Press Conference (Jeremiah Smith)

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
We got Jeremiah J. J.Smith j J. How'd you feel out
that to day you got a guardthe team came out? Don't three and
old pool play? When you cometo these kind of tournaments, what kind
of techniques do you like to workon it? See think that you're gonna
deep run some short stuff from crossingroutes? What do you work on when
you're out of tournament like this?Really just getting back in the goose doing

(00:23):
your meat. So really just workingon my releases. Uh, that's when
your game, my friends class I'vebeen I'm gonna chuck, so just bring
getting back in. Now we knowyou pulled the trigger on Ohio State,
Obviously you're gonna take visits kind ofmake sure that you're you're perfect, done
your decision. What was it aboutOhio State and Brian Hartline and Ryan David
that made you feel comfortable to coldmake early? Really they sent me my

(00:44):
first visit? We're not taking thefirst you can't offer you feel like being
system my friend? Really, justwhat's up? What's up? What's what
they say? Was really? Theythey they gave me, uh really just

(01:04):
a kid that I'm a talk hartI wasn't talk artist I'm trying to have
them side. Now. I knowyou got something your s FV family up
there. You got Brandon n s, you got card I'll take. What
does it mean to potentially be ableto link up with them in a year
and be able to kind of runback what you guys have done in South
Florida Express in Columbus, Ohio,it'd be great we go there to Ohio

(01:26):
State take over. It'd be gratefulall through. Great, you can have
the first round. Yeah, you'rea super humble kid. I've been really
impressed by you today. Is thereanything that you want Ohio State fans to
know about you? You know again, I know you're just your all work,
all work, a work. Butwhat are they getting when they get
a J. J. Smith tocome to Ohio saying kid coming in the

(01:49):
job. Don't they just what Igotta do, must take care of person,
score, don't just come in toomuch job. That's perfect man with
God bless you. I appreciate you, my man. Awesome about you today?
Thank you? J. J.Smith? What was he doing fis?
Was he like as a Bulgia franticto uh? First day? You

(02:12):
know he didn't really talk that much. But you know, he gave us
some tips and certain things to workon, and as he's learning our offense
as well, because he just gothere, so I think he's he's been
great so far. I don't knowhow often. Yeah, I was surprised.
Were you was your reaction to youknow, just with the situation of

(02:35):
college football where it is today.I understood, you know, he coached
offered, had to do what wasbest for him. But you know,
I'm here at Ohio State not onlyjust for everything around it, but I'm
just here for the university in itself. So I think just focusing on the
bigger picture and you know, thebrotherhood that's here and what's important to me.
That's what I was focusing on throughouteverything. Uh, pretty surprised.

(02:57):
I just got here, like nottoo often to go. But I'm me.
You know, like I said,I understood it, and you know,
just came here to continue to work. You picked up Yeah, definitely,
right right, And everyone I'm around, I've I've picked up something from
and I think coach offered. I'velearned a lot while his time was here.
You know, you taught me alot of different things, specifically about

(03:19):
the position and other position as wellon the field, So I have learned
a lot whise time was here,and I thank him for that. What's
different about him? Mean, she'slike a high energy guy. How would
you him? Yeah? So withcoach Lochlan, I mean I've only been
around him for a day, soI don't really know. But uh,
as you can see where he's coachand how he is as a person.
He's very high energy. He's veryintense, you know, and I think

(03:43):
he's very hands on. So Ithink it'll be awesome to be working with
coach lock Trikings. What's your opinionof Soft Fat's cookies? Uh? In
the first meeting with you guys,A no, not yet. How was
you just to to he was thequarters that you said you had a dude
and then a lot. So we'refrom the same city. Uh. Me

(04:04):
and him are from the same placeat Florida State. You know, he
worked on that staff with coach uhJohnson and they offered me out of high
school. So the relationship was alreadythere then and we just continued to build
on from then. What is it? What is it? Uh? It
meant a lot, you know,just the things that we talked about since
I was younger in high school,you know, just didn't have that opportunity

(04:27):
to go uh and play there.So it's awesome. Sure, what's the
rest of the spring look like foryou? Then? What where do you
wanna see yourself get better? Yeah? Just to continue to improve all around,
you know, continue to learn theoffense and get involved in everywhere that
I can on the field, andjust be able to improve my game all
around. I know we were rollingin here for for Saturday. We haven't
seen you guys practice a lot.But so you come out of the backfield

