.I think it's been one of my
better off seasons of just kind ofIt was a long year, so I
took it nice and slow to getback into it. Not as young as
I once was, so I'm takingat a little slower, but everything's great.

(02:16:31):
I'm feeling as good as I felt. I'm excited to actually get some
practice in. Last year was kindof tough, getting thrown in Week one
after I walked through, so thatwas another reason I'm excited to be here
is just to get practicing a littlebit in season. Practice is one thing,
but actually being able to work yourstuff and not have a game coming

(02:16:54):
up is good. With the SuperBowl unfortunately, I know how to bounce
back from tough losses, so itwas rough for a little bit. But
now it's just annoying when people bringit up. Since age last season,
we've seen a rock on TV commercialsand on the stage with Luke Coombs and

(02:17:16):
throwing out the first pitch of theGiants game, but he seems like a
guy that's totally unaffected by celebrity,which he has now. But what have
you noticed in his leadership style andthe way he carries himself any difference at
all. I think he's definitely gettinga little more vocal within the building.
And uh yeah, I mean Idon't think he's ever gonna change. I

(02:17:37):
don't think he's somebody that's gonna changeeven when he gets paid next year.
So he's he's a man of faithand he kind of reminds me of Scotti
Scheffler, but except for just superhumble and really good kid. And yeah,

(02:18:00):
he's definitely famous. I don't justfrom watching Armstead get released obviously meant
so much to the defensive line intothe team. I mean, Colin John
were pretty open that they were willingto talk about trading deebo or are you

(02:18:20):
at youl? Does that just anotherwhat's that feel like in the locker room
when those sort of joels happened?I didn't even know that happened and I
wasn't here, but you're talking aboutthis offseason Armstead in alarm Eric released,
so that's certainly one thing. Yeah, it's a tough business. For sure,

(02:18:43):
you have to have thick skin,and I haven't gone through that,
but I think you just have tounderstand that it is a business and the
team's going to try and get asgood as it possibly can with or without
you, and you have to lookout for yourself. That's why you go
through holdouts and do certain things thatseem selfish in the moment, but it

(02:19:07):
is what it is, and wheneverything's settled, we're gonna come together as
a team and try and go getone. What's the overall feeling around the
group right now, Like, howmuch does it feel like the excitement of
the ramp up to the season.Even though it's early, it feels good.
It's been a couple of days forme, so I like all the
new guys. I'm getting to knoweverybody, But I think the past is

(02:19:30):
in the past and we're ready togo. You talk to you talk to
be at all about handling the businesspart of this. He's going through something
similar. We chat a little bit, but not too much about the details.
I just told him keep his headup and try and stay positive through
it all. Over your first impressionswhen you heard what your schedule would be
in that Aaron Rodgers's first up.It'll be fun. Yeah, it's gonna

(02:19:56):
be gonna be a good one.Excuse me kind of alluded to this for
the fact that last year you hadto have that hold out that affected you
somewhat early in the season. Ifyou hadn't had that experience, would you
be here right now? I mean, was that part of the motivation for
being here early, just to havethe opposite one last year? No,

(02:20:20):
I don't think that's one of thereasons. But I just talked to Kyle
and he kind of asked me.He kind of stated how he felt about
why it would be good for meto be here and asked if I agreed,
and I one d agree. Soit's not like I'm missing too much.
I think I'm out here. It'sa little less workload than I'm doing

(02:20:45):
back home, so it's kind ofa good active recovery thing for me.
And I'm getting football stuff, footballworking specifically, so that's good. I'm
not it's not compromising my training atall, and I get to meet all
the guys. It's positive. Ohno, he's he's there. He's got

(02:21:09):
a new regime over there. Iactually thought I was coming next week.
Until recently, so I was gonnahave one more week at home, but
we're both in California. I've comein and thought we were going to lose
or have have a bad year.I felt like every year when I tell
you things are feeling good and Ifeel optimistic, it wasn't a lie.

(02:21:33):
But yeah, I think things areare definitely, like I said, trending
in the right direction. Everybody's onthe 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 is leadingthe team the way it should be led.

(02:21:54):
It has a feel of being backin college, you know, with
with coach erber Meyer, and youknow the message is sent from the top
and it doesn't get mixed up asit's moving down the ladder. It's boom.
This is how we're doing things,and everybody's following that. And I
think it's impressive the details that everybodyhave been on, has has been on

(02:22:16):
the effort and just the competitiveness thatthat's been going on over the last few
weeks. Yeah, it's it's it'sbeen great. How much do you appreciate
that? To stop and just describedwith the way Jim leads we shouldn't eat
in the messaging does' eat mixed up? Why do you appreciate that so much?

(02:22:37):
I mean, it's I guess it'seasy to appreciate when you kind of
see it working and you see guysimproving, getting better. I just think
the details are really important. Youcan pretend that leaving your shoes a mess
or your locker a mess isn't abig deal, and what matters is playing

(02:23:00):
football. But I think all thosetiny details and things kind of add up
and leak into the important stuff,like what you're doing on the field.
So if you can have your toebehind the line, or have your locker
and order and all these things,they kind of stack up into performing well
and and playing well when things count. So you know, I appreciate that.

(02:23:24):
It's it also hasn't been a fightwith 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.
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,

(02:23:48):
it seems like it might not addup too much, but I think
in the long term it does,and it leaks into other things, whether
you're doing your right assignment on thefield, being late to meetings or all
these things. If you hold astandard and you stay to that standard,
I think it benefits you long term. It's it been like work with Ben

(02:24:09):
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

(02:24:31):
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 been
He's been great. The guys lovehim. The energy brings is awesome,

(02:24:52):
and I think the stuff that we'redoing in the weight room is great,
great addition to stuff that I maymay do on the side or whatever that
is. Yeah, I think weI 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.

(02:25:13):
So obviously staying healthy is is ahuge factor to anybody's success. I'd
say it's plagued us a little bitfor a while. So yeah, I
think he's he's definitely incredibly beneficial.When were you, like fully fully re
covered. I know at the endof last season you might have been able
to play. Yeah, No,I was not ready to go last year.

(02:25:35):
No, tried practicing, tried comingback, and uh it was it
was not good, but yeah itwas Unfortunately the year wasn't going great and
it just was unnecessary risk for Imean, my foot could have had some
real real issues if I came backtoo early. So yeah, it's been.

(02:25:58):
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 in my hand,so all those things are good. Got
surgery on my finger, So that'sfeeling good. Yeah, it's nice to
be feeling better going into year ninethan you have since maybe five six years

(02:26:20):
ago, which I've said, I'vebeen feeling great last couple of years.
I'm telling you it's a real dealthis time. But obviously anything can happen.
But I just feel it's fun feelingreally confident in your body and being
able to perform. So I couldjust go out during practice and you know,
go balls to the wall and doeverything that I feel like I need

(02:26:43):
to to be able to prepare.It's fun. My brother and whoever I
trained with my trainer Todd back home, I think they'd be really proud of
how I've been working this off season, and it's just exciting. Pointing was
the injuries on the Green Bay game, You've kind of yeah, that was

(02:27:07):
a bit of a build up,a little bit of an overreaction, but
you know, it's just tough.It comes sometimes like that, and I
just felt felt really defeated coming back. Had a broken hand. I'm like,
oh, yeah, I get toplay Boom first serious foot pops.
Thought I'd have to get surgery,and all these thoughts flooded through my head.

(02:27:28):
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
in the offseason, and then theyear before you had growing surgery, so
you know, a lot of thingsbuild up. Yeah, you don't get
a break if you're injured. Everybodywants to go on. Fans are very
nice, but no, I justI'm grateful that I feel this way.

(02:27:54):
I'm still still nice. Ripe twentyeight, so not too old yet,
but yeah, I'm just excited.I can't remember what the original question was
at this point, something by howclose you and Gift were. How frustrating

(02:28:18):
was it that you couldn't you knowfor one of those last three games.
It was frustrating, But I meanGift was had my back the whole way.
I think for Gift, for anybut for for the whole team,
just to show what it means tome. It would have been important for
me to be out there, butI literally could and I tried to practice.

(02:28:39):
Injured my footworse the very first playI was and in practice, so
no chance that was happening unless Iwanted to throw my next season away as
well. But no, I'm justI'm proud of him for what he did
with the team, how he handledit, and I need to call him
back. Actually sorry, Gift.Yeah, I'm happy he gets to stay

(02:29:03):
close by with the with the Ramsand uh Im. Just proud of all
we accomplished here together over the yearsand and we'll be close for the rest
of our lives. Was the footinjury? Was this guys? A foot
sprang? Yeah, I sprained onearea of my foot. Then when I
tried to return and I sprained anotherarea. Was able to avoid getting surgery,
which is kind of the main goal, But yeah, it was.

(02:29:28):
It was tough when it comes tothe addition of but Dupree, when he
felt like he's kind of brought tothe to the room and could bring on
the field. Yeah, it's 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

(02:29:48):
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
personality. I heard Khalil just sayinghe's he's a fun guy. He's a
funny guy, and to have thatin the room another vet is always a
great addition. But I'm just excitedto have him and Tuley and to be

(02:30:11):
able to rotate like that and notdrop off at all when we come off
the field is huge, and mapTuley is going into a second year.
Just what do you what are youkind of What are some of the maturity
maturity areas you've said from him?You know, I'm gonna say not much,
and that's a compliment because he wasalready mature in those areas. I

(02:30:31):
mean, he's on it everything playbookwise, always doing his job, working
hard, just refining his technique andpass rush. I mean, we don't
have the pads on right now,so the real work will will begin,
you know, in six weeks now. So but yeah, I love Tuli.
I've loved him since the first dayhe's he's walked into the facility and

(02:30:54):
I know he's just gonna continue toget better. What do you think of
the addition of Joe Old Yeah,yeah, I'm gonna need to beat him
up a little bit in camp,so he's so he's ready, But no,
I think anything to protect our Numberten is a good, good investment.
So he seems like a real soliddude. Haven't talked to him too

(02:31:15):
much. Great build, seems likehe has good hands, good feet,
strong, We'll see. We'll seein a few weeks when I lay a
helmet in his chin how he holdsup. But it'll I'll take it easy
on him. No, Rashon's abeast. Did you know Coach Harbond before

(02:31:37):
he came here? And if hedid, just what were those first couple
of conversations like that? Yeah?I probably have crossed paths with him.
Maybe maybe not. Actually I thinkwhat was it his first year when I
was a junior? So he kickedhis ass as usual at Ohio State.

(02:31:58):
No, No, they just wanta championship, so I'd say they probably
have the bragging rights right now.I'm like the guy talking about his old
high school. Oh, I rememberwe used to kicks. No but no,
yeah, no, the rivalry isdead. I was just saying this
morning, you know, nine yearsand kind of forget about that. I'm

(02:32:20):
not a great alumni. Sorry,sorry coach, but no, it's great.
That's what's great about the NFL isyou just have guys from all backgrounds.
You could hate their guts one oneyear, and then you come on
the same team and your brothers andyou're all working towards one goal together.
So our first talk together was great. I just sat down with them,
went up into his office and choppedit up about life mainly and his opportunity

(02:32:45):
here and how much it means tohim, and uh, yeah, I
think he's a special guy. Ithink he's uh, the way he conducts
himself. He's an interesting cat forsure. And I'm still still feeling them
out. But one thing you can'tdeny is that he loves football and his
main goal is to win football games. So and that's what we need.
When you see him working out withyou guys and and pushing slaves and doing

(02:33:07):
all this stuff, just how interestingis that to see? Yeah, I
mean he was a he was agreat player himself, and I think he's
always been, you know, builtlike that lack of a better term.
But yeah, he's uh, he'spart of the guys. You know,
he's not this guy outside looking in. He he really, I mean he

(02:33:28):
voiced that to me, is thathis favorite part of all of it is
being with the guys and and theconnections he makes. So Yeah, to
to see a guy like that comein and embrace it all and kind of
be part of it himself is important. Your initial impressions of Coachman during the
defensive game. Yeah, it's funnyto go from old gift, old gift

(02:33:50):
to this little young guy who's myage. I wouldn't want to get thrown
into a room with me and Khalilshis age. But no, he's been
great. I love messing with hima little bit. We a little sarcasm
back and forth, but no,he's great. He's uh, very talks

(02:34:11):
very fast, and I don't asyou know, so sometimes I gotta be
like, slow down, coach,come on. But no, he's great.
I'm excited, you know, toget closer as the years. As
the year goes on, and Ithink he has he has a lot of
passion for the position and all hewants to do is learn and and help

(02:34:33):
us to improve. So I'm excitedabout him and me and I do miss
Giff. Obviously it was a longtime with him, but I am excited
to have a new face and kindof have that challenge for me. You
worked much with with Jesse's dad sinceI know he coached linebackers in Michigan.
Did you ask about Jesse? Didyou ask about doing? Okay, you

(02:34:56):
asked about Jesse. Oh my god, I was talking about freaking doing the
whole the time. You guys areso confused. No, sorry, I
thought we I thought I was.I thought you mentioned coach Ronie. No,
No, coach Mentor has been greatas well. Yeah, they've both
been great. Sorry, run thatback. No, he's been good.

(02:35:18):
Uh yeah, very knowledgeable guy,same thing. I'm excited to get to
know him more as the year goeson. Have you worked if you worked
much? Yeah, no, Ihave not. I don't know if I've
said one word to him, butmore words to come down the road.

(02:35:41):
Like you said, you've been inyears since twenty sixteen. Just what are
some of this stuff? You justone on a ramble about the wrong guy
for fifteen minutes walking what Yeah,I love the heck Actually that's literally not

(02:36:01):
the person. Yeah. I figuredout. What's something that you you worked
undering the off season, something toimprove your game or is there something that
you can Usually my answer is prettyconsistent that I just continue to try to

(02:36:22):
prepare myself physically, whether that's mysprint work or agility work and my lifting.
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 I'm full full speed out there,
and I'm just going to continue todo what I know, uh will

(02:36:46):
prepare me for the season. Anduh, I know I'm gonna get plenty
of technique work and position work whenI'm out here. So for now,
I'm going to spend these five weeksreally getting uh pair in my body.
There's workouts, competitive again, anotheryear of competitive with you and all that
stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it'susually too hot out there for much competition.

(02:37:09):
We're just trying to survive. Sobut yeah, it's always it's a
it's a silent competition between between eachother, be like peeking, He's like
what was his time? Was histime? But no, yeah, it's
always. You can never have anoff day when when you're out there and
he's he's warming up like a beat, like a freaking robot every day out

(02:37:31):
there, so there's there's no offdays. Have you got you and haven't
talked at all? And out Imean, I mean just when you were
having a contract game. You guyshave to talk about on any other Yeah,
I mean it's it's a conversation,not a not really a serious conversation,
but something that's come up before.But yeah, I mean it would

(02:37:54):
be cool. It would be coolat some point. I I always thought
of myself being somebody that will playhere and retire here, which I think
not many people do on one team, and I think would be a cool
thing to accomplish. But you neverknow. I'm gonna worry about this year.
First, guys, Sorry, it'skind of we're on a food story.

(02:38:18):
But so you guys have like thelowest or second olwdest food cceria in
the NFLPA serbye last year and lettermoved to the facility, Like you talked
a lot about food and how youdid some time. Is it fine because
you have to have you looking forwardto the food upgrades at all? Have
you thought about it at all?Yeah? No, it's Wolfgang Puck or
whatever is the is the word.Yeah, that's great. I've been working

(02:38:41):
with my chef for seven years now, so she's been great, So I've
never really had to worry about thattoo much. But yeah, my weight's
good. I've been eating a lotthis offseason, so that's good. But
yeah, I'm excited to maybe beable to Sorry Christ, you know,
but maybe I won't need a chefnext year. I'll have I'll have my

(02:39:05):
I'll have my Wolfgang Puck food andthat'll be good. So yeah, I'm
excited about the move, found anew spot, Excited to kind of learn
the area and all that, eventhough I won't ever leave my house,
do not do a lot of thefacility just a chef at all. We

(02:39:26):
all eat here sometimes. You know, it's may not be the best setup,
but they'll prepare your food. That'sthat's plenty good. I'm a man
air character shout out. No,they work harder than literally anybody in the
entire facility. So they may nothave the best means back there, but
they've they freaking worked their butts off. And this offense after like twenty years

(02:39:48):
of breeze and just kind of itwas just kind of built on top of
each other, on top of eachother. It's like kind of a lot
to kind of take in. Doyou do you find that they kind of
turn it down to something new,starting to like zero with everybody it's just
a little bit easier kind of stad. Yeah, I feel like it's way
easier. Like you said, itwas kind of more of a Drew Brees
style, uh the last playbook,so uh all credit to them, though

(02:40:09):
they built that around him, aroundhis players. But uh, like I
said, it's is more. Uh, this playbook is more uh for uh
matchups and uh, I feel likeit's gonna be better for us. How
do you think it's gonna really takeadvantage of your skill sets? Uh?
Just building around the strengths that Ihave. You know what I'm saying,

(02:40:30):
things that I can do and thingsthat she can do, uh, things
that our players can do. Iskind of focus on what we can do
and and building on that. Uh. I feel like it's playing to the
player strengths. So I feel likeit's gonna help us a lot around the
way this offense will have a lotmore speed. And how has that transition
event so far? I mean,like I said, it's building around the
player strengths. So of course wegot speed uh uh with me or uh

(02:40:52):
she and ati receiver, so uh, just building around that. Uh,
Like I said, playing to ourstrengths and be able to capitalize off that.
I feel like it's gonna help usa lot most of like a up
tempo aspect and getting a lot ofplays in the less time. Oh yeah,
yeah, yeah, that's definitely gonnaplay a big difference. Like I
said, coming from the West Coast, Uh, they bringing that stand for
an offense here, So I'm excitedto be able to be a part of

(02:41:13):
that. For you personally, whatwhat's the next level look like for you?
What do you what are you tryingto accomplish this year? Just staying
consistent, man, I had acouple of upside downs last year. Just
building off that. Uh, it'salways always gonna work on the physical part,
but being able to bounce back aftera bad game the mental mental aspect.

(02:41:33):
Uh, just learning and learning thatlast year and be able to build
on that this year is a hugepart. You know with Mike go on,
did you take it upon yourself tokind of be that voice in the
room or to take a step forwardeven further as Uh, I mean it's
not really. I mean everybody kindof grown in the NFL, so it's
just on you to be able tohave that standard. Like I said,

(02:41:58):
I just try to do that leadby example I'm not really outspoken, but
just lead by example, working hard, trying to dominate every rep and hopefully
they follow after that. Yards afterthe catch? Is that you feel like
that's the strength of yours that maybewasn't utilize. I don't know if utilizes
the right word, but you couldshow more. Yeah, it's an offense

(02:42:18):
that is built around that, Uh, just catching the ball in space,
catching the ball over the middle oreven on the outside, uh with with
space and separation. I feel likeit's built around having yards have to catch.
So I'm definitely proud to be inthe system, like I said,
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

(02:42:39):
course. I mean you don't wantto get tackled by the first person.
And my mindset is trying to takeevery take everything to the house, you
know, every touch. So Idefinitely got to do that more and definitely
try to work on that in practice. A great dude man some some that
I definitely needed something that he relatesto me, uh just from backgrounds and

(02:43:05):
uh he's a great coach, greatleader, uh, motivational and uh,
like I said, I'm excited tohave him around and for him to push
me is everything that I need.So you're talking about like mentally bouncing back,
you know, from tough performances orwhatever. Like, did you like
try to find your resources gonna helpyou figure out how to do that?
Oh? Yeah, I mean it'solder guys that uh tell me, h,

(02:43:26):
that's natural, just have bad games. But uh, just having the
standard that I have for myself andthe expectations I have for myself gets hard
sometimes. So just be able tobe hard on yourself, but at the
same time just let it go andjust bounce back for the next game.
It's something that I learned last year. You one of those guys that feels

(02:43:46):
like you should always have a certainlevel production. Are you okay with those
certain games where the defense is sofocused on you that other guys have big
games and where you're just running goodroutes and the Uh yeah, I definitely.
It was like that early in mycareer, especially in college. But
I found out it's just about winningreally. You know. I understand I

(02:44:09):
came up a rough season, butI don't think it's a step down of
where I can play. You know, I think when I'm at the top
of my game. I'm still,you know, top five player in my
position, and you know I playeda run in the past and I bring
leadership and you know that's not anythingI discome. Can you do you plan
to be here for many camp andthe start of training camp? Yeah?

(02:44:31):
How difficult has it been the lasttwo weeks to not be here? I
mean you said in your podcast thefirst time you've never not been a OT.
Yeah, it was difficult. Butlike you know, the thing I
got very frustrated with was just somepeople questioned my communication with the team.
You know, I was communicating withguys left and right, and you know,
front office, coaches, teammates,and all I care about is how

(02:44:56):
I am with my teammates. Idon't want them to ever think I don't
care about them or how I'm notin it. And you know, you
can say whatever you want about me. But besides that, but I always
dedicate anything I can't and I don'twant that to every question. Isaiah said
that it felt like sometimes you wereholed up somewhere watching film. You texted,
h you missed this, or youwanna tweak that. Well, like

(02:45:18):
the first day he was batting allup Russ's passes. So I had to
let him know, you know,uh, uh, you gotta take advantage
of that. You gotta make sureguys are you know, uh know that
you you still care and you stillwanna be a part of this. Uh.
You know, just watching practice,there's a couple of things we're doing
different, whether I'm communicating with dumbbaror other people. You know, so

(02:45:41):
be ye, so you're that you'realso talking with him and you you getting
him pointers during the off season.Just toss to communication. How do you
see him girl as a person?You know, as far as how he's
approaching things, how you're getting readyfor this season, promising his rooky year.
Uh. You know, I thinkthe thing with Keanu is he's more
comfortable, you know, you knowsince first time around the track. You
know, it's actually like he canyou know, uh catch his feet under

(02:46:05):
him. You know. I alwaysthink when you're in your rookie season,
you're going from bowl game. Idon't even know Wisconsin played in a bowl
game. Sorry Wisconsin, I don'teven know. But you know, personally,
I just think when you go frombowl game to training for the combine
to you know, rookie Minni caampOTAs the you know mini camp, I

(02:46:26):
mean the training camp, the regularseason. 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 to step up
and be ready for those opportunities youhad during the season. Was a more

(02:46:46):
thorough what was just tightening down everything, you know on my left side because
I was overcompensating a little bit,but you know it was it wasn't anything
that lingers. You know, I'llsay this, A growing is not like
an a cl It's not like anything'sthat we're going to get afected again.
And you know, you know,feeling good, able to do everything squat

(02:47:09):
and heavy with power and speed,so you know, it feels good to
get after again. What do youthink of what the team was able to
feel accomplish yourself usually in terms ofbring guys like Russian and things. You
know, I think they're all goodacquisitions, but you know, you never
want to be known as a paperchampion, so can't win the off season.
I think the work gets done outhere on the field, gets done

(02:47:31):
in the classroom, it gets donetraining. Uh, you know, and
then you see where you're at intraining camp and then you build on that.
You know, I think we gotthe right guys in the building.
It's just about putting a complete teamon the field. Camp. How temper
colleges it to separate the business partof the game in the actual football player.

(02:47:52):
Uh. You know, you alwayswanna you always have to treat it
like a business because you know oneday it's gonna end. Uh And that's
benny job. Uh. It's notlike in college where you know you got
four years guaranteed. I don't know, well now you you don't know what
an iln't know. It's crap butthe transfer portal portal. But you know

(02:48:16):
you have to you know, Istill have love for this game, and
I still work my tail off andI still put everything into it and that's
not gonna change. But you haveto know, uh, what you bring
to the team and what your whatyour value is. Hey, everyone did
a feel to be out there withyour teammates today. Emotionally great. You
know, we got a new uh, we got a new training staff and

(02:48:39):
still learning the the warm up alittle different. Uh, but uh,
you know I loved it. Uh, you know, just getting after it,
learning new guys, Uh, goingthrough the same drills I've been doing
by myself. Uh. I actuallylike having more people around, cause like
kind of go stir crazy, cracrazy. When it's just you and another
guy, You're like, damn,I gotta go back up for another rep

(02:49:00):
already. And so you know,it's nice to be up here and get
a chance to you know, bewith my guys. Cam. Were you
confident and deal? We'll get donewith your emotion. Oh, I'm gonna
we'll try to remain pretty neutral,cause you know, I don't wanna be
too either way. All I knowis I wanna be here, but we'll

(02:49:24):
see what happens. Was my lastyear here, I I I I've had
a great career here, but uh, we'll look forward to play next year.
Can you with that second surgery yousaid it this time was on the
left side. It was the firsttime around on the right side, right
side during the season, left side, and that was just tightening down my
corner. My corma saw. Itwasn't the same as my ad doctor.

(02:49:48):
You know, you can ask doctorBradley. Uh doctor doctor Zuckerbron who uh
did the surgery as well. Youknow, I if anything's gonna help me
and it'll make me a lot strongerfrom here on up. Then you said
you were training with another guy whoyou would kind of been Tyson. Oh.
Uh, I've been training with himfor the last eight years. We've
always trained together. We got atrainer up north, uh shadowt Cole Haley

(02:50:11):
who's my guy, traded h trainedtrained uh, Heath Miller, Brett Keesel,
the multitude of guys that I allrespect, and we've just been getting
after it. Kim, He's verytrue. Guys historically thirty five that get
paid big contract that you think that'sheld against you. I think there's not
a lot of history behind it.But you know, for me, I

(02:50:35):
I look at as I'm not lookingto be like anybody else. You know,
my game is different from everybody elsein this league. You know,
I like to think, you know, I can play the run in the
past, and then that's where I'mdifferent. You know. I remember last
year Mike t just brought to myattention. You know the thing that's really
cool is you watch powerlifters, andyou know my game's built on powering technique

(02:50:58):
and those guys going to their fortyand so you know, that's what kind
of research I'm doing behind the scenes. But you know, I I we'll
see what happens. Is there's nota lot of history, but I'm here
to make history and I'm here toyou know, I win another Super Bowl
year and you know, have agreat season. Do you have a set

(02:51:18):
goal for yourself on how many yearsyou want to play in the NFL?
Or do you just take things yereright yere? You know it was it
was tough answering that question right afterthe season. I will say this,
guys, I I can't keep answeringthat question right after the season. That
is not fair to the season,That's not fair to my family. Uh
you know, but in my mind, I got three years and I want

(02:51:41):
to maximize them. I wanna playat a high level, and I wanna
go deep in the playoffs. Andyou know, we got a good team
and I'm gonna do my part tobe ready for all those situations. Here.
If you plan on practicing when youreport to latrob or is your possibility
that you might pulled in and enforcethe newitations? I I have not even
thought that far. I've taken aday by day uh you know, uh

(02:52:03):
uh I told my agent and wetalked about it. I mean, uh,
we were cool coming out here.You know. I'll be here for
many you know, and then I'llbe the retraining parent. You know.
I don't know what the work entails, but kay, when we get there,
we'll we'll cross that bridge. Whyis it a dodge for you or
remain a stealer for those three years? You know? There was a conversation

(02:52:28):
between me, Omar and Mike tAnd there's certain guys that are one helmet
guys, you know, and Iwanna be one of those one helmet guys.
And you know, there's a there'sa hunger and desire there. But
that doesn't mean just hanging it upand calling a career. To me,
I think, you know, Igot more bullets to fire, and uh,

(02:52:52):
you know, I'm excited to dothat. What's the meaning last one?
You and Russell Wilson are gonna beout there with Walter Man? Uh
what WALTI Payton Man of the Year. 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 you know, it's cool to have another Walter Payton
Man the Year winner. You know. I think it's an honor to be

(02:53:16):
there. And I'll say one thing, I won't be here. I'm just
telling you guys, So it's nota big deal. I won't be here
because I have to do a WalterPayton manly your thing on Thursday. So
it's not like I'm skipping, allright, But uh, you know,
it's an honor to be with Russand you know, you know, it's

(02:53:37):
in honor of doing things in thecommunity and doing great work. And you
know, the cool thing is,as much as we get quarterbacks and going
through these fifteen practices, how doyou want to structure that? I know
that you and Ryan have probably talkedabout that a good amount, Like what's
the right way to set up aspring position battle? How many reps does
everybody need? What's sort of yourplan? Just from a general perspective,

(02:54:00):
I guess yeah, you know,we're really detailed in what practice looks like
and how that's going to operate.But I also think you need to let
the players go, you know,So I don't think you need to put
shackles on them, so to speak, and just keep them constrained. I
think you got to let them goand you got to let them operate.
And we were rotating I think everybodyon every two snaps today just and that
was just what we're gonna do onday one. You know. We'll reassess

(02:54:20):
it after we got through it.Get a chance to count up all the
reps of how many plays, howmany plays each guy got, and did
they get more in seven on thanthey did in eleven on? You know,
and we'll go through that whole thingand that'll be a constant flow in
terms of how we're doing it.But I think the best way people learn
is they learn by doing, youknow. So they've been great in the
meeting rooms. They're sharp when youget them on the board, they're really

(02:54:41):
good when they're watching film. Butyou got to go out and you got
to play the game. And sothe more we can put them in those
situations to play the game, thebetter we'll have an opportunity to evaluate them.
Sit Thinking all of these things goback so forth with Ryan's day.
You mentioned since you've noticed since youwas a kid, what were your first

(02:55:03):
impressions back then that she come fullcircle to now, like how do you
how do you feel about that?It's still the same way he you know,
even since he was playing little league, he was the ultimate competitor,
you know, and he was alwaystrying to find a way to win.
He was great at a lot ofsports, Baseball, basketball, football,
you know. I got an opportunityto recruit him, you know, so
I coached him when I was atNew Hampshire. I recruited him out of

(02:55:24):
high school. We all, andwe grew up really close to each other,
so the same elementary school, samehigh school, same junior high,
same college, you know. SoI've known him since for for a really
long time. But that competitive fireburns deep with him, and that's the
one thing that I've always admired withhim. And he's got an amazing athletic
brain in terms of how to processthings and how to how to put people
in position to make place. He'salways been that prototypical coach on the field

(02:55:48):
no matter what sport he was playing. So I knew he was destined to
be a coach, you know.And I was fortunate in my career as
a head coach to have him onmy staff at a couple of places,
so I got a chance to seehim work firsthand. You know, I
got to seem work first and asa player and then as a coach.
So the success he had is notis not surprising to me? Is there
for you seeing Ryan the successes had. Yeah, I think we all do

(02:56:11):
that. I think we come froma unique place and in a really small
hometown in New Hampshire where we alltake a lot of pride to where we're
from and and when anybody's successful comingout of there, then you kind of
take a little pride that that's it'sthe upbringing that we all had, you
know, in the U sports programthat we grew up in in in every
aspect whether it was football, baseball, basketball, those coaches were had an
amazing impact on us and that's whywe are where we are right now.

(02:56:37):
Ryan said, he doesn't think ofit as you working under him, that's
working with him. Fact is heis the head coach. He makes me
call him sir though he just saidcan you do that day one and I
was like, all right, rightnow, But I mean he ultimately it
is the decision maker. You've beena head coach, how do you think

(02:57:00):
that's going to work. Do youthink there'll be any as close as you
are, any kind of awkward momentsthe right term. But when he's the
ultimate decider and you are working forhim, Yeah, I certainly understand my
role. I'm not Alhaic, like, I'm not in charge here. Yeah.
Some people get that reference. Otherpeople don't get that reference. But

(02:57:22):
I'd certainly understand that, and Iactually kind of relish it because I really
love the scheming part. I lovethe individual part. I love being in
the meeting room of the quarterbacks andtrying to game plan. But everything we
do here is collaborative. You know. The one thing that really struck me
when I walked in this place isthere's an amazing coaching staff here, you
know, and if you get achance to talk to Larry Johnson just about
football, or Tim Walton or JimKnowles or Brian Hartline or any of these

(02:57:46):
guys that are on the staff here, it's it's a very collaborative effort.
I think everybody's on the same page. You know, it's not our offense
and their defense and it's Ohio State, you know, it's it's Ohio State
versus the twelve opponent that we're gonnaplay during the regular season and then beyond.
So it's it's really collaborative. Andthat's the thing I like, just
in the short time that I've beenhere, is how collaborative everybody's been.

(02:58:07):
You know, we're all trying tomake each other better and we're all trying
to develop this team. Touched onthis when you said, you know,
you'd like to do what you wantto do and not My sense is you,
in your perfect world, you'd liketo scribble plays on a napkin and
not deal with boosters that deal withall the stuff that coaches, head coaches
have to deal with. Now,how much of a factor was that in

(02:58:28):
this decision? You can just dofootball now that that's not it? I
mean, I enjoy I mean,we've had some amazing I've had an opportunity
and everywhere I've been to meet someamazing people that are associated with the program.
And there's people that from my timeat New Hampshire, my time at
Oregon. I was just with PhilNight two weeks ago, you know,
and got an opportunity to spend sometime with him and his wife, Penny,

(02:58:48):
who are dear friends of mine.That that have been great mentors to
me in my career. And there'sa bunch of people that a UCLA Terry
Donahue and Andrea Donna who were awesometo me. Angela Mazzoni is a great
friend, Casey Wasserman, Troy Yekman. There was a bunch of people at
UCLA that I really enjoyed, youknow, being around and talking with.
So I think sometimes everybody wants tomake a narrative of it's either this or
that. It's never that. It'snever just all ball, it's never just

(02:59:11):
all recruiting, it's never just allboosters. It's a mixture of everything.
But I think the one thing thatas this position as a head coach kept
moving on is that if you lookat a lot of them, they all
become more CEOs. You know.I can't tell you how many coaches that
have called me since I made thisdecision that said I'm two years behind you,
brother, You know that are thinkingthe same exact way. And I

(02:59:31):
think it's all part of what wehave to do. I think we all
need to protect this game and promotethis game, and I think there are
some rules that we need to getstraightened out. So that people understand what
it's about, because the game isstill about the players, and I hope
that never gets discounted. You know, It's always been about the players,
and I think if we can keepthat at the forefront the people that are

(02:59:52):
making decisions on this, and Ithink Geen Smith is one of the best
influences in the NCAAA, is tomake sure we keep that the main thing.
The main thing to be the studentathletes dot Com. You know,
you're coming in at a time whereyou've been through some places where the expectations
are high. I understand it's alsocoming into a juncture where, you know,

(03:00:13):
the three losses to Michigan, thenot making the playoff last year,
the urgency is pretty high here.I guess just sort of what the perspective
do you have on kind of thestakes that there are for Ryan this year
and the decision that then he makesto bring you in to kind of help
solve that. Yeah, I thinkthe expectations can be no higher than they

(03:00:33):
are in your own brain, youknow. And I think if you try
to worry about what other people arethinking in their brains, you're going to
get screwed up a little bit.So you know I talked earlier. The
one thing about Ryan that I knowabout him and has always been he's the
ultimate competitor. So he's got There'snowhere that has higher expectations of Ohio State
than Ryan does, nor the restof us that joined him and are a
part of this and that are workingwith him. So, you know,