(04:48):
catch a touchdown pass from Will Uh. Are you just pushing to to continue
to get better out of the backfield? And where do you feel like you
are as far as learning the offensesomething being Yeah, definitely that's my goal
to just continue to improve everywhere.But I think just overall is just helping
the team anyway that the team needsto be help and just being a team

(05:10):
player. That's that's my deal.Just trying to come in and you know,
help the team whatever the team needs. You guys find out Actually I
honestly don't remember how I found out, but I just remember, like the
process on what was where we're gonnado moving forward. Ryan Day's talked a

(05:30):
lot about the leadership Travions brought tothe running back round this spring. What
how would you see that from them? Yeah, definitely, Travis, like
I said, hasn't improved. He'sbeen a leader to the whole room,
you know, by his actions andvocally as well, just you know,
continue to improve all around and inspirethe young guys in the room. And
I think he's done very good atthat. You know, TC caf is

(05:53):
a guy that can contribute to youguys as well. What have you seen
from him as a walk on tobe able to contribute in your room?
Yeah, definitely. TC works veryhard. He knows the offense. He's
always in the playbook, always inthe meetings writing things down. Uh,
very head down guy. You know, he doesn't really talk that much,
but he's very good. So Iagree. Oh, it's like so many

(06:14):
questions. How was uh? Howwas Coach Day like his running back It's
crazy you say that because he justtold us He's like, well, guys,
it's great. Uh, he's takinga great step forward them. Like
I said, he's the next guyup man. I mean, he's been
extremely you know, important on thegrowth of our secondary because now you know

(06:36):
we're working him inside some uh he'splayed outside at both corner spots. You
know, he got that it factor, you know what I mean. So
so we look what he brings theenergy to competitiveness. We got to build
off the last year uh and expandthe role for him and to make sure
he's uh, he's ready to go. But he's been doing great. You

(07:00):
take us through what is We're justauthentic, really not giving a lot of
recruiting talk. It is what itis. We try to shoot straight,
honest communication, honest assessment, thecharacter, the value, the work at
it, and the main things thecompetition. You gotta compete. If you

(07:25):
don't want to compete, it's notgonna be the place for you, because
that's the that's the thing that willget us where we need to go is
competition in the room. And thoseguys here love to compete. We sell
that. We're looking for guys whoembrace that, who chairs being in those
spots. And you can take timeto grow. You know, you don't

(07:45):
have to have the the pig mentalityof problem of instant gratification. You know,
you can develop and grow so andsometimes you may be behind a guy
that's a really good player. Isnothing wrong with developing and growing and play
and when your time is right,and if the time is right right now
as a freshman like was Jermaine,did you play early? You know,
so we try to also sell that, you know, we care about him

(08:07):
as people and try to prepare youfor life after football. So it's bigger
than just football. We're going toprepare you for life, whether it's the
NFL or on with a regular careerin the workforce. We want you to
prepare you as a young man,and we try to sell that and preach
that to the parents to remain havingthat. In fact that you mentioned rolling
all these different spots, do youanticipate you know, there wasn't a lot

(08:30):
of rotation among the cornerbacks last yearwhen everyone was healthy. Do you anticipate
maybe rolling him through the rest guyshere with the longerst season potentially? Yeah,
we play it by here, youknow what I mean, We see
how it goes by the time weget in the camp. But you know,
obviously he's earning his stripes, soyou know, I mean, when
you earn your stripes, you know, the odd job to create opportunities for
you, you know what I mean. We have to see how it goes
with all that other stuff, youknow, once we get closer to the

(08:50):
season and we get into game planstuff. But he's doing a great job,
and he's and he's taking a greatstep forward. Were the way you
kind of establish your room Now itseems like it's the centerpieces kind of relationships
and kind of build their mind.And I'm curious, is that something that
you came in with the like acouple of years ago with the intention of

(09:11):
UNI or is it something that you'relike, it's kind of been cultivated over
the course of your time as aposition goes here. No, No,
it's been there for a while.I've been doing that for a long time.
It's all about relationship. If youdevelop real relationship and you're authentic and
your communication and you have honest feedbackand you have the you know, direct
teaching, the guys that have valueand character and they appreciate that stuff,
they'll embrace that. So, butthey have to know your care and you

(09:35):
have to know that it's real,and they have to know that you you're
really concerned about their well of beingas a young man. And when you
get close to them and spend alot of time with them off the field.
You could coach them hard, andyou can. You can and you
can. You can say truthful thingsto them and then they'll embrace it and
you have real conversation because you knowthe only goal is to help them get
better as a young man years agois so far ahead of the morn kind