(03:00:54):
I don't think. I think sometimesyou can spend too much time thinking about
those things. You know, whatyou really have to do is just as
the there's a big sign as youwalk into this place, it says when
the moment, you know, Ithink that's a real thing that we have
to do as coaches, is tomake sure that our players aren't worried about
what's going on in the future,or or aren't worried about what's going on
in the past, or worry aboutcan they get a little bit better today,
you know, and can we makeimprovement? And I think the one

(03:01:15):
thing that I've seen here, andI've only been here for three weeks,
but there's a consistency to the playersapproach when they walk in this building every
day, which is it's unique.It's not like that everywhere else, and
it's one of the things that Iremark to Mick when I you know,
he said, hey, what doyou think? And I was like,
it's impressive. It's impressive the cultureof the players that are in this program
right now. But I think itspeaks a lot to the leadership. There's
a lot of older players on thisteam, and they've set the tone for

(03:01:37):
the younger players, and I thinkthe younger players have done a great job
of followship and getting right in linewith that. It's never ended over play
calling to someone before. What doesit mean to you? I guess he
technically did it to Bill when hewas here for a couple of weeks.
But what does that mean to youto kind of be getting that responsibility from
him and he's calling essentially the offensethat you gave it? I guess in
some way. Yeah, I stillthink the calling part will be a collaborative

(03:02:01):
effort, and by that I meanthat if it's a good play, I
called it, and if it's abad play, he called it. Because
the great part is an assistant coach, you can just point the finger a
little bit and just say, hey, you know, I wanted to do
this, but he trumped me.So we haven't actually discussed game day yet.
You know, we'll see how thatoperates. But everywhere I've been it's
been a collaborative effort, and allof a sudden, someone that's calling the

(03:02:24):
plays isn't isn't like pulls one outof left field that you hadn't practiced and
hadn't been part of your offense andsaid, hey, let's do this.
You know, we're not running theannexation of Puerto Rico. You know,
we're not coming up with something specialyou know in the middle of the fourth
quarter that we haven't done. ButI think it's the key to really being
successful on offense is is how yougame plan, how you put it all
together, and then how you practiceand train for that so that you get

(03:02:46):
a chance to execute it. Becausethe player's confidence comes become comes from their
demonstrated ability that they've done this somany times in practice that when they get
out on the field that this islike that to them. You know,
it's not that they do it sothey do it right, it's they practice
it so much so that they can'tdo it wrong. So, you know,
I think it's that whole part ofit that is really the key to
being a really good game planning team. Right, Doug Lane ma Reef King

(03:03:09):
of the North Ship. When youhad that feeling when you were coaching in
quarterbacks during Bowl, did you considerat that point maybe resigning as the head
coach and thinking like this is thisis not where I am anymore. I'll
leave and then I'll look to seewhat else is out there. No.
I never thought about quitting anything.So, you know, I just is
there an opportunity that I think Ican that fit, you know, And

(03:03:33):
I think that's the you know,it's no different than when you're talking to
a recruit about them make a decisionon where they're going to go to school.
I think that where they should goto school is where the best fit
is for them. So you know, I just entertained some opportunities and I
always felt I felt like this wasthe best fit. But I never thought
about quitting or not coaching. I'mgonna coach. I'm gonna coach, and
then I'm gonna die. But Imean that's how I think I think about

(03:03:56):
things. Is I can't picture that. I know someone I was on the
night trip and they like, howmuch longer are you gonna go? When
I said I I have to goanother fifteen twenty years. I don't think
about I don't think about retirement.I don't think about any of those things.
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

(03:04:18):
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,
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 totext message them, you know, that
was always important to me that Iwanted to make sure I talk to my

(03:04:39):
players and explain the reasons of whatI was doing. I wasn't leaving to
take a head coaching job somewhere else. I wasn't thinking that the grass is
green or at another university. Wasjust in my personal situation, this is
what I wanted to do. Iwanted to take an opportunity to go be
a position coach and coordinator, andthat's how it fit. You know.
What I was happy is that Ialways thought to Sean, I think the

(03:05:00):
world of them, and I thinkhe's a special you know. And the
fact that that they were 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
would be a great head coach andI'm really proud of him and happy that
that he got the opportunity to takethat job right behind him act you have

(03:05:22):
your reputation as innovator. Was partof the appeal of this is that you
get to get in the weeds alittle bit. Uh maybe not mad scientists,
maybe too too strong of a workcould you're working within the system.
But was there an appeal of Iget to get my hands very here again
and innovate and get back to thatside of things. It was, But

(03:05:43):
it was really more important of whoI get to work with, you know,
and so knowing you know, I'vegot I know a lot of guys
on the staff besides Ryan also,so you know, when I know what
their mindset is and what their valuesare and how they do things, and
so I wanted to be a partof that. But but there's a part
of that. Yeah, And howmuch of a teacher you get labeled with

(03:06:03):
the innovator. The teaching is apart of this. How much of a
teacher or even how patient are you? Yeah, I think we're all teachers.
I mean, education is the transportationof knowledge, you know. So
it really doesn't matter what the coachknows. It matters what the players understand,
you know. So you have tobe able to make sure that while
you're implementing things is what resonates withthem and how does that come back to

(03:06:24):
them? So, you know,a lot of our teaching styles that we've
learned is more the socratic method ofthere's a lot of questions, you know,
and a lot of check for understandings, just to kind of find out
where the players are coming from,because it's what they know that that's ultimately
gonna win games, not what weknow. You know that we're not playing
the games. We're not stepping acrossthose white lines, you know. And
your job as a coach is tocreate an environment where they have an opportunity

(03:06:46):
to be successful and then get outof their way and let them go do
it. So I think the teachingaspect is huge, and we continue to
research, you know, some ofthe latest trends in teaching to make sure
that we are transporting that knowledge toour players. Twenty four seven Sports.
Yeah, coach, just curious,you got five scholarship quarterbacks with differing levels

(03:07:07):
of experience, age and everything else. Not to annoyed him, but just
want to ask specifically about Will Howardcoming in after starting part of two years
at Kansas State. He just seemsto promote this idea that he's a football
player, you know above all else. Just how impressed are you with his

(03:07:28):
makeup, his experience, what he'sbringing to the table walking in here right
now? Yeah, really impressed.You know that you don't have to talk
to Will for more than five minutesto kind of know where he's coming from.
He's really focused. You know,he knows he's got a short window
left in his college career and itreally wants to capitalize on what that is.
There's a maturity to Will, youknow, I really I've had experience.

(03:07:50):
My experience in this thing since thetransfer portal opened in college football is
some of the best parayers I've hadan opportunity to coach ward transfers. Sometimes
when you're a a true freshman andit's five years out, you know,
it's like, hey, I gota ton of time, you know.
And sometimes when you're a transfer,is that I've got nine months, you
know. So there's a sense ofurgency I think when you're dealing with with
transfers, and I think Will hasexuded that since he's been here. But

(03:08:13):
the other thing that I just inthe short time that Will has been here
is how quickly he's fit in withthe entire team, you know, and
how much the the rest of theplayers respect him. You know. He
was uh one of the Gold Awardwinners for his work in the weight room
in this offseason, so that saysa lot for him coming in here as
a in a short time, beingable to to win a weight room award,
you know, to start off,you guys hope to have the number

(03:08:35):
one internally externally at the end ofspring or I guess just let it play
out, how do you? Ithink it always every time I've been involved
in these, I think when they'reorganic is when it's the best. I
don't think you can anoint somebody orforce the issue because the players know the
players would understand. They see itevery single day, you know, and
there's a team chemistry part of thisthing too, So we're not going to

(03:08:56):
force the issue a but I've alwaysseen it play itself out. So I've
been fortunate that there's always gonna besome quarterback battles at at some point in
time. At every school, there'sa quarterback battle, you know. And
then and really I feel like inthe league, whether I left or right,
are still going against premier guys.So obviously you have high expectations for
your left and right tackle, butthere's definitely uh like the the level of

(03:09:20):
energy and like the expectations, definitelytaking the human spect because now Connar to
the blank side that stuff that's detackle roles, you know. So so
yeah, I would say in termsof communication as far as just even outside
of facility and just stuff like that, like really creating that tackle quarterback bond

(03:09:41):
even more off the field, Ithink has been something that's even been cool.
I got a text one day asa head like you play left,
and I was like, yeah,you know, yeah, I've been training
both. I've been training both.You know, I asked after the season,
They're like, honestly, you know, we'll talk to you still play
in the season, And I justgot a text me like depending what happens

(03:10:03):
with with 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 used to do what I
did before. I'm thiled on thatbus. I was like, I might
as almost trained the left tackle nowas if I'm gonna be left tackle,
and I'd rather do that than trainingon the right time and get the call

(03:10:24):
hey you're the left tackle. I'mlike, oh, I didn't switch on
my feet yet, you know whatI mean. So I'm like, let
me just prepare in the advance.I was like, yeah, letsky,
you know, I think occasionally i'mthird down, there would be a lot
of twists. I would just knowlike it's automatically coming. And I think
that was my mindset for like thefirst half of the season, like I
didn't have to go to a gameand with surprise like oh my gosh,

(03:10:45):
they did that. I kind offigured like, okay, like this is
this is the type of rush.Mean to get like, this is how
this guy usually rushes, but Iget the vibe, this is how the
ends like the rush, you know, tackles that are you know, first
year guys who got the premiere pad. I already knew what it was gonna
be, already knew of every stuntand honestly just knowing that it's kind of
an advantage too. So you're notyou're not you're not old. They brought

(03:11:07):
the twisted my cycle. It wasnever an Aaron Donal like, you know,
they're coming out of minds, likethree plays in a row in two
minutes. I knew that it waswhen to happen, So like, you
know what I mean, I'm watchingmore than everybody else and he rarely eland
goes out there on occasional third downson the d M. I was like,
already know it's gonna be. He'sgonna pick me, you know what
I mean? So fact fact it'skind of it's also kind of advantage in

(03:11:31):
a 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 don't know, I really didn't kind
of process that I was like,Hey, when they tell me to let
me know about I'm just gonna trainit. I was training all left to

(03:11:52):
Ta's. I guess if I didn'thear anything about T's, I would have
came in like so you know whatI mean, because just like I'm cool
with training them both continue, Iwould've been cool trading both continually. But
I still not it. What's itbeen like for you just seeing just the
early stages of how he challenges people, of how they responded. I mean,
yeah, I mean at the endof the day, I think we're
all grown men in here, soyou know, you should automatically, you

(03:12:16):
know, take accountability for you know, everything you do in the field,
whether it's something good, whether it'ssomething bad. And I think everybody's responded
well to that, so you know, I think that does nothing, but
you know makes everybody better allowed toyour teammates, to you know, put
more trust in to whoever it isthat's taking accountability at the time. Ustin,
what if, uh what do yousee the guy accountablity? Yeah,

(03:12:37):
I mean he's quick. You know, he can create a lot of space
and uh small spaces, so uhit's quick, you know, uh savvy
with his route running, and youknow he's just he's just a hard worker.
You know. You know there's someplays where he knows he's not getting
involved, he's still still winning theroute. So you know, just to
have that player, uh A aplayer like that give that much effort uh
on the field every play, it'sreally really good to see. And I

(03:13:00):
think it's you know, really uhgonna rub up on the other guys too.
I'm good. How about the i'mnaget you other what's it like working
with? Uh? Some of thetight ends that you guys happened room there?
I know after Smithia straight just talkedabout the versatility that a lot of
the guys have, especially in thatgrip. Yeah, I mean we have
a different uh uh a lot ofyou know, different guys in the tight
end room. You know, Darnellhe brings sides to the room. Uh,
Rodney Speed, Uh Connor he hasa great awareness in the field.

(03:13:26):
Pat of course he you know,he's a great all round sight end.
And then uh, you know,uh Crew he's a he's a bat.
He's smart, he knows what he'sdoing. So, I mean just all
the guys in the room, youknow, they're smart and intensive and they've
I f I feel like they've justnot justice to the offense. Well,
so it's what's been like working withTom or on what's he been kind of

(03:13:48):
working with you only? Yeah,I mean Toyl's been great. Uh just
his a's he's attention to detail,the way he comes you know, in
each and every day he comes intothe same guy, uh every day and
uh to be once ibe And youknow, I don't think I've had to
coach that detailed as Tom. Youknow, he's very detailed in terms of

(03:14:09):
you know, practice review sending usuh the info, breaking down each and
every play and really just really justfocused on the details, to be honest
with you, I think, Uh, that's the thing that sets him apart.
And you know he's he pushed usto be hard, I mean our
our indie periods or you know,conditioning, So of course that's good for
us. But I mean he's beengreat so far. So excited to uh,

(03:14:31):
you know allow that our allow ourrelationship to grow, and excited to
work with him. And it's whathe's doing kind of compliment what you're doing
individually. You know, when you'reaway from the facility, working with you
know, coaches one on one anythinglike that. He said, what does
he what does he do here?That kind of compliments what you do away
from the facility when you're troubling.I mean, I think he does different
stuff. So I think, uh, that's a good thing about it.

(03:14:54):
You know some stuff that we dohere. Oh sorry, Uh, I
don't you know, usually do outside of the facility. So it's good
getting that different work in, differentdrill work that I can you know,
implement into my you know, offseason program and stuff like that. So
it's good that I'm learned this stuff. For sure. You're really deep all
off efficiency numbers in the times thatespecially the last year. What what what?
What is this art in the offensetalk about you of trying to make

(03:15:16):
make that incorporate that into to beinga big part of this all of I
mean yeah, uh, I thinkwe have fast guys, guys that can
get down the field with speed.Uh, Guys like Quez, Calvin,
Scottie, Van, you know,me and Rust. You know, we've
we've had a lot of deep allsuccess and a lot of explosive plays in
the past. So you know that'sjust uh, you know what, I

(03:15:39):
guess how our offense is built tobe honest with you, but I mean,
our job is to create explosives andyou know, push the ball down
the field. So anytime we getthose ops, we definitely wanna capitalize on
those. Are your coach just arrestingany part of your mechanics and any way
that? I mean, yeah,uh, I think there's always room to
improve, uh, mechanic wise andstuff like that. So I think you
know, Matt Baker, uh heused to for a quarterback as sistem.

(03:16:01):
He you know, usually stays onme the most about it. So I
appreciate the fact that he does that, and I usually, you know,
make sure he doesn't make sure Ijust just stay on top of it,
you know as a whole, andyou know, make sure my mechanics are
always clean. Can you talk aboutone particularly element that they're stressing. It's
it's different areas, to be honest, I don't think it's just one specific
area, but it's it's different areas, justin in your opinion, was there

(03:16:22):
something that you wanted to work onmaybe get better at when you got here
at this point of your career.I mean, like like I said,
there's you know, no matter whoyou are, you know, there's always
stuff to get better at, alwaysdifferent areas. Nobody's perfect in one area,
so I think you can continue toprove in all yours in my game,
you know me personally, so I'mjust focused on getting better. You
should do. So when we talkedat Russ yesterday, he said that rustaid

(03:16:46):
that he personally felt kind of revivedyou bring at another staff in his career.
Is there any of that sense ofmaybe rejuvenation or feeling revived. Obviously
you haven't been in the league forthirteen years, but is there a new
energy that you get being in adifferent organization, going through mini camp in
a day for the first time.I think so, you know, just
being around a new team uh anorganization as players, but to stay on

(03:17:09):
day one that I think that ourscheme is going to be this, this
or this, it's you know,that's going to be a work in progress
as we start to get familiar withwhat the player's skill sets are and then
what we can do. And it'salways a combination of what you have up
front and then what you have outback. And I know we've got a
couple of really talented running backs behindthem, so you know it's something that
we're going to look at. ButI also know you can't be one dimensional
in football. You need to beable to throw the ball as much as

(03:17:30):
run the ball. You know,It's funny. Some people think I'm an
area guy. Some people think I'ma wing tea guy. Some people think
I want to run the ball everydown. You know, we're gonna We're
gonna do what's best for a housestate, and that's that's kind of what
our game plan is right now,right Austin were a podcast. When you
think about your first evaluations of thequarterbacks and going through these fifteen practices at

(03:17:50):
how do you want to structure that? I know that you and Ryan have
probably talked about that a good amount, Like what's the right way to set
up a spring position battle? Howmany reps does everybody need? What's sort
of your plan? Just from ageneral perspective, I guess yeah, you
know, we're really detailed in whatpractice looks like and how that's going to
operate. But I also think youneed to let the players go, you

(03:18:11):
know, so I don't think youneed to put shackles on them, so
to speak, and just keep themconstrained. I think you got to let
them go, and you got tolet them operate, and we were rotating
I think everybody on every two snapstoday just and that was just what we're
going to do on day one.You know, we'll reassess it after we
got through it. Get a chanceto count up all the reps of how
many plays, how many plays eachguy got, and did they get more
in seven on than they did ineleven on? You know, and we'll
go through that whole thing and that'llbe a constant flow in terms of how

(03:18:35):
we're doing it. But I thinkthe best way people learn is they learn
by doing, you know. Sothey've been great in the meeting rooms.
They're sharp when you get them onthe board, they're really good when they're
watching film. But you got togo out and you got to play the
game. And so the more wecan put them in those situations to play
the game, the better we'll havean opportunity to evaluate them. Thinking all

(03:18:56):
of these things go back so forwardBrian's day. You mentioned since you've done
him since he was a kid,what were your first impressions back then?
And then she could come full circleto now, like how do you how
do you feel about that it's stillthe same way he you know, even
since he was playing little league.He was the ultimate competitor, you know,

(03:19:16):
and he was always trying to finda way to win. He was
great at a lot of sports,Baseball, basketball, football, you know.
I got an opportunity to recruit him, you know, so I coached
him when I was at New Hampshire. I recruited him out of high school
and all, and we grew upreally close to each other, so the
same elementary school, same high school, same junior high, same college.
You know. So I've known himsince for for a really long time.