(10:00):
of skewed that evaluation SIDEHI is doing. How's that dynamic change in these two
years? Seis group's gotten older andmore talent? Yeah, it's done balanceduff
a little bit. Now. Thatgoes with great competition. We have the
uh 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

(10:22):
competing, Eye guys start growing.Eye guys got better and now is even
up a little bit. So willyou get really good work at practice to
day? You know what I mean? So it's competitive, it's fun.
Those guys both on both sides ofall 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 that getsus better, uh, that will prepare
us for Saturday, Idea said myfirst day of practice. Actually the receivers

(10:46):
kind of got them is kind ofOh no, it's just it's it's gonna
competitive. Man. They got thebest group in the country that you're going
against every day, so you haveto bring it every day, you know
what I mean. So they wegot a great quarterback room. We've got
a great receiver room. The runningbacks are really good. So when you
out there going against them, it'sdeep, so you have to be ready

(11:09):
for it. And obviously, man, we're seeing a lot of good stuff
with with with Stay and coach Kellydoing over there, and so it prepares
you a lot and it helps usgrow wide receiver room kind of like a
part of your regrets, like theseare the guys you get to play,
yeah, always, because you knowthat's where you get better iron shoppings iron

(11:31):
So you know, you get tosee that every day practice that helps you
grow. It's no better uh thingto go against every day than to see
that on a daily basis. Oh, we just moving a lot of guys
around. You watch that practice.We have a lot of guys in there
right now. You know, weprobably have three or four different guys in
there. Obviously Lorenzo's in there,Jermaine is in there. Kus we we

(11:54):
have we have about four or fiveguys moving around right now. We just
try things out in spring ball,see what the fit know, see what
things work together. So there's noprobably some more guys in there, you
know. We move it around totry to just get the right fit throughout
the end and see how it goesby the time we get ready to start
the season. At seasons, hecan run and he's strong, you know,
I mean, he's fast, Uh, very serious about his business.

(12:16):
Uh, he's big, it's twohundred pounds. He can run, he's
strong, he's conscientious, you knowwhat I mean. He's starting to grow
and he's starting to get get betterwith it, you know I mean,
so we looked for big things forhim in the spring. What do you
want to see this spring? Keepcompeting, you know what I mean.
Now he's made the transition. Competingtoday, you know what I mean,
he start going in that transition isall just like him Jermaine. Last year,
you throw him in the fire,you let him go, you compete,

(12:37):
you go coach make Uh, it'sall season and it was just focusing
on getting his shave and you're gettingstrong. He's possible. Uh, And
I feel like showing him definitely whenwhen you're growing through, I mean when
everybody says in the rank and you'regonna be on one, you know you're
gonna be in No. I mean, how is it? How is that
you open within the system where itseems like it's had a lot of career

(13:00):
that have been enterchangeable, but nota lot of ones again yeah, I
mean just just yeah, just youwould come here to you coming in a
room that seems to have a lotof threes. You kind of are a
different body type as a one.I mean, how do you fit in?
Let's just go the ski fitting well. But I think this is the

(13:22):
that's the whole thing. That's whatI was this power. I mean obviously
you know there's no one of theteams that you guys go against are more
runs driven. I mean, justhow commit how much you're going to look
forward to that opportunity to get inthere and be that you that that runs
off put in the work, reallyputting in the work. Uh. I

(13:48):
feel like on the Saturdays it's justlike just showing the world, but the
obviously put in the work. That'swhere it really counts. But that's why
I really different. How different it'sa weird spring practice and babies fall practice
last year and it's not even quitefit a year. But we talked about
players are like, my body istransform You know that the game was to

(14:11):
low down to mere you. Ifeel like I'm knowing the game more transferring.
I was just in high school lastyear going to the fuck HPT,
so I had to adjust to it. But now I'm learning the game and
I'm knowing the assignments I gotta do, and I'm just doing my job.
That's what Coach Johnson was really bigon. What did you take out of

(14:33):
last season? You mentioned coming straightout of high school, don't play a
ton, and how much how muchdid you take away? What kind of
things did you like from from Idon't say it was tough, you know,
but I'm learnning from guys like mycall Tom Hamilton TI League. These
guys are pro guys, so I'mgonna just try to get I'm asking many
questions I have for them, anduh, it's literally just getting better just

(14:54):
every day fullback. I ain't score. What did you gotta kid? My
mom? How much petition to get? No petition, No petition. I
just wanted to do my job.I'm I'm a team player, so whatever
I gotta do for my team.I'm a guy for that great co last