(03:19:37):
But that competitive fire burns deep withhim, and that's the one thing that
I've always admired with him. Andhe's got an amazing athletic brain in terms
of how to process things and howto how to put people in position to
make place. He's always been thatprototypical coach on the field, no matter
what sport he was playing. SoI knew he was destined to be a
coach, you know. And Iwas fortunate in my career as a head
coach to have him on my staffand a couple of play so I got

(03:20:00):
a chance to see him work firsthand. You know, I got to see
him work firsthand as a player andthen as a coach, So the success
he had is not is not surprisingto me. Is there where do you
see Ryan, the successes had?Yeah, I think we all do that.
I think we come from a uniqueplace in a really small hometown in
New Hampshire where we all take alot of pride of where we're from and
and when anybody's successful coming out ofthere, then you kind of take a

(03:20:24):
little pride that that's it's the upbringingthat we all had, you know,
in the U sports program that wegrew up in in in every aspect,
whether it was football, baseball,basketball, those coaches we had an amazing
impact on us and that's why weare where we are right now. For
girl Bill Rabinwick, Columbus Dispatch,Ryan said he doesn't think of it as
you working under him, that's workingwith him. Fact is he is the

(03:20:46):
head coach waiting off. He makesme call him sir though he just said
can you do that day one andI was like, all right, right
now. But I mean he ultimatelyis the as you make here you've been
a head coach. How do youthink that's going to work? Do you
think there'll be any as close asyou are, any kind of awkward moments

(03:21:09):
the right term. But when he'sthe ultimate decider and you are working for
him, Yeah, I certainly understandmy role. I'm not alhag like,
I'm not in charge here. Yeah, some people get that reference. Other
people don't get that reverence. ButI'd certainly understand that, and I actually
kind of relish it because I reallylove the scheming part. I love the

(03:21:30):
individual part. I love being inthe meeting room of the quarterbacks and trying
to game plan. But everything wedo here is collaborative. You know.
The one thing that really struck mewhen I walked in this place is there's
an amazing coaching staff here, youknow. And if you get a chance
to talk to Larry Johnson just aboutfootball, or Tim Walton or Jim Knowles
or Brian Hartline or any of theseguys that are on the staff here,

(03:21:50):
it's it's a very collaborative effort.I think everybody's on the same page.
You know. It's not our offenseand their defense and otherwise it's Ohio State,
you know, and it's it's OhighState versus the twelve opponents that we're
going to play during the regular seasonand then beyond. So it's it's really
collaborative. And that's the thing Ilike, just in the short time that
I've been here, is how collaborativeeverybody's been. You know, we're all

(03:22:11):
trying to make each other better andwe're all trying to develop this team.
Touched on this, you said,you know, you like to do what
you want to do and not Mysense is you, in your perfect world,
you'd like to scribble plays on anap can and not deal with boosters?
Do I deal with all the stuffthat coaches head coaches have to deal
with? Now? How much ofa factor was that in this decision?

(03:22:31):
You can just do football? No, that's not it. I mean I
enjoy I mean we've had some amazingI've had an opportunity and everywhere I've been
to meet some amazing people that areassociated with the program, and there's people
that from my time at New Hampshireor my time at Oregon. I was
just with Phil Night two weeks ago, you know, and got an opportunity
to spend some time with him andhis wife, Penny, who are dear

(03:22:52):
friends of mine that have been greatmentors to me in my career. And
there's a bunch of people that andUCLA, Terry Donahue, Andrea Donna who
were all to me. Angela Mazoniis a great friend, Casey Wassman,
Troy Yikman. There was a bunchof people at UCLA that I really enjoyed,
you know, being around and talkingwith. So I think sometimes everybody
wants to make a narrative of it'seither this or that. It's never that.

(03:23:13):
It's never just all ball, it'snever just all recruiting, it's never
just all boosters. It's a mixtureof everything. But I think the one
thing that as this position as ahead coach kept moving on is that if
you look at a lot of them, they all become more CEOs. You
know. I can't tell you howmany coaches that have called me since I
made this decision that said I'm twoyears behind you, brother. You know

(03:23:33):
that are thinking the same exact way. And I think it's all part of
what we have to do. Ithink we all need to protect this game
and promote this game, and Ithink there are some rules that we need
to get straightened out so that peopleunderstand what it's about because the game is
still about the players, and Ihope that never gets discounted. You know,
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

(03:23:56):
think Geene Smith is one of thebest influences in the NCAAA, is to
make sure we keep that the mainthing, the main thing it needs to
be the student athletes. You know, you're coming in at a time where
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 and

(03:24:18):
the not making the playoff last year, the urgency is pretty high here.
I guess, just sort of whatperspective do you have on kind of the
stakes that there are for Ryan thisyear and the decision that then he makes
to bring you in to kind ofhelp solve that. Yeah, I think
the expectations can be no higher thanthey are in your own brain, you
know, And I think if youtry to worry about what other people are

(03:24:39):
thinking in their brains, you're goingto get screwed up a little bit.
So, you know, I talkedearlier the one thing about Ryan that I
know about him and has always beenhe's the ultimate competitor. So he's got
There's nowhere that has higher expectations ofOhio State than Ryan does, nor the
rest of us that joined him inour part of this and that are working
with him. So, you know, I don't think. I think sometimes
you can spend too much time thinkingout those things. You know, what

(03:25:01):
you really have to do is justas there's a big sign as you walk
into this place, it says whenthe moment, you know, I think
that's a real thing that we haveto do as coaches, is to make
sure that our players aren't worried aboutwhat's going on in the future, or
or aren't worried about what's going onin the past, or worry about can
they get a little bit better today, you know, and can we make
improvement? And I think the onething that I've seen here, and I've
only been here for three weeks,but there's a consistency to the players approach

(03:25:22):
when they walk in this building everyday, which is it's unique. It's
not like that everywhere else. Andit's one of the things that I remark
to Mick when I, you know, he said, Hey, what do
you think? And I was like, it's impressive. It's impressive the culture
of the players that are in thisprogram right now. But I think it
speaks a lot to the leadership.There's there's a lot of older players on
this team, and they've set thetone for the younger players, and I
think the younger players have done agreat job of followship and getting right in

(03:25:43):
line with that. He's never handedover play calling to someone before. What
does it mean to you? Iguess he technically did it to Bill when
he was here for the couple weeks, But what does that mean to you
to kind of be getting that responsibilityfrom him and he's calling essentially the offense
that you gave him. I guessyeah. I still think the play calling
part will be a collaborative effort.And by that I mean that if it's

(03:26:05):
a good play, I called it, and if it's a bad play,
he called it. Because the greatpart is an assistant coach, you just
point the finger a little bit andjust say, hey, you know,
I wanted to do this, buthe trumped me. So we haven't actually
discussed game day yet. You know, we'll see how that operates. But
everywhere I've been, it's been acollaborative effort, and all of a sudden,

(03:26:26):
someone that's calling the plays isn't isn'tlike pulls one out of left field
that you hadn't practiced and hadn't beenpart of your offense and said, hey,
let's do this. You know,we're not running the annexation of Puerto
Rico. You know, we're notcoming up with something special you know in
the middle of the fourth quarter thatwe haven't done. But I think it's
the key to really being successful onoffense is is how you game plan,

(03:26:46):
how you put it all together,and then how you practice and train for
that so that you get a chanceto execute it. Because the player's confidence
comes comes from their demonstrated ability thatthey've done this so many times in practice
that when they get out on thefield that this is like that to them,
you know. And it's not thatthey do it so they do it
right, it's they practice it somuch so that they can't do it wrong.
So, you know, I thinkit's that whole part of it that

(03:27:07):
is really the key to being areally good game planning team, right Doug
A. Maurice Kings of the Northchip when you had that feeling when you
were coaching in quarterbacks during Bold thatpreparation. Did you consider at that point
maybe resigning as the head coach andthinking like this is this is not where
I am anymore. I'll leave andthen I'll look to see what else is

(03:27:28):
out there. No. I neverthought about quitting anything. So, you
know, I just is there anopportunity that I think I can that fit,
you know, And I think that'sthe you know, it's no different
than when you're talking to a recruitabout them make a decision on where they're
going to go to school. Ithink that where they should go to school
is where the best fit is forthem. So, you know, I
just entertained some opportunities and I alwaysfelt I felt like this was the best

(03:27:50):
fit. But I never thought aboutquitting or not coaching. I'm gonna coach.
I'm gonna coach, and then I'mgonna die. But I mean that's
how I think I think about thingsas I can't picture that. I know
someone I was on the Nike tripand they like, how much longer are
you gonna go? When I saidI had to go another fifteen twenty years.
I don't think about. I don'tthink about retirement. I don't think
about any of those things. That'sjust not kind of my mindset that you

(03:28:13):
know, I love football in theas long as I can be part of
this game, then I'll be partof this game. And you have just
the way things worked out with yourdeparture from UCLA. Is there anything that
you wish you had done differently,or anything you regret, or just that
the circumstances that presented themselves. Doyou think that you handled that departure the
best that you could have? Yeah, I mean I got an opportunity to

(03:28:33):
tell my players personally. You know, I think in this day and age
of the internet, where they readit somewhere else and you have to text
message them, you know, thatwas always important to me that I wanted
to make sure I talk to myplayers and explain the reasons of what I
was doing. I wasn't leaving totake a head coaching job somewhere else.
I wasn't thinking that the grass isgreener at another university. Was just in
my personal situation, this is whatI wanted to do. I wanted to

(03:28:54):
take an opportunity to go be aposition coach and coordinator, and that's how
it fit. You know. WhatI was happy is that I always thought
to Sean Foster, I think theworld of them, and I think he's
a special you know. And thefact that that they were they gave him
the opportunity to take over there wasyou know, it worked out. I
didn't have any say in that decision, you know, I was gone.

(03:29:16):
But I always thought that de Shaunwould be a great head coach, and
I'm really proud of him and happythat that he got the opportunity to take
that job right behind him. Haveyour reputation as innovator. Was part of
the appeal of this is that youget to get in the weeds a little
bit. Uh maybe not mad scientists, maybe too too strong of a word,
because you're working within the system.But was there an appeal of I

(03:29:39):
get to get my hands dirty hereagain and innovate and to get back to
that side of things. It was, But it was really more important of
who I get to work with,you know, and so knowing you know,
I've got I know a lot ofguys on the staff besides Ryan also,
so you know, when I knowwhat their mindset is and what their
values are, and how they dothings, and so I wanted to be

(03:30:00):
a part of that. But there'sa part of that. Yeah, how
much of a teacher you get labeledin the innovators? The teachings are part
of this. How much is howthe teacher are even how patient are you?
Yeah? I think we're all teachers. I mean education is the transportation
of knowledge, you know, Soit really doesn't matter what the coach knows.
It matters what the players understand,you know. So you have to
be able to make sure that whileyou're implementing things is what resonates with them

(03:30:26):
and how does that come back tothem? So, you know, a
lot of our teaching styles that we'velearned is more the socratic method of there's
a lot of questions, you know, and a lot of check for understanding.
Is just to kind of find outwhere the players are coming from,
because it's what they know that that'sultimately going to win games, not what
we know. You know that we'renot playing the games, we're not stepping
across those white lines, you know. And your job as a coach is

(03:30:46):
to create an environment where they havean opportunity to be successful and then get
out of their way. And letthem go do it. So I think
the teaching aspect is huge, andwe continue to research, you know,
some of the latest trends in teachingto make sure that we are transport that
knowledge to our players. Yeah,coach, just curious, You've got five

(03:31:07):
scholarship quarterbacks with differing levels of experience, age and everything else. Not to
annoy him, but just want toask specifically about Will Howard coming in after
starting part of two years at KansasState. He just seems to promote this
idea that he's a football player,you know above all else. Just how

(03:31:28):
impressed are you with his makeup,his experience, what he's bringing to the
table walking in here right now?Yeah, really impressed. You know that
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.

(03:31:50):
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 or 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 transfer, is that I've got
nine months, you know. Sothere's a sense of urgency I think when

(03:32:11):
you're dealing with with transfers, andI think Will has exuded that since he's
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 therest of the players respect him. You
know. He was one of theGold Award 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 win a weight room

(03:32:33):
award, you know, to startoff, to have the number one internally
externally into spring or I guess Ithink it always every time I've been involved
in these, I think when they'reorganic is when it's the best. I
don't think you can anoint somebody orforce the issue because the players know,
the players would understand. They seeit every single day, you know,

(03:32:56):
and there's a team chemistry part ofthis thing too, So we're not going
to force the issue. But I'vealways seen it play itself out. So
I've been fortunate that there's always goingto be some quarterback battles that at some
point in time at every school there'sa quarterback battle, you know, and
then and really you got to letthem play it out on the field,
and that's where it has to that'swhere it has to be decided. Hey,

(03:33:18):
welcome to We were excited to haveyou here. Thank you. I'm
kind of to talk about the innovativepart. Ryan said that that's something that
he's always loved but working with youand now he wants you to break that
here and how it would fit withOhio State. Do you have any idea
what that's going to look like yetor is it just way too early?
I have no idea, you know. I think part of it is is
you're trying to put the players inposition to make plays. So a lot

(03:33:41):
of that comes from getting to understandthe players and what their skill sets are
and how we feature what their skillsets are, you know, and the
one thing after day one, Ican tell you that there's a lot of
skill set out there. You know. So that's that's what gets you excited.
You know, that's what That's whatyou jump out of bed in the
morning and you're excited to go towork because of the talent that you get
to work with. But the onething that's the most impressive is the work

(03:34:03):
ethic that goes along with that talent. You know, it's not just empty
talent. It's you got some kidswho want to I mean all of them
since I've been here, want towork. So that that's what gets you
excited. But I think assessing whatthe skill set is you know that we
have available to us on the offensiveside of the ball is vitally important,
and then our job is to putthose guys in positions to make place.

(03:34:24):
There's lots of pressure. I mean, you've experienced what it's like to coach
national championship, call over teams thisprogram right now and moving into a situation
where you got to win quicking now. So does that feel like pressure here
for you or is it a littlebit 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 you don'twant to feel pressure, then you should

(03:34:46):
know what you're doing, so,you know, I think it's it's part
of that, and I think partof our job with our players in terms
of the education process is getting themto understand that too. Is that you
know, it's it's about your preparation, It's about you and your development.
It's not about that you can't begoverned by what other people say. It's
it's what's my mindset and how amI intrinsically motivated? And then how do
I really compete against myself on adaily basis to get a little bit better.

(03:35:09):
You know, we got a littlebit better today because we get out
on the field today and got achance to do some football. And then
the challenges when we get back onthe field on Thursday, can we be
a little bit better than we wereon Tuesday. And if we're doing that,
then we keep stacking good days ontop of good days, and I
think we'll be in good spot andwelcome, Thank you. I'm gonna ask
about the pros and cons of coachingfrom the box and coaching from the field.

(03:35:30):
It's interesting to talk to some offensome coordinators. Tom Herman talking about
he swore he wanted to coach fromthe box. Saw the game so much
better, sterile environment, not allthe chaos on the field. Some coaches
you talk to the like, Iwant to be on the field so I
can look at my guys in thein 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,

(03:35:50):
you know, so I had thoughtabout just walking up into the stands
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 called
from there and then zip out ofthe field get a chance to talk to
him, because it's a different dealwhen you're talking to the quarterbacks on a

(03:36:11):
phone, you know, than beingable to look in their eye and kind
of see where they are with it. And part of it is the feel
part of it. I remember whenI coached Ryan once, we were playing
Ukon and he got hit hard goingout of bounce and he just walked by
me and I was a play caller, and he was like, run the
next play, and I just kindof looked at him. I saw the
look in his eyes because I don'tthink he could have thrown it. You

(03:36:31):
know, he was still trying toget his win back. But you wouldn't
know that if you're up in thebooth, you know, and you call
a pass play from up in thebooth and you're like, how come we
can't complete that? Well, hejust took a shot going out of bound.
So it's that fine line that Idon't have an answer, you know.
I think I think it's feel onthe ground and it's see from up
above. Maybe in this day atechnology, they'll figure it out. But

(03:36:52):
we'll see how that that that operates, and whatever Ryan feels is the best
for the team is what we're gonnado. So your your teams at the
Oregon were obviously never playing at thisassid pace and running a bunch of players
per minute, and yep, maybenot act by as passing. You said,
it's still pretty fast. What ruledo you see tempo and having an
offense and in the state yea incollege football and has maybe changed. I

(03:37:16):
think the game is always evolving,you know. I think when I left
in two thousand twelve to go tothe National Football League, Oregon was the
only team that was playing really,really fast and had shiny helmets. And
when I came back in two thousandseventeen, everybody had shiny helmets and everybody
was playing fast. So I thinkthe game is always gonna go up and
down, and there's gonna be differentcycles that it goes through. I I

(03:37:37):
think tempo is part of when thosetwo keys, cause I recruited and when
they was in high school. So, uh, I'm most of the challenge
and the responsibility of it right behindHi. Dann Hope eleven Carlos, Just
what is your kind of coaching philosophy? How do you get the best out
of your running backs? I getthe best out them cause I love the
My main focus is it changed,Uh, the hearts and minds of'em,

(03:37:58):
and they played for me. Ihad just got through reading Coach Trestle's
Winners Manual, and it's something thatI took from that book. You have
your purpose and you have your goals, all right, My purpose is to
serve and pour into the young man. Now, my goals is a football
coach. All of them are takecare of themselves. So that's one of
the ways. I'm just real relationshipbase and I'm very detailed at this position.