(15:20):
couple of days, I have acouple of you been having some people have
been having pass I can do thepractice, obviously. As you said,
that's a surprise. You feel likeyou're breaking No, this is not surprising
to me. I've been putting inthe work, couldn't work my whole life.
But I feel like coach mixed.I just like this off season it's

(15:45):
really big for me, and uh, I locked in on it and you
see the results. So I wasdoing what I do, doing my job.
Kid like Dee gotta suffer another armotivation a different better way. I

(16:08):
wanna say it motivate me. ButI'm here for a reason. God got
me here for a reason, Sowhatever uh happens, you know it happens,
Well, I love it here.Uh. I just want that to
be great. That was a lotof times like the player of the years
when that county doesn't get me todo what he actually imagine him or something

(16:29):
that ship on the shoulder, buthe exact it motivated shooting, just get
better here. Hey, I'm surethat people here breaking foot gold. Yeah,
really yeah, I got a bigchip on my shoulder. You know,
I don't take no days for granted. I know, because you gotta
take play every play like your lastplay. So that's how I do it.
I'm just with to motivated, andyou know, it's a big season

(16:49):
coming up, seventeen games. Somebodygotta step up day leading on the young
guys like me and Jason. Herode to tom One to step up receive
back at the spring game. Canwe get a touchdown in spread? I
don't know. We ain't really beentalking about it, but I think during
the season, just get out ofsaving to save. Can't let the opposing

(17:11):
teams know when we got the players. How did you think that one,
sir in the coboeau It was awesome, man, it just felt like high
school days. You know, I'mexcited, man, I'm blocking for guys
like Coleshawn Trey Dallan. I mean, it's I'm gonna open it by from

(17:32):
uh because he was just talking aboutit too, so clearly we should.
I think we shared a couple ofplayers. But you know, whatever it
is for my team, I'm gonnado it, you know, educate and
do it or I do it.Uh. I think it's gonna be a
good thing for us. D lout that gives you the best faster?

(17:57):
Is that word for center? Likethis last you're kind of trial by fire
for him? Is it just like? How is that process? But not
playing at all his first year startingMitschew? It's for whether it's Carson Hensman
or you know, Johnny Jones,like you get thrust into real reps and
the full speed, it's faster thanyou've ever seen. And so now he

(18:17):
has that book of work too thathe can look back on, where the
understanding of the game, the understandingof the speed of the game, the
intensity. You know, I've saida thousand times that he doesn't get incrementally
faster or stronger. The game mentallyslows down for him. So he can
use his skill set that way.So what is that we're talking about.
That's his weight, that's his strength, because those numbers are going up,
so he can play with more pillarstrength, he can play more contact,

(18:40):
he can play more comfortable, eventhough his forty time, didn't go from
a five to zero to a fourto eight. He just jumped right in.
Unbelievable job both ways of him justcoming in with shelving the ego that
he had he really had none,and walking in saying, I'm walking into
a room, as we told himwhen we recruit him, like you're coming

(19:02):
into a room a bunch of gooddudes, and then our good dudes are
good dudes. He came in andthere was no it's like, you're here,
here's how we do, here's howwe operate, and let's go.
And so that learning curve for allthose whether it's a high school midiear guy
or a veteran midia guy that transfersin, there's a learning curve there,
just you know, circling back towe had natural maturation a little bit because
he's been through a little bit ofspring ball, he's been through a little

(19:22):
bit of camps. So you're stilllearning new terminology, you're learning a new
skill set. But he just doveright in and wanted to be a sponge
and wanted to learn it. He'sdoing a good job and he's improving every
day, you know, so that'swhat's making the battle and the competition and
all these graded snaps. Really,you know, good for us is because
they all have that mindset. Sofrom seth awesome, the unit and the

(19:44):
group awesome because there was no combativenessto it. It was let's get in,
let's go, and let's compete andthen let the guys win. Skill
set, Uh, just learning thesame deal all young guys you come in,
you got to learn how to playin friction. So having you know,
three tech, having a two I, having those guys like right in
front of him that every time youtake one of those reps and you're out

(20:07):
of your base or you're in yourbase, you feel the good, you
feel the bad. So being moreconsistent that way, you know, you
can't make moves or shift guys ifthey're not mentally there. And so for
him, he's got a pretty goodfootball FQ. So he's continued, he's
growing every day, he's working andhe's getting beat every day too, and
he's learning from those you know,so in the springtime, you know,
we have saying in our room,we're like in the spring it's yes and