(03:38:22):
I know y'all heard me say before, and I'm gonna keep saying.
This is the worst coach position infootball. It's terrible. Guys hire anybody
to coaches position and recruiters. CARLSLocker is not a recruiter. I'm an
elite relationship builder. But I coachedthis position. I'm a ball coach,
so that's who I am. SoI'm gonna pouring to these kids. I
think they kind of seeing it nowand I jumped in day one. I'm

(03:38:43):
ready to coach. I'm the phraseyou know, shawt fat cookies. Where
did that phrase come from? Kindof always places? Boy, Let me
tell you about that. Boy.I've been called everything but the name the
child of God by the people atthe other places I left. So that
I been getting a Pillsbury. Needto give me a deal because I've been
getting I've been getting some DM andtexts do something. Some of them have

(03:39:05):
been so funny. The saftbat's cookiething came from just having a frame of
mind, a mental toughness. Ithad nothing to do with guys getting in
the portal and anything. Now,most people say I'm a salftbatch cookie for
leaving there, but actually I'm notbecause it takes great strength to make a
decision to leave a place. No, a weak minded person wouldn't be able

(03:39:28):
to make the decision that I made, So it took great strength to do
that. So I'm telling you,if I literally in my DMS, it's
some it's some great comedians out herethat have been sending me like tons of
cookies, and I'm like, it'sfunny. Right behind him, Tony,
how have you got about the assessmentof the talent in the room over the
past week or two? How muchas that unfield off field? Like,

(03:39:50):
what's the process of getting to knowwho you have as players? Well?
I broke down, Well, mebeing a guy that loves the running back
position already broke those kids down causeI recruit him out of high school.
You know, Q is from whereI'm from in Montgomery. I was one
of the first guys to offer himjust watching him, great contact, balance,

(03:40:11):
creative runner, great hands and trey. I recruited him out of Virginia,
exceptional short air, your burst andquickness and things that I'm gonna help
him get better on. And thenI recruited James Peeples out of t out
of San Antonio, Texas. Iknew what he was gonna what he was
gonna be TC and Sam. Thosetwo kids I'm getting to know and I'm

(03:40:31):
gonna help them improve the game.But we got different runners in there.
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. Uhfar back uh Jerremy Birmingham podcast. How
do you swear that that saw pastcookies are actually the best cookies? To

(03:40:54):
Philos brittin Nis and Boring, thoseare way better than the crunchy chips and
white things with terrify. I mean, do you they got to the first
find a balance there or someone?Well, for me, I'm actually not
eating any cookies. Nah, I'mjust saying I'm not eating any cookies this
year. I gave it up fora fast or no sweets for me for
the whole year. That something Igave up. So they the term the

(03:41:16):
South bast cookie term. Look,guys, I actually took that from I
represent the high school coaches of missTennessee. I actually took that from a
guy that coach Slocum. He usedto always say that South bast Cookie actually
stole that from him. I givehim credit for it, and I tell
him all the time he said,you I should have branded that, cause
you done took it and ran awaywith it. But that's just where that

(03:41:37):
comes from. So that that Iwas standing as you get to Ohio standing
and start to look around the country. Any Oregon's a big place, that's
a a a major job with Howhow do you think that where you opposite
go go are the JAS brand blockowhen you get out out of the living
for your trail, How does thatchange the way that you feel you're either

(03:41:58):
received or or or does it ata different level to to just feeling like
I could go anywhere and get anybodyin the company. And that's the sangest
thing for me. This is agreat place. Oregon is a great place
too. But guess what whatever Iput on, I know what I'm going
to represent for me. I nI N I know who who put me

(03:42:20):
here? Uh? I know Irepresented something higher, you know, Like
I told you, I know whatmy purpose is. My purpose is to
poorting to people. So whatever logoI have on, I'm still gonna be
doing the same thing. So thisis a great logo, great logo,
but I well another logo every day. It's across I see around my neck.
I know what I represent. Sothat's the greatest logo I could ever

(03:42:41):
wear. So it doesn't matter whatother logo I have on. I got
that one on. I'm going toany house and be a recruit. Uh
uh deep rite to camera, TickRobinson the athletic so which you you mentioned
the time at Memphis and themis forNFL or backs you mentioned there? Who
you learned from that you that youcan take over to managing to grow?

(03:43:03):
What did I learn from them?Just building up? Just teaching the kids.
We live in such a selfish worldthough, And I can tell the
kids all the times it's gotta bemuch more to football. The ball gonna
go flat one day. As Ialways say, what being in that room
there at Memphis is it wasn't fourfive? Teaching them how to be about

(03:43:24):
about being one? I tell youthem in all time, it doesn't cost
you anything to celebrate another man's success. So teaching them how to be one
and then once they learned to beone. They function, and they feed
off one another. So that's whatI learned from being there in Memphis and
from nan Road. Carlos. Outof your career in law enforcement kind of
influence you as a coach and kindof shape where you are. Oh well,

(03:43:46):
I just got through talking to somebodyabout that today. When I first
got in this profession and I gotmy own room in Western Tech, I
was aksed, No how I wasgonna be able to handle them my room,
I said, Man, I hada part with fifty one inmates.
You talking about me having got sixor seven guys? Are you kidding me?

(03:44:09):
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 havea certain demeaning about yourself. So when
I walk into a room, it'sthe reason why I go train every morning.
This is one of It's the samething when I was a police officer.
You look a certain way kind ofdeter people from doing certain things.

(03:44:31):
So the reason why I go trainevery morning, I'm gonna look just as
good as my boys look. Souh it helped out a lot. In
other words, Uh from Arrol RightAustin word the podcast, Carls, Welcome
to Columbus. Uh what would itmean to I don't know, revolutionize the
way running backs are coach? Whatdoes that take? I ain't even I'm

(03:44:54):
not gonna say revolutionized some good.It's some good running back coaches out here.
Everybody's different. It's some right coachesout here. I just want the
head guys who said that on thesejobs to not just hire guys just you
know, all coaches on your staffshould be great recruiters, not just a
running back coach. We coach aposition. We developed players as well.

(03:45:15):
I just want the coaches to realize, hey, you know what, let
me look and be thorough about thisguy that I'm hiring for the job.
Is he teaching the position? Ishe developing the position? Because you're not
gonna hire anybody just coach quarterbacks,are you. Well, it shouldn't be
like that for the running back positioneither. And I'm only passionate about it
cause I played it. I loveit, so it's the only position I
want to coach. Could I coachthe other positions? Yeah? I played

(03:45:35):
dB in college too, But Ilove the running back position, so I
just want to see it. Coachwell podcasts, Yeah, a million questions.
All that's a couple Number one whenyou when you when your wife whatever?
You got the message stuff? Arewe moving again? What was What
was her reaction? Nah, she'sjust now guy that give us gave us

(03:45:56):
a new assignment. It was neverlike we're moving again. Let me tell
you got something. I grew upMy mom was in the military, so
I lived everywhere. I lived inPanama of South America. I'm used to
picking up and moving. I livedin 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

(03:46:16):
us a new assignment. So it'stime to go. What did what did
coach they tell you when he heardyou that he wants out of you.
That may be different. It's notslaming somebody else. But what did he
say he wanted you to bring tothe running back room. I think he
did his research on me. Hesaid he wanted the guy to develop the
position. And that's not taking ashot at the coach that was here.

(03:46:39):
Who I'm friends with. He said, they want somebody to really get the
guys going. I can only beme And I told him that because I'm
gonna be me every day now,cause see my mindset, this is when
I step in this building, Igot one mindset. That's to do my
job so well that the living,dead or unborn and doing it in and

(03:47:00):
better. So when I leave it, that's when my mindset is hopeful I'm
here for a long time, buton the God knows that. So,
but that's my mindset every day stepinto with Haye Son, that's my mindset.
I'm gonna do my job so welland living. 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 andhow to handle it. There's not a

(03:47:22):
transcript on on how to handle thatvariable. 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 the same, and uh,you know, I think at the end
of the day he realizes man madethe wrong decision and we connected on it.
We talked about it, and youknow, it was a great opportunity
to to to write or wrong.And uh, obviously we're very glad he's

(03:47:43):
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,
right. So, uh but yeah, it's been great steps have been
made. He's growing, but he'snowhere near where he knows he's capable.
Will be just probably oppressless Ceremiah.I love the way he lives. I

(03:48:07):
love the way he approaches things.I love the way the questions he asks.
I love the way he makes mistakesand then correct mistakes. Uh,
it's very veteran, Like I mean, there's so much ball he has to
learn. Like he literally does thingsthat are good. I'm like, do
you know what that worked? Hegoes coach, I have no freaking idea,
So like I'm trying to teach himall of that why it worked,

(03:48:28):
so then you know, the consistencyat which it works just goes to the
roof. And so but I'm veryyou know, excited and proud of the
conversations we're currently having, and I'mexcited for them. To keep going,
Bryan, what power you working withkell I love working with Chip Chip Is.
I love talking Ball, I lovethe viewpoints I love I love the

(03:48:56):
veteran that he has, you know, and I love now like I love
all of it. I think thatyou know, early on the biggest impact,
you know, just you know,feeling perspective. I think in the
run game has been awesome, youknow, and then you know, off
of the run game some of theactions or or relief throws or all that

(03:49:18):
kind of stuff. I love whereit's at. I love working with them,
and I would say that I sleepa little better all right. Uh
No, it's it's really a greatcombo because, like you know, we're

(03:49:41):
obviously we're doing a lot as agroup. It's not just Chip and I
so but you know, obviously Chiphas an image and a view on things
that I never had. So tohave that experience and have that viewpoint,
I'm just trying to absorb as muchas I can, but then also highlight
some things that we've really done aa job of and make sure those you

(03:50:01):
know, nothing's really changing, We'rejust trying to enhance. We're not changing,
We're enhancing. So where the thingsfit is perfect, you know,
I think, uh, you knowthe rest of the dynamics of search Chip
can talk about. But it's beenit's been awesome, so I'm excited about
it. You talked to a mecha. You're talking about moving from slot to
the house side. You know howgood he's been in the slot. Is

(03:50:24):
that a difficult move for you guysas coaches to know how good a guy
is in one spot but know thatmaybe for his long term future and the
no. I wouldn't say it's anythingon his future, because he's capable of
doing whatever you want to get done. But I'd say that it says more
about the room. I think it'sit's the growth of you know, Brandon

(03:50:46):
and the growth grow of Bryson.That's really you know, allowing my mind
to say, hey, Mech,be 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
is critical, But that was betweenMech and between Carnell Tast's ability to move
around a lot. It's gonna providea lot of flexibility for our room,

(03:51:07):
and uh, and those top youknow, six seven guys that are really
doing a good job right now thisspring for like a because there's no time
to think. It's one of thosethings I'm sure where you has balanced how
much work is a need versus toomuch? Yeah, heavy, heavy emphasis
on what work he needs, youknow, versus anything else. Uh,
I rely on him. We havegreat dialogue back and forth. It's a

(03:51:28):
two way to it's a two wayconversation. And frankly, there's gonna be
times we're like, hey, mechwhat do you wanna do today? You
wanna go outside and you gonn goinside? And I don't care. So,
uh, 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 God, I I make sure I'm

(03:52:01):
bringing guys that are able to doall, but I have not asked them
to yet. So the only guysthat in our room currently I've asked to
do that has been Mecca and Carnell, And those are probably the two guys
that I would, you know,think heavily on doing moving around a lot.
I'm not putting that on anybody elseright now. Not saying they can't,
but at this point, having twoguys being able to swing, you

(03:52:22):
probably don't need much more than that. I need guys being experts at what
they're good at, so it ithelps the offense. Don't be great at
everything and be an expert at somethingand we can use that to our to
our advantage, like Mays who weremore situational. The room's always different,
frankly, I mean from twenty eighteenand then nineteen and through COVID and and

(03:52:46):
those guys, and and then thedepth of those guys and then where Mech
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.
And I think guys like him,when they come to our scheme are
the best is brought out of them. So I'm excited to see what potential

(03:53:07):
he has. He's year nine,so I feel like you, as a
d lineman, you can keep improvingall the way through ten years in this
league, So I'm excited to seewhat he's got. How old did you
know Sores when he was assistant hereand had gotten to know him a lot
better what's the relationship maybe right now? I know him pretty well. He

(03:53:28):
was always just a good dude aroundthe facility. He did our ball meetings,
so he's good in front of agroup. He's a good leader.
He knows the scheme really well,which is good. I was happy to
see him promoted. He called mein the offseason, we talked. I
just congratulated him, and I thinkhe's gonna bring something similar to what we

(03:53:54):
had with the Miko. It's good. Do you know Brandon Stalley well at
all? I mean I was ajoey playing for him. Don't know too
much about him. I've obviously heardfrom my brother, but I don't even
think i've said high yet. 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 system, maybe alittle different energy, but I think

(03:54:18):
just knowing the system from the frontto the back, I think he knows
how it ties in, and he'sbeen 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 three monthsremoved from the super Bowl now, so

(03:54:39):
how have you. I guess digestedit and I guess physically everything good to
go. Yeah, I feel reallygood. I think it's been one of
my better off seasons of just kindof It was a long year, so
I took it nice and slow toget back into it. Not as young
as I once was, so I'mtaking a little a little slower, but

(03:55:01):
everything's great. I'm feeling as goodas that felt. I'm excited to actually
get some practice in. Last yearwas kind of tough, getting thrown in
Week one after I walked through,so that was another reason I'm excited to
be here is just to get practicinga little bit in season. Practice is
one thing, but actually being ableto work your stuff and not have a

(03:55:22):
game coming up is good. Withthe super Bowl unfortunately, I know how
to bounce back from tough losses,so it was rough for a little bit.
But now it's just annoying when peoplebring it up. Since the last
season, we've seen a Rock onTV commercials and on the stage with Kluke

(03:55:46):
Coombs and throwing out the first pitchin the Giants game, but he seems
like a guy that's totally unaffected bycelebrity, which he has now, But
what have you noticed in his leadershipstyle and the way he carries himself any
difference at all. I think he'sdefinitely getting a little more vocal within the
building. And uh yeah, Imean I don't think he's ever gonna change.

(03:56:07):
I don't think he's somebody that's gonnachange even when he gets paid next
year. So he's he's a manof faith and he kind of reminds me
of Scottie Scheffler, but except forjust super humble and really good kid.

(03:56:30):
And yeah, he's definitely famous.I don't just from watching Armstead get released
obviously meant so much to the defensiveline into the team. I mean,
Colin John were pretty open that theywere willing to talk about trading Deebo or

(03:56:50):
are you as does that just anotherwhat's that feel like in the locker room
when those sort of joels happened.I didn't even know that happened and I
wasn't here, But you're talking aboutthis offseason alarms in alarm er at least,
so that's certainly one thing. Yeah, it's a tough business, for

(03:57:13):
sure. You have to have thickskin and I haven't gone through that,
but I think you just have tounderstand that it is a business and the
team's going to try and get asgood as it possibly can with or without
you, and you have to lookout for yourself. That's why you go
through holdouts and do certain things thatseem selfish in the moment, but it

(03:57:37):
is what it is, and wheneverything's settled, we're gonna come together as
a team and try and go getone Nick, what's the overall feeling around
the group right now, Like,how much does it feel like the excitement
of the ramp up to the season, even though it's early, it feels
good. It's been a couple ofdays for me, so I like all
the new guys. I'm getting toknow everybody, but I think the past

(03:58:01):
is in the past and we're readyto go. You talk to you talked
to be all about handling the businesspart of this. He's going through something
similar. We chat a little bit, but not too much about the details.
I just told him keep his headup and try and stay positive through
it all. Over your first impressionswhen you heard what your schedule would be

(03:58:22):
in that Aaron Rodgers' first time,it'll be fun. Yeah, it's gonna
be from your perspective. How muchdid that factor just knowing what he was
doing and kind of maybe, yeah, you know, it did factor in
a little bit, but it isit's a personal decision and it was a

(03:58:43):
quick process. Honestly it was.It was a week week, two weeks.
Uh, figured it out and movedon. And it's something I really
haven't thought of at all over thelast few months. I've just been trying
to prepare and I'm feeling really good, really good things are going really great
back home training. So you know, got that under got it behind me,

(03:59:05):
and moved on. Since you've beenhere, does it feel different,
Yeah, you know, it's notlike these last eight years have come in
and thought we were going to loseor have a bad year. I felt
like every year when I tell youthings are feeling good and I feel optimistic,
it wasn't a lie. But yeah, I think things are are definitely,

(03:59:30):
like I said, trending in theright direction. Everybody's on the details.
I'm sure it's a word that you'veheard a million times. So yeah,
I think it just feels like itfeels like coach is leading the team
the way it should be led.It has a feel of being back in
college, you know, with withcoach ierban Meyer, and you know,

(03:59:52):
the message is sent from the topand it doesn't get mixed up as it's
moving down the ladder. It's boom. This is how doing things and everybody's
following that, and I think it'simpressive the details that everybody have been on,
has has been on, the effortand just the competitiveness that that's been

(04:00:13):
going on over the last few weeks. Yeah, it's it's it's been great.
How much do you appreciate that thestopping's described the way Jim, Yes,
I shouldn't eat in the messaging,does' eat mixed up? Why do
you appreciate that much? I meanit's I guess it's easy to appreciate when

(04:00:35):
you kind of see it working andyou see guys improving, getting better.
I just think the details are reallyimportant. You can pretend that leaving your
shoes a mess or your locker messisn't a big deal, and what matters
is playing football. But I thinkall those tiny details and things kind of

(04:00:56):
add up and leak into the importantstuff, like what you're doing on the
field. So if you can haveyour toe behind the line or have your
locker and order and all these thingsthey kind of stack up into performing well
and and playing well when things count, So you know, I appreciate that.