(20:27):
it's no, and I know it'sk and ow, why didn't the rep
work what happened and how do Imake sure I don't repeat the same mistake.
And so whether he's coming in andwatching the tape on his own and
then come up with questions, he'sgrabbing me and watching tape with me,
or we're coming doing stuff as aunit. He's learning so that the same
deal of the game can slow downand he gets more comfortable there in friction.
So I mean he's his weights up, his strengths up. He's spending

(20:48):
off season with Mick. You know, there's a lot of development that still
has to be had. Obviously nota finished product, but being able mentally
for a guy to handle that,you know, helps a lot concern Similar
to Luke a leaner guy. Didyou tell him that he paid you to

(21:14):
say that that might be the firsttime you ever heard that in his life.
No, uh, now, youknow, like Luke Carson, whoever
it may be that that jump ofeighteen to nineteen and nineteen to twenty year
old kid that plays a lot intoit too. Being in a full year

(21:36):
with Mick, I mean, allthose guys you come in at midyear,
like your Devo and Dion and IanMoore. Right now, you're keeping your
head above water. That's your wholefirst year. Now you can actually get
and we can sit. So whenyou sit and talk about a jam,
combo or a lock or whatever thecall may be to Luke, he registers
that and not like something new becausethen there's paralysis by analysis. So I

(21:59):
think the mental part, on topof another year natural maturity of getting bigger
and stronger, that's always gonna help. You're not gonna guys here, They're
not gonna regress. It's gonna keepadding progress and how fast can we get
that going. It's what we're workingon every day with him. But said
that he would had been all guardto this point, and coach Days mentioned
it several times that like, Joshcould play guard too, and you guys
are trying to work through that fire. He's I mean Josh could play all

(22:22):
five. I mean he snapped theball in high school. You know,
Josh has had a great offseason.But for you, when you're going through
a spring and it's fact finding anexperimentation, how much do you want to
put them in different spots or not? Because you also have an eye on
August to try and settle on afive man rotation. What's the balance that
you have to get a really goodgradable set so that everybody has numbers of

(22:47):
you know, just like we saidbefore, how many times have we done
a run blocking or pass blocking inthis situation, so that that all evens
out. So that's it's not experimentation. It's just making sure that you get
a good book of work to lookat and grade that. So as we
you know, work guys around theplatoons and go just to make sure that
everybody gets good gradable reps. Sowe can sit back by the end of

(23:07):
spring and say, all right,this is you're comparing apples to apples and
oranges oranges and not you know,apples oranges, because it's completely different that
way. So that's kind of thethought behind that as you're going through the
spring. Got a couple of yearsago and here his office, and what
would you say? That laughed,you know, but then I said,
you know, it's college football,so who knows, right, what's like?

(23:33):
Yeah, I mean he just addedto another piece of just good people
here. I mean, you're stillyou're coming to work here with guys every
day, you know, with thekids, we talk about a ton.
But then for us as coaches,the staff so adding just another good dude
that's in the room. Obviously,as he says something, and you know,
he might speak in old terms orterms that we had, you know,

(23:55):
maybe be a little bit of arosette stone, like no, no,
this is this. He's like,yeah, that's right, because that's
that happens to all coaches. Happenedto me when we got here. First.
I was at with the coach daysometime with Ryan's like, you know,
what do we call this? Becausehe was in a system like that
before. He said, oh,this is this now? So I think
just the you know, uh translationof the rosettes stone there help. But
just overall standpoint of adding a greatguy, that's a great coach that's been

(24:15):
around. That's he's going to supplementthe room. And every time you add
something new to the room, thenthat makes the room better, it makes
you individually better. Oh look howhe does that. Maybe I could do
that. Maybe I can bring thatto my meeting room. Maybe I can
bring that to communication to the staffor to the kids or whatever it is.
Because he's he's done it for along time, and he's done at
a high level for a long time. So it's good to add that guy

(24:37):
to us and then continues us therest of the staff for me and Brian
and Key and and and everybody justlearning and growing with that kind of specifically
just does from a coalent standpoint isdoes he see things sometimes others don't see?
I mean, does he? Imean you know what does he kind
of brings from the chalkboard aspect ofthings? Well, I mean, but

(25:00):
you're saying, so what does hesee? It's good to have fresh eyes
come in that. Maybe you knowyou're getting a routine and you get in
a rhythm and then all of asudden running game for football. You know,
he's one of those guys I thinkgoes into the category it's forgotten a
lot of more football than some peoplehave learned in their life. But no,
his I believe he coached every positionon the field, both sides of