(04:01:16):
It's it also hasn't been a fightwith 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 locks.
You know, it's just an example, whether it's we talked about first
day you have your shoot, ifyou could, if you could spend the
time on these small things when nobody'swatching. I think, like I was

(04:01:39):
saying, it seems like it mightnot add up too much, but I
think in the long term it does, and it leaks into other things,
whether you're doing your right assignment onthe field, being late to meetings or
all these things. If you holda standard and you stay to that standard,
I think it benefits you term.It's it been like Ben Herbert,

(04:02:03):
has there been anything in his trainingprogram we're working with you that you feel
will benefit you later. Yeah,Yeah, definitely. He's He's been great.
He's a no nonsense kind of guy, but he's not an old school
in the sense that he's bringing hisway of doing things and that's the only
way to do things. He understandsthat guys have been in the in the

(04:02:24):
business for a long time, Khalilme and we have a way of doing
things, and all he wants todo is add to that and help you
get better and perform the best hecan. He's he stresses it all the
time that he's a tool for us, and you know he's he's been great.
The guys love him. The energybrings is awesome, and I think

(04:02:45):
the stuff that we're doing in theweight room is great, great addition to
stuff that I may may do onthe side or whatever that is. Yeah,
I think we I mean, wehad a presentation today with all the
certain measurables that are changing, andif you guys were in the meeting,
you definitely see how beneficial he's beento the team so far. So obviously

(04:03:07):
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. When were youlike fully fully recovered. I know at
the end of last season you mighthave been able to Yeah, No,
I was not ready to go lastyear. No, tried practicing, tried

(04:03:31):
coming back, and uh it wasit 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
back too early. So yeah,it's been, it's been. It's been

(04:03:52):
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 aregood. Thing got surgery on my finger,
so that's feeling good. Yeah,it's it's nice to be feeling better
going into your nine than you havesince maybe five six years ago, which

(04:04:13):
I've said, I've said I've beenfeeling great the last couple of years and
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,
go balls to the wall and doeverything that I feel like I need to

(04:04:35):
to be able to prepare. It'sfun. My brother and whoever I trained
with my trainer Todd back home.I think they'd be really proud of how
I've been working this offseason, andit's just exciting. Pointing with the injuries
on the Great By Game, youkind of yeah, it was a bit

(04:05:00):
of a build up, a littlebit of an overreaction, but you know,
it's just tough. It comes sometimeslike that, and I just felt
felt really defeated coming back, hada broken hand. I'm like, oh,
yeah I get to play Boom firstserious foot pops. Thought I'd have
to get surgery, and all thesethoughts flooded through my head. Broke down

(04:05:20):
a bit, and yeah, itjust hurts. You know, you're losing,
you're getting injured. You've felt likeyou prepared really well in the offseason,
and then the year before you hadgroin surgery, so you know,
a lot of things build up.Yeah, you don't get a break if
you're injured. Everybody wants to goon. Fans are very nice, but

(04:05:43):
no, I just I'm grateful thatI feel this way. I'm still still
nicey Ripe twenty eight, so nottoo old yet, but yeah, I'm
just excited. I can't remember whatthe original question was at this point.
My body how close you and Giftwere, how how frustrating. Was it

(04:06:11):
that you couldn't you know, forone of those last three games? It
was frustrating, But I mean Giftwas had my back the whole way,
I think for Gift, for anybut for for the whole team, just
to show what it means to me. It would have been important for me
to be out there, but Iliterally couldn't. I tried to practice,

(04:06:31):
injured my footworse the very first playI was and in practice, So no
chance that was happening unless I wantedto throw my next season away as well.
But no, I'm just I'm proudof him for what he did with
the team, how he handled it, and I need to call him back.
Actually sorry, gif. Yeah,I'm happy he gets to stay close

(04:06:54):
by with the with the Rams,and just proud of all we accomplish here
together over the years and and we'llbe close for the rest of our lives.
Was the foot injury. It wasthis guys foot sprain. Yeah,
I sprained one area of my foot. Then when I tried to return and
I sprained another area. Was ableto avoid getting surgery, which is kind

(04:07:16):
of the main goal. But yeah, it was. It was tough when
it comes to the addition of butDupree when he felt like he's kind of
brought to the to the room andcould bring on the field. Yeah,
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,

(04:07:37):
that's no, that's no small pickup. He's a seriously elite pass rusher.
Has had some trouble with injuries aswell, so I understand how that is,
but not only him as a player, but as a personality. I
heard Khalil just saying he's he's afun guy. He's a funny guy and
and to have that in the roomanother vet is always a great addition.

(04:08:01):
But I'm just excited to have himand Tuley and to be able to rotate
like that and not drop off atall when we come off the field is
huge. And map Tuley is goinginto a second year. Just what do
you what are you kind of whatare some of the maturity maturity areas you've
said from him? You know,I'm gonna say not much, And that's
a compliment because he was already maturein those areas. I mean, he's

(04:08:24):
on it everything playbook wise, alwaysdoing his job, working hard, just
refining his technique and pass rush.I mean, we don't have the pads
on right now, so the realwork will will begin, you know,
in six weeks now. So butyeah, I love Tuli. I've loved
him since the first day he's he'swalked into the facility, and I know

(04:08:46):
he's just gonna continue to get better. What you think of the addition of
Joe Old, Yeah, yeah,I'm gonna need to beat him up a
little bit in camp. So he'sso he's ready, But no, I
think anything to protect our number tenis a good, good investment. So
he seems like a real solid dude. Haven't talked to him too much.

(04:09:09):
Great build, seems like he hasgood hands, good feet, strong,
We'll see. We'll see in afew weeks when I lay a helmet in
his chin how he holds up.But it'll I'll take it easy on him.
I have no Rashon's a beast.Did you know Coach Harbond before he

(04:09:30):
came here? And if he did, just what were those first couple of
conversations like that? Yeah, Iprobably have crossed paths with him. Maybe
maybe not. Actually, I thinkwhat was it his first year when I
was a junior, so he kickedhis ass as usual at Ohio State.

(04:09:50):
No, no, they just wanta championship, so I'd say they probably
have the bragging rights right now.I'm like the guy talking about his old
high school. Oh I remember weused to kick No but no, yeah,
no, the rivalry is dead.I was just saying this morning,
you know, nine years and kindof forget about that. I'm not a

(04:10:11):
great alumni. Sorry, sorry coached, But no, it's great. That's
what's great about the NFL is youjust have guys from all backgrounds. You
could hate their guts one one year, and then you come on the same
team and your brothers and you're allworking towards one goal together. So our
first talk together was great. Ijust sat down with him, went up
into his office and chopped it upabout life mainly and his opportunity here and

(04:10:37):
how much it means to him.And yeah, I think he's a special
guy. I think he's the wayhe conducts him. So 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. So and that's what weneed. You see him working out with

(04:10:58):
you guys and him lives and doingall this stuff. Just how interesting is
that? See? Yeah, Imean he was a he was a great
player himself, and I think he'salways been you know, built like that
lack of a better term. Butyeah, he's uh, he's part of
the guys. You know, he'snot this guy outside looking in. He

(04:11:18):
he really, I mean he voicedthat to me, is that his favorite
part of all of it is beingwith the guys and and the connections he
makes. So Yeah, to tosee a guy like that come in and
embrace it all and kind of bepart of it himself is important. Your
initial impressions of Coachman during the defensivegame. Yeah, it's funny to go

(04:11:41):
from old gift, old gift tothis little young guy who's my age.
I wouldn't want to get thrown intoa room with me and Khalil was his
age. But no, he's beengreat. I love messing with him a
little bit. We little sarcasm backand forth, but no, he's great.
He's uh, very talks very fast, and I don't as you know,

(04:12:07):
so sometimes I gotta be like,slow down, coach, come on,
but no, he's great. I'mexcited, you know, to get
closer as the years, as theyear goes on, and I think he
has He has a lot of passionfor the position, and all he wants
to do is learn and and helpus to improve. So I'm excited about

(04:12:28):
him and me and I do misss Giff. Obviously, it was a
long time with him, but Iam excited to have a new face and
kind of have that challenge for me. You worked much with with Jesse's dad,
since I know he coached linebackers inMichigan. Did you ask about Jesse?
Did you ask about doing? Okay, you asked about Jesse. Oh

(04:12:48):
my god, I was talking aboutfreaking doing the whole time. You guys
are so confused. No, sorry, I thought we were. I thought
I was. I thought you mentionedcoach RONI No, No, coach Mentor
has been great as well. Yeah, they've both been great. Sorry,
run that back. No, he'sbeen good. Uh yeah, very knowledgeable

(04:13:11):
guy. Same thing. I'm excitedto get to know him more as the
year goes on. Have you workedif you worked much? Yeah, No,
I have not. I don't knowif I've said one word to him,
but more words to come down theroad. Like you said, you've

(04:13:33):
been in year since twenty sixteen.Just what are some of this stuff?
You just someone on a ramble aboutthe wrong guy for fifteen minutes, good
walking? What? Yeah, whatthe heck? Actually that's literally not the

(04:13:54):
person. Yeah, I figured outwith something that you you worked undering the
off season, something to improve yourgame or is there something that you can
Usually my answer is pretty consistent thatI just continue to try to prepare myself

(04:14:15):
physically, whether that's my sprint workor agility work and my lifting. But
yeah, just to get everything feelinggreat. I dealt with those injuries,
so I had to kind of rampit up with my finger and foot and
all those things. But now I'mI'm full full speed out there, and
I'm just going to continue to dowhat I know will prepare me for the

(04:14:39):
season. And I know I'm gonnaget plenty of technique work and position work
when I'm out here. So fornow, I'm going to spend these five
weeks really getting h preparing my bodyworkouts. Competitor again, another year of
competitors and all that stuff. Yeah, Yeah, it's usually too hot out

(04:15:01):
there for much competition. We're justtrying to survive. So but yeah,
it's always. It's a it's asilent competition between between each other, be
like Peeking's like what was his time? Was his time? But no,
yeah, it's always. You cannever have an off day when when you're
out there and he's he's warming uplike a beat, like a freaking robot

(04:15:22):
every day out there, So there'sthere's no off days. Have you got
you and haven't talked at all andout? I mean, I mean just
when you were having a contract game, do you have guys have to talk
about on anygether? Yeah, Imean it's it's a conversation, not a
not really a serious conversation, butsomething that's come up before. But yeah,

(04:15:46):
I mean it would be cool.It would be cool at some point.
I I always thought of myself beingsomebody that will play here and retire
here, which I think not manypeople. We'll do on one team,
and I think would be a coolthing to accomplish. But you never know.
I'm gonna worry about this year.First. Sorry, it's kind of

(04:16:10):
we're on a food story. Butso you guys have like the lowest or
second modest food catch area in theNFLPA Serveye last year, and you let
it moved to the facility. Like, if you talk a lot about food
and how you need some time,is it fine? Have you looking forward
to the food upgrades at all?Have you thought about it at all?
Yeah? No, it's Wolfgang Puckor whatever is the is the word?

(04:16:32):
Yeah, that's great. I've beenworking with my chef for seven years now,
so she's been great, so I'venever really had to worry about that
too much. But yeah, myweight's good. I've been eating a lot
this offseason, so that's good.But yeah, I'm excited to maybe be
able to Sorry Christina, but maybei won't need a chef next year.

(04:16:53):
I'll have my I'll have my I'llhave my Wolfgang Puck food. That'll be
good. So yeah, I'm excitedabout the move, found a new spot,
Excited to kind of learn the areaand all that, even though I
won't ever leave my house. Wereyou not? Do you not need a

(04:17:15):
lot of the facility? Just allhere? Sometimes you know it's may not
be the best setup, but they'llprepare your food. That's that's plenty good.
I'm a man airic character, shoutout, No, they work harder
than literally anybody in the entire facility. So they may not have the best
means back there, but they've Ikind of steered you into the direction you

(04:17:37):
want to go. But everything kindof plays into it. And how much
did you reach out to Shelby Drewknowing some of the guys that played here
last year to get for I mean, not much. Right now, I'll
talk to I'll talk to Shelby alittle bit about it, mainly no one,
Drew just congratulate me. Did youcome together pretty quickly? I know

(04:18:06):
you kind of came to your agreementon that first Monday and everything with Seattle
that all come together really faster.Now, it was a long da Seattle
came in almost out of nowhere.We had like a good set of teams
that we were talking to, justtrying to finalize what was going on.
What was it the term is goingto be? You know, and Seattle
came in hot. They showed alot of interest, and uh, they

(04:18:26):
kind of just motivating me to comehere more and more. And how similar
will your role be, you knowin terms of playing what you did in
Denver. I don't know that yet. I kind of just mentioned previously I
don't know my role. I don'tknow the ins and out yet. Once
we'll get NO through the protocols andnfl PA, we'll we'll talk about NO,
the schemes and everything. Right.Uh so welcome. When you were

(04:18:51):
in Denver in the three four,where did you find yourself most comfortable and
most effective and role? I playeda lot of different positions in Denver.
I mean earlier in my year,I played zero, I played three,
two one. I mean, I'mdefinitely more comfortable in a shaded position,
mainly being a three technique and fivetechnique. That's why I found myself to
be more comfortable whether I'm standing upor I'm not, whether it's runner or

(04:19:14):
pass, those seem to be mybest my best fits. And what is
your impression of Pete Carroll's defense andwhole environment from afar? It seems like
he holds in on defense a lot. Uh. I can't really say too
much about that. Yeah, Idon't. I know Pete Carroll very little,
so I'm just trying to figure outmore and I'll give you a better
answer later. What's the reputation aroundthe league? Uh? You know Hard

(04:19:40):
nos Hard had type of team,definitely on a little more lack side as
opposed to being stuck up or militarystyle, and which is definitely good because
then this program is won. Alot of football games have been super successful
for many years, as long asI've been alive and as long as I've
been watching football, and definitely thishas been a good prog gram and Pete
Carroll has been a hell of acoach for a long asc remember even back

(04:20:03):
in his college days. So I'mlooking forward to experiencing that. John Boyle,
Yeah, I know you said youdon't know yet. You know what
your role is going to be,but just what what kind of player are
you? Fans who haven't watched it? Time to denver what kind of player
get? Definitely a high motor,definitely not a one trippon any type of
player. I like to attack,you know, whether it's a first or

(04:20:26):
first the fourth down, I liketo attack. I'm always trying to apply
pressure. I'm definitely just a highmortar guy in my opinion. Brady,
are there, Brady Henderson from ESPN? Nice to meet you. Yeah,
this is not a team that reallymakes big splash signings in free agency.

(04:20:47):
Did you think going into it theSeattle would be Uh no, not at
all. You just it's kind oflike being a cure at the County store.
You know, I've got a wholebunch of different options coming at you.
Uh here in a whole bunch ofdifferent crazy things, and uh you
you only get to choose one.And this is the place that that we
both chose each other. And Imean, I'm loving Seattle so far.
You know, I like these colorsfor real. What did you gut to

(04:21:10):
do with sin? Not much?Uh just kind of just drive around the
city, exploring, getting down tothe market a little bit. I want
to get on the Ferris will dosome more like touristy type of things.
You know, I'm new to thecity and I got a lot to learn
about the city. All right.Yeah, there's been a lot of comparisons
with you to Michael Bennett. Iwas wondering if you know Michael Bennett at

(04:21:32):
all, and you think are accurate. I know Michael Berger, then it
like nothing. I know nothing aboutit but besides his style of play,
But I'm honored to be considered inthe same conversation as him, and uh
style of play. You know,he's a Hall of Fame type of deep
linean that I've known about since Iwas a kid. I mean, last
time he played here I was inhigh school, So you know, it's
cool to it kind of came fullcircle a little bit watching him on TV

(04:21:56):
and now I'm being kind of comparedto him in the way. You know.
I mean, I'm not touching thesurface. Michael Bennet. You know,
he's a Hall of Famer and I'mnot there yet, so you know,
I'd just got to keep doing mydue diligence to be a better player.
Carbon Hey, Dreamont, welcome toSeattle. I know you get to
play several seasons for Vic Fangio andthree four style defense and Seattle's playing a

(04:22:18):
similar system now dating back to lastyear as a defensive lineman, what do
you think is most important to besuccessful in that system? Maybe fundamentals or
just playing style to be successful.From what I learned, being gap sound
and being patient has always been thebiggest thing, and that's how we've been
successful when I was in Denver,just kind of like relying on each other.

(04:22:38):
I know that sounds kind of cliche, but like there's kind of like
the the realm of being in thethree four defense. You gotta really really
rely on the guys behind you andthe guys on the side of you to
really make their to do their jobto make your job easier. Bob,
Yeah, you're that. You didn'tstart playing football till you were junior in

(04:23:02):
high school and largely played basketball.So then that's what Bige, I guess
decided to go go play football thenwas away 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 a hoop, but you
know, football was definitely about calling. Given I was a two hundred and
sixty five pound power forward and Iwas like sixty threes and changed. So

(04:23:23):
you know, I kind of toldsethe route that God gave me. You
know, I'm not six eight la. Yeah, comes to Seattle and you
get quoted and you're looking at acouple of art things that you undergo player,
and can you just talk a littlebit about that, uh, def

(04:23:44):
role that I think some of theruss you might always kind of counted out
when US came through. Can youelaborate more than that just from a standpoint,
like I always get like over overshadowed, overlooked, whether it's uh,
in something, you know what I'msaying, Like, I feel like I
do a lot more than what canbe sitting by the eyes of the inexperienced,
you know, Scout and I doa lot of just different dynamic things

(04:24:07):
that help make plays for others.You know, I'm definitely an active player.
I'm always doing something, whether inthe runner pass game, so you
know, I think that goes onanother sometimes and I'm looking forward to putting
people on notice. Thanks Brady.What uh what do you like to do
outside of football? Uh? Biggamer? I'm definitely I've been getting to

(04:24:29):
a lot of chess lately, sojust to expand my brain. Uh.
I try to get into reading,but if it's not as portulated, I'm
really not interested in reading that much, but mainly just video gaming and chess.
And then when we write and sayyour name, do you prefer your
grandma? I mean, you cansay, you can say Draymond Jones.
I mean, but like just Ifeel like personally, just call me Dre

(04:24:51):
cause easy because people like to fmy name up a lot, like a
lot they call me Draymond te.I don't know why that San Francisco ran
so uh, we had a lotof playmakers. Uh, since my first
year, so's to be able touse them and with a lot of preestam
motion, a lot of a lotof different things that we haven't ran in
the past. Uh, they bringthey bring here, So I'm excited.
Who do you think some of thatwill be able to bring out out of

(04:25:12):
your game as you can keep tryingto you know, just being more explosive,
Probably more yards for catch with thespace that he's putting us into.
The more yards, more yards haveto catch, more explosive, pick more
exposive plays for for me, notjust only me, but she and uh
ak and taste them. So I'mexcited to to be able to be in

(04:25:33):
the system. I assume you thinkyou guys can be a lot more explosive
than than you have been in thelast couple of years. Oh yeah,
of course. It brings a lotof different things, you know what I'm
saying, the playbook, but justaccountability. Uh, I feel like that's
gonna lead us to success. Theysaid the language is a little a little
shorter. Has it. Have youfound that the language that you guys use
Is it about the same or isit it's kind of the same. Really,

(04:25:56):
it's a long, long place,but it's more understanding for sure.
I feel like, uh, youcan get to that more understanding plays and
Uh, I feel like that's that'sthe difference. Hater was saying the other
day, just kind of like cominginto this offense after like twenty years of
Breeze and just kind of how itwas just kind of built on top of
each other, on top of eachother. It's like kind of a lot
to kind of take in. Doyou do you find that they kind of

(04:26:17):
turn it down to something new,starting to like zero with everybody, it's
just a little bit easier to kindof get everybody on the same Yeah.
I feel like it's way easier.Like you said, it was kind of
more of a Drew Brees style,uh the last playbook, So all credit
to them though they built that aroundhim, around his players, but uh,
like I said, it's more,Uh, this playbook is more for

(04:26:38):
uh matchups, and I feel likeit's gonna be better for us. How
do you think it's gonna really takeadvantage of his skill sets? Uh?
Just building around the strengths that Ihave. You know what I'm saying,
things that I can do and thingsthat she can do. Uh, things
that our players can do. Iskind of focus on what we can do
and building on that. Uh.I feel like it's playing to the player

(04:27:00):
strengths. So I feel like it'sgonna help us a lot has been around
the way this offense will have alot more speed, And how has that
transition been so far? I mean, like I said, it's building around
the players strengths. So of coursewe got speed, uh with me or
she and ati receiver. So justbuilding around that, Like I said,
playing to our strengths and be ableto capitalize off that. Feel like it's

(04:27:22):
gonna help us a lot most oflike the up tempo aspect and getting a
lot of plays in a less time. Oh yeah, yeah, Yeah,
that's definitely gonna play a big difference. Like I said, coming from the
West Coast, Uh, they bringingthat stand for an offense here, So
I'm excited to be able to bea part of that. For you personally,
what's what's the next level look likefor you? Where do you where
are you trying to ACCOMPLI this year? Uh? Just staying consistent, man,

(04:27:44):
a couple of upside downs last year. Just building off that. Uh,
it's always always gonna work on thephysical part, but being able to
bounce back after a bad game.The mental mental aspect, Uh, just
learning and learning that last year andbe able to build on that this year
is a huge You know with MikeGon, do you take it upon yourself
to kind of be that voice inthe room or to take a step forward

(04:28:07):
even further as I mean, it'snot really I mean everybody kind of grown
in the NFL, so it's juston you to be able to have that
standard. Like I said, Ijust try to do that lead by example.
I'm not really outspoken, but justlead by example, working hard,
trying to dominate every rep and hopefullythey follow after that and that yards after

(04:28:30):
the catch? Is that you feellike that's the strength of yours that maybe
wasn't utilize I don't know if utilizesthe right word, but you could show
more kind Yeah, it's offense thatis built around that, just catching the
ball in space, catching the ballover the middle or even on the outside
with space and separation. I feellike it's built around having yards have to

(04:28:52):
catch. So I'm definitely proud tobe in the system, like I said,
and I'm excited. But is thatis that a mindset too? Like
being good at yards after catch.Oh yeah, I mean, of course.
I mean you don't want to gettackled by the first person. And
my mindset is trying to take everytake everything to the house, you know,
every touch. So uh, Idefinitely got to do that more and

(04:29:12):
definitely try to work on that andpractice. A great dude man, Uh
some some that I definitely needed.Some that he relates to me. Uh
just from backgrounds and uh he's agreat coach, great leader, Uh,
motivational and uh. Like I said, I'm excited to have him around and

(04:29:33):
for him to push me is everythingthat I need. So you're talking about
like mentally bouncing back, you knowfrom tough performances or whatever, Like,
did you try to fund your resourcesgoing to help you figure out how to
do that? Oh yeah, Imean it's older guys way to win.
He was great at a lot ofsports, Baseball, basketball, football.
You know, I got an opportunityto recruit him, you know, so
I coached him when I was atNew Hampshire. I recruit him out of

(04:29:56):
high school and we all and wegrew up really close to each other.
So it's same elementary school, samehigh school, same junior high same college,
you know. So I've known himsince for for a really long time,
but that competitive fire burns deep withhim, and that's the one thing
that I've always admired with him.And he's got an amazing athletic brain in
terms of how to process things andhow to how to put people in position
to make place. He's always beenthat prototypical coach on the field, no

(04:30:19):
matter what sport he was playing.So I knew he was destined to be
a coach, you know. AndI was fortunate in my career as a
head coach to have him on mystaff in a couple of places, so
I got a chance to see himwork firsthand, you know. I got
to see him work firsthand as aplayer and then as a coach. So
the success he had is not isnot surprising to me that hard there is
there for you seeing Wheyan the successhe's had. Yeah, I think we

(04:30:42):
all do that. I think wecome from a unique place in a really
small hometown in New Hampshire where weall take a lot of pride to where
we're from and when anybody's successful comingout of there, that you kind of
take a little pride. That's it'sthe upbringing that we all had, you
know, in the UTH sports programthat we grew up in in every aspect,
whether it was football, he's Paulbasketball. Those coaches had an amazing

(04:31:03):
impact on us. And that's whywe are where we are right now.
Ryan said, he doesn't think ofit as you working under him, it's
working with him. The fact ishe's the head coach. He makes me
call him sir though, and hejust said can you do that? Day
one? And I was like,all right, right now. But I

(04:31:26):
mean he ultimately 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,
But when he's the ultimate decider andyou are working for him, Yeah,
I certainly understand my role. I'mnot Alhaic, Like I'm not I'm not

(04:31:47):
in charge here. Yeah. Somepeople get that reference. Other people don't
get that reference. But I'd certainlyunderstand that, and and I actually kind
of relish it because I really lovethe scheming part. I love the individual
part. I love being in themeeting room of the quarterbacks and trying to
game plan. But everything we dohere is collaborative. You know. The
one thing that really struck me whenI walked in this place is there's an

(04:32:08):
amazing coaching staff here, you know, and if you get a chance to
talk to Larry Johnson just about football, or Tim Walton or Jim Knowles or
Brian Hartline or any of these guysthat are on the staff here, it's
it's a very collaborative effort. Ithink everybody's on the same page. You
know, it's not our offense andtheir defense and it's Ohio State, you
know, it's it's Ohio State versusthe twelve opponents that we're going to play

(04:32:32):
during the regular season and then beyond. So it's it's really collaborative. And
that's the thing I like, justin the short time that I've been here,
is how collaborative everybody's been. Youknow, we're all trying to make
each other better and we're all tryingto develop this team. Touched on this
when you said, you know,you like to do what you want to
do and not My sense is you, in your perfect world, you'd like

(04:32:52):
to scribble plays on a napkin andnot deal with boosters that deal with all
the stuff that coaches head coaches haveto deal with. Now, how much
factor was that in this decision youcould just do football? Now, that's
not it. I mean, Ienjoy I mean we've had some amazing I've
had an opportunity and everywhere I've beento meet some amazing people that are associated
with the program. And there's peoplethat from my time at New Hampshire or

(04:33:14):
my time at Oregon. I wasjust with Phil Night two weeks ago,
you know, and got an opportunityto spend some time with him and his
wife Penny, who are dear friendsof mine that had been great mentors to
me in my career. And there'sa bunch of people that at UCLA,
Terry Donahue and Andrea Donna who wereawesome to me. Angela Mazzoni is a
great friend, Casey Wasserman, TroyAikman. There was a bunch of people
at UCLA that I really enjoyed,you know, being around and talking with.

(04:33:36):
So I think sometimes everybody wants tomake a narrative of it's either this
or that's It's never that. It'snever just all ball, it's never just
all recruiting. It's never just allboosters. It's it's a mixture of everything.
But I think the one thing thatas this position as a head coach
kept moving on is that if youlook at a lot of them, they
all become more CEOs. You know. I can't tell you how many coaches

(04:33:56):
that have called me since I madethis decision that said I'm two years behind
you, brother, You know thatare thinking the same exact way. And
I think it's all part of whatwe have to do. I think we
all need to protect this game andpromote this game, and I think there
are some rules that we need toget straightened out so that people understand where
what it's about, because the gameis still about the players, and I
hope that never gets discounted. Youknow. It's it's always been about the

(04:34:18):
players, and I think if wecan keep that at the forefront the people
that are making decisions on this,and I think Jean Smith is one of
the best influences in in the NCAAA, is to make sure we keep that
the main thing. The main thingneeds to be the student athletes. You
know, you're coming in at atime where you've been through some places where

(04:34:40):
the expectations are high. I understandwe're also coming into a juncture where,
you know, the three losses toMichigan and the not making the playoff last
year, the urgency is pretty highhere. I guess just sort of what
the perspective do you have on kindof the stakes that there are for Ryan
this year and the decision that thenhe makes the you in to kind of

(04:35:00):
help solve that. Yeah, Ithink the expectations can be no higher than
they are in your own brain,you know. And I think if you
try to worry about what other peopleare thinking in their brains, you're going
to get screwed up a little bit. So, you know, I talked
earlier the one thing about Ryan thatI know about him and has always been
he's the ultimate competitor. So he'sgot There's nowhere that has higher expectations of
Ohio State than Ryan does, northe rest of us that joined him in

(04:35:22):
are a part of this and thatare working with him. So you know,
I don't think I think sometimes youcan spend too much time thinking about
those things. You know, whatyou really have to do is just as
there's a big sign as you walkinto this place, it says when the
moment, you know, I thinkthat's a real thing that we have to
do as coaches, is to makesure that our players aren't worried about what's
going on in the future, oror aren't worried about what's going on in
the past, or worry about canthey get a little bit better today,

(04:35:44):
you know, and can we makeimprovement? And I think the one thing
that I've seen here, and I'veonly been here for three weeks, but
there's a consistency to the player's approachwhen they walk in this building every day,
which is it's unique. It's notlike that everywhere else. And it's
one of the things that I remarkto Mick when I you know, he
said, Hey, what do youthink, And I was like, it's
impressive. It's impressive the culture ofthe players that are in this program right
now. But I think it speaksa lot to the leadership. There's there's

(04:36:04):
a lot of older players on thisteam, and they've set the tone for
the younger players, and I thinkthe younger players have done a great job
of followship and getting right in linewith that. It's never hit it over
play calling to someone before what doesit mean to you? I guess he
technically did it to Bill when hewas here for a couple weeks. But
what does that mean to you tokind of be getting that responsibility from him

(04:36:25):
and he's calling essentially the offense thatyou gave it. I guess in some
way. Yeah, I still thinkthe play calling part will be a collaborative
effort. And by that I meanthat if it's a good play, I
called it, and if it's abad play, he called it. Because
the great part is an assistant coach, you can just hen point the finger
a little bit and say, hey, you know, I wanted to do
this, but he trumped me.So we haven't actually discussed game day yet.

(04:36:48):
You know, we'll see how thatoperates. But everywhere I've been it's
been a collaborative effort. And allof a sudden, someone that's calling the
plays isn't isn't like pulls one outof left field that you hadn't practiced,
hadn't been part of your offense,and said, hey, let's do this.
You know, we're not running theannexation of Puerto Rico. You know,
we're not coming up with something special, you know in the middle of
the fourth quarter that we haven't done. But I think it's the key to

(04:37:11):
really being successful on offense is ishow you game plan, how you put
it all together, and then howyou practice and train for that so that
you get a chance to execute it. Because the player's confidence comes become comes
from their demonstrated ability that they've donethis so many times in practice that when
they get out on the field thatthis is like that to them, you
know. And it's not that theydo it so they do it right,
it's they practice it so much sothat they can't do it wrong. So,

(04:37:33):
you know, I think it's thatwhole part of it that is really
the key to being a really goodgame planning team, right Doug Lane,
Marie north Chip. When you hadthat feeling when you were coaching in quarterbacks
during Bowl, 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

(04:37:55):
and then I'll look to see whatelse is out there. N I never
thought about quitting anything, So,you know, I just is there an
opportunity that I think I can thatfit, you know, And I think
that's the you know, it's nodifferent than when you're talking to a recruit
about them make a decision on wherethey're going to go to school. I
think that where they should go toschool is where the best fit is for
them. So, you know,I just entertained some opportunities and I always

(04:38:18):
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 mean, that's how I think I think about
things. Is I can't picture that. I know someone I was on the
Nike trip and they like, howmuch longer are you gonna go? When
I said I I have to goanother fifteen twenty years. I don't think
about I don't think about retirement.I don't think about any of those things.

(04:38:40):
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,

(04:39:00):
I mean, I got an opportunityto tell my players personally. You
know, I think in this dayand age of the Internet, where they
read it somewhere else and you haveto text message him. You know,
that was always important to me thatI wanted to make sure I talked to
my players and explain the reasons ofwhat I was doing. I wasn't leaving
to take a head coaching job somewhereelse. I wasn't thinking that the grass
is greener at another university. Wasjust in my personal situation, this is

(04:39:21):
what I wanted to do. Iwanted to take an opportunity to go be
a position coach and coordinator, andthat's how it fit. You know.
What I was happy is that Ialways thought to Sean Foster, I think
the world of them and I thinkhe's a special you know, and the
fact that that they were they gavehim the opportunity to take over there was
you know, it worked out.I didn't have any say in that decision,

(04:39:42):
you know, I was gone,But I always thought that DeShawn would
be a great head coach and I'mreally proud of him and happy that that
he got the opportunity to take thatjob, right behind him, actually have
your reputation as innovator? Was partof the appeal of this is that you
get to get in the weeds alittle bit. Maybe not mad scientists,

(04:40:03):
maybe too too strong of a word. Could you're working within the system.
But was there an appeal of youget to get my hands dirty here again
and innovate and get back to thatside of things. It was, but
it was really more important of whoI get to work with, you know,
and so knowing you know, I'vegot I know a lot of guys
on the staff besides Ryan also,so you know, when I know what

(04:40:25):
their mindset is and what their valuesare and how they do things, and
so I want to be a partof that. But there's a part of
that. Yeah, yeah, howmuch of a teacher you get labeled in
the innovator The teachings are part ofthis. How much is how a teacher
are you? And how patient areyou? Yeah? I think we're all
teachers. I mean education is thetransportation of knowledge, you know, So

(04:40:45):
it really doesn't matter what the coachknows. It matters what the players understand,
you know. So you have tobe able to make sure that while
you're implementing things is what resonates withthem 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 method ofthere's a lot of questions, you know,
and a lot of check for understandings, just to kind of find out
where the players are coming from,because it's what they know that's ultimately gonna

(04:41:08):
win games, not what we know. You know that we're not playing the
games. We're not stepping across thosewhite lines, you know, And your
job as a coach is to createan environment where they have an opportunity to
be successful and then get out oftheir way and let them go do it.
So I think the teaching aspect ishuge, and we continue to research,
you know, some of the latesttrends in teaching to make sure that
we are transporting that knowledge to ourplayers. The second role left Steve Hellwaggen

(04:41:30):
twenty four seven Sports. Yeah,coach, just curious you got five scholarship
quarterbacks with differing levels of experience fromage and everything else. Not to annoy
him, but just want to askspecifically about Will Howard coming in after starting
part of two years at kids astage he just seems to promote this idea

(04:41:52):
that he's a football player, youknow above all else. Just how impressed
are you with his make has experiencedwhat he's bringing to the table walking in
here right now? Yeah, reallyimpressed. You know, you don't have
to talk to Will for more thanfive minutes to kind of know where he's
coming from. He's really focused.You know, he knows he's got a

(04:42:12):
short window left in his college career, and it really wants to capitalize on
what that is. There's a maturityto Will, you know. I really
I've had experience. My experience inthis thing since the transfer portal opened in
college football is some of the bestplayers I've had an opportunity to coach ward
transfers. Sometimes when you're a truefreshman and it's five years out, you

(04:42:33):
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,
and how much the rest of theplayers respect him. You know,
he was one of the Gold Awardwinners for his work in the weight room

(04:42:56):
in this offseason, so that saysa lot for him coming in here as
a in a short time, beingable to to win a weight room award,
you know, to start off,you guys hope to have the number
one internally externally at the end ofspring, or I guess just let it
play out, how do you I? I 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

(04:43:19):
players know. The players would understand. They see it every single day,
you know, and there's a teamchemistry part of this thing too, So
we're not gonna force the issue.A But I've always seen it play itself
out. So I've been fortunate thatthere's always gonna be some quarterback battles at
at some point in time. Atevery school there's a quarterback battle, you
know, and then and really youyou gotta let them play it out on

(04:43:40):
the field, and that's where ithas to that's that's where it has to
be decided. Just a couple Hey, welcome than we were excited to have
you here, Thank you. I'mkind of to talk about the innovative part.
Ryan said that that's something that he'salways loved but working with you and
now he wants you to bring thathere and how it would fit with Ohio
State. Do to the idea ofwhat that's gonna look like yet or is

(04:44:02):
just way too early? I haveno idea, you know. I think
part of it is is you're tryingto put the players in position to make
play. So a lot of thatcomes from getting to understand the players and
what their skill sets are and howwe feature what their skill sets are,
you know, and and the onething after day one, I can tell
you that there's a lot of skillset out there, you know. So
that's that's what gets you excited.You know, That's that's what you jump

(04:44:26):
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
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

(04:44:52):
positions to make place lots of pressure. I mean, you've experienced what's like
to coach national championship, how overteams program right now and moving into a
situation where you got to win quickningnow. So does that feel like pressure
here for you or is it alittle bit of excitement or Well I've always
subscribed to as pressure is what youfeel when you don't know what you're doing.

(04:45:12):
So if you don't want to feelpressure, and then you should know
what you're doing, so you know, I think it's it's part of that,
and I think part of our jobwith our players in terms of the
education process is getting them to understandthat too. Is that you know,
it's it's about your preparation. It'sabout you and your development. It's not
about that you can't be governed bywhat other people say. It's it's what's
my mindset and how am I intrinsicallymotivated? And then how do I really

(04:45:34):
compete against myself on a daily basisto get a little bit better. You
know, we got a little bitbetter today because we get out on the
field today and got a chance todo some football. And then the challenge
is when we get back on thefield on Thursday, can we be a
little bit better than we were onTuesday? And if we're doing that,
then we keep stacking good days ontop of good days, and I think
we'll be in good spot and welcome, thank you. I'm gonna ask about

(04:45:56):
the pros and cons of coaching fromthe box and coaching from the field.
It's interesting to talk to someone upwith some coordinators over Tom Herman talking about
he swore he wanted to coach fromthe box, saw the game so much
better, sterile environment, not allthe chaos on the field. Some coaches
you talk to the like, Iwant to be on the field so I
can look at my guys in thein 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,

(04:46:18):
you know, so I had thoughtabout just walking up into the stands
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 called
from there, then zip out ofthe field, get a chance to talk
to him, because it's a differentdeal when you're talking to the quarterbacks on

(04:46:38):
a phone, you know, thanbeing able to look in their eye and
kind of see where they are withit. And part of it is the
field part of it. I rememberwhen I coached 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.

(04:47:00):
Know, he was still trying toget his win back. But you
wouldn't know that if you're up inthe booth, you know, and you
call a pass play from up inthe booth, and you're like, how
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

(04:47:23):
best for the team is what we'regonna do. So your teams at the
Oregon were obviously Now we're playing atthis assid pace and running a bunch of
plays for a minute and yep,maybe not act by a pastill pretty fast.
What role do you see tempo andhaving an offense? And in the
state in college football and has maybechanged. I think the game is always

(04:47:45):
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 he was playing fast. So I
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

(04:48:07):
offense, 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
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

(04:48:29):
not a game of absolutes anymore.I think the ability to be diverse and
have it as a tool in yourtwo box, so to speak, uh
is really how we would look atusing it here becaus are now work familiar
with it, then I think so, you know, I think when you
first started going Temple, there werepeople in the NCAA they want to outlaw
it, they want to make anNCAA role that yeah, you couldn't do
it, you know, and I'llI'll give coach Shaping credit. I mean,

(04:48:51):
I think obviously Nick was the firstone to do it. He wanted
it outlawed 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
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

(04:49:14):
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
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

(04:49:36):
best position to make plays. Andnow, now will Temple be part of
it. It'll be part of it, but it's certainly not going to be
the main course. A sorry lastquestion, Tim, Oh, thank you
very much. Jerry. Uh Numberone, there was a great moment there
when yall were warming up, whenyou were you were talking with Tim Walton
and Caleb Downs comes up and conversingand as you're in this kind of a
two part question, but number one, what was just your take on the

(04:50:00):
talent you saw on that field todayon both sides of the ball. Where
would you rank it? Yeah,I'll rank it. I'll be very transparent.
As I was telling Tim and Calebwhat a great offensive player I thought
Caleb would be, could be andshould be. But I'm not the head
coach, so I always turned stretchas a as an offensive coordinator, I'm

(04:50:23):
always looking at the defensive players likeI could use him. Oh what could
I do if I had him?What could I do if I have him?
But I don't. I don't getto choose him anymore because I'm I'm
not. I don't have the pick. But I was just talking to him
about he's he's a great young man. And if you watch, if you
want to watch a highlight tape,watch his highlight tape of him on offense
when he was in high school.He's an impressive dude. So just a
talent on hand, there is youon this field today, but you know,

(04:50:45):
obviously, yeah, we're real footballyet. But yeah, no,
there's a there's a obviously this isa very talented football team. But I
think Ryan made a point to theteam, and I think our players really
understand it's a non talented things thatare going to help this team win.
You know, it's the dis pudevelopment that we're going to have. It's
the skill development that we're going tohave here during spring ball that's going to
be the difference maker because there area lot of talented teams out there what

(04:51:11):
so doing it. But you know, those are the type of things I'm
just giving guidance to. And thenyou know, off the field, it's
you know, what to expect aroundthe city. Where should you be,
where you should be, how youcan help yourself, you know, the
little things. What are you lookingfor in your contra You know, I'm

(04:51:33):
looking to be here. You know, the value is what we decide.
But you know, I think forme, I want to be, you
know, valued at my position.You know, I understand that I came
up a rough season, but Idon't think it's a step down of where
I can play. You know,I think when I was at the top

(04:51:53):
of my game. I'm still youknow, top five player in my position,
and you know I played the runin the past and I bring leadership
and that's not anything I discover.Can you you plan to be here for
men camp and started for any camp? Yeah? How difficult has it been
the last two weeks to not behere? I mean you said in your

(04:52:14):
podcast the first time you've never notbeen a OT. Yeah, it w
It was difficult, But like youknow, the thing I got very frustrated
with was just and people questioned mycommunication with the team. You know,
I uh was communicating with guys leftand right, and you know, front
office, coaches, teammates, andall I care about is how I am

(04:52:36):
with my teammates. I don't wantthem to 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. Butbesides that, but I always dedicate anything
I can to them, and Idon't want that to every question. Isaiah
said that it felt like sometimes youwere hold up somewhere watching film. You
texted Hlo say hey, you missedthis or you wanna do that. Well,

(04:52:57):
like the first day he was battingon Russ's passes. So I had
to let him know. You know, Uh, you gotta take advantage of
that. You gotta make sure guysare you know, uh know that you
you still care and you still wannabe a part of this. Uh,
you know, just watching practice,there's a couple of little things we're doing
different, whether I'm communicating with Dunbaror other people. You know, Yeah,

(04:53:22):
so you're that you're also talking withhim and you you've giving him a
point or during the off season,just constant communication. How do you see
him grow as a person, youknow, as far as how he's approaching
things and how you're getting ready forthis season from his rookie year. Uh,
you know, I think the thingwith Keanu is he's more comfortable,
you know. You know, it'snot his first time around the track.
You know, it's actually like hecan you know, uh catch his feet

(04:53:44):
under him. You know. Ialways think when you're in your rookie season,
you're going from bowl game. Idon't even know Wisconsin play in a
bowl game. Sorry Wisconsin, Idon't even know. But you know,
personally, I just think when yougo from bowl game to training for the
combine to you know, rookie miningcamps, OTAs, the you know mini
camp, I mean the training camp, the regular season. You really don't

(04:54:07):
get a time to really catch yourself. You know, he understands the playbook.
Now you can be more vocal,you know. And I think when
my absence, the other guys absence, you know, you need guys like
that to step up and be readyfor those opportunities you had during the season,
was more thorough. What was justtightened down everything, you know on

(04:54:29):
my left side because I was overcompensatinga little bit, but you know it
was it wasn't anything that lingers.You know, I'll say this, uh,
a growing is not like an acl It's not like anything's that we're
gonna ge affected again. And youknow, you know, I'm feeling good,
able to do everything squat and heavywith power and speed, so you

(04:54:52):
know, it feels good to getafter again. What do you think of
what the team was able to accomplishyourself us in return to bring guys like
Russians. You know, I thinkthey're all good acquisitions. But you know,
you never want to be known asa paper champion, and so you
can't win the off season. Ithink the work gets done out here on
the field gets done in the classroom, it gets done training, uh,

(04:55:15):
you know, and then you seewhere you're at in training camp and then
you build on that. You know, I think we got the right guys
in the building. It's just aboutuh, putting a complete team on the
field camp. How tenther colleges itto separate the business part of the game
in the actual football player. Uh. You know you you always wanna you
you always have to treat it likea business, uh, because you know

(04:55:40):
one day it's gonna end. UhAnd that's been the job. Uh.
It's not like in college where youknow you got four years guaranteed. I
don't know, well now you youdon't even know where that I am and
all it's crap but the transfer portalportal. But you know, you have
to I still have love for thisgame, and I still work and tail

(04:56:00):
off and I still put everything intoit and that's not gonna change. But
you have to know what you bringto the team and what your what your
value is. Can you I wantedto be able to be out there with
your teammates today emotionally great. Youknow. We got a new uh,
we got a new training staff andstill learning the the warm up a little
different. Uh, but uh,you know I loved it. Uh,

(04:56:22):
you know, just getting after it, learning new guys. Uh, going
through the same drills I've been doingby myself. Uh. I actually like
having more people around, cause likekind 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 repalready. And so you know, it's
nice to be up here and getthe chance to, you know, be

(04:56:45):
with my guys. Gambre, you'reconfident and Dele'll get done with your emotions.
Oh, I'm gonna we'll try toremain pretty neutral, cause you 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. Is my
last year here, I I II've had a great career here, but

(04:57:08):
uh, we'll look forward to playnext year. Can you what that second
surgery you said it this time wason the left side. It was the
first time around on the right side, right side during the season, left
side, and that was just tighteningdown my corner. My corma saw.
It wasn't the same as my addoctor you know you can ask doctor Bradley,

(04:57:29):
uh doct doctor Zuckerbron who uh didthe surgery as well. You know,
I if anything's gonna help me andyou'll make me a lot stronger from
hearing up. Did you say youwere training with another guy? Who have
you kind of been Tyson? Oh? Uh, I've been training with him
for the last eight years. We'vealways trained together. We got a trainer
up north, uh shadow of ColeHaley, who's my guy traded h trained

(04:57:52):
trained uh, Heath Miller, Brettkezel, the multitude of guys that always back
and we've just been getting after it. Can mes very few guys historically thirty
five that you paid big contracts.You think that's held against you. I
think there's not a lot of historybehind it. But you know, for

(04:58:14):
me, I I look at asI'm not looking to be like anybody else.
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 then that'swhere I'm different. You know, I
remember last year Mike t just broughtto my attention. You know the thing
that's really cool is you watch powerlefters and you know, my game's built

(04:58:36):
on power and technique and those guysgo into their forties and so you know,
that's what kind of research I'm doingbehind the scenes. But you know,
I I We'll see what happens.I it's m there's not a lot
of history, but I'm here tomake history and I'm here to you know,
win another super Bowl here and youknow, have a great season.

(04:58:57):
Do you have a set goal overyourself on how many years you wanna play
in the NFL? Or do youjust take things year by year? You
know it? It was it wastough answering that question right after the season.
I will say this, guys,I I can't keep answering that question
right after the season. That isnot fair to the season, that's not
fair to my family. Uh.You know, But in my mind,

(04:59:18):
I got three years and I wannamaximize'em. I wanna play at a
high level, and I wanna godeep in the playoffs. And you know,
we got a good team and I'mgonna do my part to be ready
for all those situations here. Ifyou plan on practice when you report to
Latrobe, or is your possibility thatyou might pull in and enforce the situations.
I I have not even thought thatfar. I've taken a day by

(04:59:41):
day uh you know uh uh.I told my agent and we talked about
it, and we we were coolcoming out here. You know, I'll
be here for many you know,and then I'll be there for training pan.
You know, I don't know whatthe work entails, but right when
we get there, we'll we'll crossthat picture. Why is it ad for
you or Romain? A stealer forthose three years? You know, there

(05:00:06):
was a conversation between me, Omarand Mike t And there's certain guys that
are one helmet guys, you know, and I wanna be one of those
one helmet guys. And you knowthere's a there's a hunger and desire there.
But that doesn't mean just hanging itup and calling a career to me,
I think, you know, Igot more bullets to fire, and

(05:00:32):
you know I'm excited to do that. What's the meaning last one? You
and Russell Wilson are gonna be outthere with Walter Man? Uh? What
WALTI Payton Man of the Year past. I saw Russ's on social media,
uh, but I haven't had achance to see it. Uh. I
let that surprise happens when it happens. But uh, you know, it's
it's cool to have another Walter PaytonMan the Year winner. You know,

(05:00:52):
I think, uh, it's anhonor to be there, and uh,
I one I'll say one thing,I won't be here. I think,
like that's just important in general,and you know, it's my job the
whole guys accountable along with other guys, and you know, it's just it's
a ton of expectations. It's aton of things that we wanna do this
year, that we should do thisyear. But you have to slow down

(05:01:17):
and and learn just how to executeone player at a time, and while
every all the pressure is on,Like how do you simplify you know,
excuse me, I'm sorry, howdo you simplify you know, playing at
a high level every single play?So I think that way, you know,
just bringing the guys back and justtaking us back to square one.
You know, what happened happened,and it's time to move on. And

(05:01:37):
that's gonna happen in the season,you know. But you know, I
just think, uh, if itcomes from me, it means a lot.
And you know, now I'm steppinginto the role even more and more.
So you know, I just acceptingthat and having fun with it,
you know, and being myself andI just want everybody around me to eat.
Often I tell them like this,this sport can change your life if
you do it the right a way. So, you know, being accountable,
you know, doing the extra stuffaway from the f uh the facility.

(05:02:02):
That stuff matters at the end ofthe day, cause all the expectations
and all that pressure, that reallydoesn't matter if you do those things,
you know, So what are yourexpectations for a year two in this offense?
I'll just keep going. You know. The name of the game is
just execution. You know. Thetimes where we executed at a high level,
the times we won those games,you know. So that's just the
goal is just to execute and tobe able to be on the same page

(05:02:26):
bill chemistry right now, so youknow, when the when the ball rolls,
you know, very very r readyto fly around at a high level.
So, I mean that's the goal, and that's that's you know,
there's goals on top of that,but that's the that's the foundation right now.
Okay's foundation work. So did cJ. I know that I know
that it's still pretty early. Buthow has it been so far getting to
work with Diggs and how is hefitting in? So far? He's been

(05:02:48):
fitting in great. You know,he's coming in with his head down mentality,
just working. You know, he'shelped me out a lodge just you
know, he come comes from afrom a a a good system over there
where when he was with the andthey did a lot of things with him
and really just offense and tell mehow like Josh played and things like that,
things that you know, we dodifferent than We've had this plenty of

(05:03:10):
conversation, you know. So hebeen he's come in and and been a
leader, which which I'm proud ofhim for. And you know it just
really's has been unselfish and uh,I wanted to see other guys eat and
that was his main things, Likehe wanted to be around other dogs.
And you know, he he hestepped into that role where there's a dog
everywhere. Every he looks right,he looks left, there's gonna be a
dog. So and he wanted thatand that's what you know, we we

(05:03:33):
break to the table and he's beennothing but just amazing so far. And
I I'm very excited to work withhim a brand, as a teammate,
as a big what's like to haveyour friend take back with you? Guys?
What was it like to go fromthe camon of emotions from hearing about
it to now when it's over inyour back yard there you'll have plenty And
it's amazing. You know, it'ss just a testament to him and you

(05:03:56):
know, one of the god weserve. And then two, uh,
just the work that he's put in. You know, he's been uh you
know, he came back before itwas even schedule. He can get cleared.
And then on top of that,you know, just coming back after
that freak accident. And you know, I think that we serve a guy
that's merciful and that's that's purposeful andhe knows that, and he stepped into

(05:04:17):
and me and him we have thoseconversations about our faith and then cause like
this football stuff, it seems likeit's everything, but it's not. You
know, we're we're people, andwe we go through a lot off the
field. People don't know. Andyou know, as his brother, I
have to be there for him,like just like he's there for me when
I go through what I go through. So I mean, I'm just proud
of him, man, Like theword proud is even probably enough to like

(05:04:38):
state the the feelings that I havefor that guy. Man, he's my
one of my best friends that I'ven you know, gotten to known over
the years in this in this worldof football and past that Man, I
feel like I'm going to since I'vebeen three years old, you know,
I think for like our connections kindof like we grew up together. And
you know, I just got alot of love for that guy, and
you know, I'm very excited ahim. He's be stapping that practice and

(05:05:00):
doing really well and you know,to knock off the rest that quick shows
how much work he's been in.How much more comfortable are you walking up
to ots this year to read thelast year? Things kind of a little
bit slower, just have that's thebiggest difference to you. Yeah, it's
night and day. Man. It'sreally like I feel like I'm running the
show and I've got a lot moreuh responsibilities from Slow and from the Beacon,

(05:05:22):
from dry Bill and really our wholeoffice of staff. And you know,
I'm the captain of the ship andI gotta run it the right way.
And I feel like I've you know, stepped into that role just you
know, and not not only holdouts accountable, but also you know,
hold myself accountable to those moments likeI don't let anything slide, uh, cause that's