(25:22):
balter his whole career. So ashe looks up and he writes when he's
talking about, well, this willlinebacker is going to do that, then
he might have coached that at Columbia, right, or this is what the
three texts going to read on thedown block of a tackle. Because he's
coached the offensive line and he's beenthe coordinator for a long time, so
just a really good vision of bigpicture understanding and you know, the next
step and not just being right now. Yeah, I had or whatever this

(25:48):
spring because this seems kind of likea how to make it a breaking time
for him, time to step upthis amazing opportunity. I'm glad to be
here with Marvin Harrison right next tome. So uh great. I'm really
excited and I'm excited for this journey. See fifteen here in town. Marvin,

(26:22):
when did you know the Cardinals weregoing to select you? Did you
know before they called or was therean agreement in place before? No,
I did not know until I gotthe phone call from the Arizona Cardinals.
Marvin Richard signs foxtend, welcome tothe valley. I know kind of tweeted
to you, tweeted out to youonce you got drafted. What was it

(26:44):
like to get a message from thefranchise quarterback and what kind of thoughts have
you had about teaming up with thisguy in the near future. Yeah,
yes, sir, it's been great. He always want to support and love
from your quarterback and to cause agreat player. Super excited to play with
him, and it's gonna be myjob to make his job easier. Darius
Darren Urban from Azycardinals dot Com.I know that a lot of players these

(27:07):
days aren't sticking in one school,uh for a long time. And you
did it for five years. Imean even Marvin did it for three Like
what what went behind that? Andwhy was it meaningful for you to stand
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

(27:27):
better each year and also as ateam, you know, win more games
each year. And that was myThat was my home, I was my
family. I was blessed to youknow, get two degrees as well off
the field, and I just loveMISSOI two degrees. Wow. Marvin Mbob
McMahon and Arizona Republic, congratulations.Thank you to both of you. You're

(27:51):
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 or a daily preparation, there'sa lot that goes into being all business.
Tell me what that is? Toyou. Yeah, I mean that's
just being a proskined and raised andgrew up to do and keep the same
mindset, same attitude that I've hadthroughout my whole career. Once I get

(28:15):
here, continue to work hard,be consistent and discipline, you know,
and all that I do. SoI'm looking forward to put in the work.
Hey Marvin Josh Wayne for ESPN,what were the best pieces of advice
your dad gave you about being anNFL player? I mean, yeah,
it takes a lot of work,a lot of preparation. You know,
from Monday to Saturday, it's allwork. And then Sunday should be the

(28:37):
easy part. I go out thereand have fun, ready to put the
work in. Som Gonna starts withthe work first, and then when Sunday
comes its Rieka benefits. Hey DariusHoward, balls are from cards wire.
I can't help but notice that ringon your finger. Is that a cotton
bowl ring? Yes, it isthe cotton You showed it to Marrovin very

(28:57):
quickly. No, that is Iwas telling Marva. You know, he
was glad he didn't play the wholeweek leading up. You know, you
see Ohio State. Everybody said,Okay, Marvin Harrison and now he's gonna
players to go play. He didn'tplay, so you know we lucked out.
So hey, Marvin Paul KELVC CardinalsBroadcasting, do you believe that receivers

(29:19):
have to earn the trust of theirquarterback? And if so, what does
that usually require? Absolutely, yougot to earn the trust of the quarterback.
And I think it starts, youknow, every day in practice and
being consistent. Really and you can'tjust do it one day, can't you
do it for one week? Hasto be you know, done over and
over and over again. I thinkthat's how trust has earned. So no
matter where you get picked, whenyou're first receiver, it's round seven,

(29:41):
doesn't really matter, have to goand earn trust for the quarterback, your
coaches, your teammates. So itall starts in practice. What's going on,
guys, Good to see again,Tyler Drake, there's no sports systems
for Darius. What's the feeling ofjust being able to represent your school as
that first round pick and what kindof impact can that have for those guys
falling in your footsteps? Yeah,it's awesome. I feel like I'm setting

(30:03):
the standard going forward. Best thename of Zoo is known as Delon Zoo,
So I'm just added to the family. But now I feel like I'm
setting the standard for my younger teammatesthat this is attainable if you work really
hard, be consistent, and reallyget trust your Strimp coach. I feel
like every program is built out theStremp coach and that develops all the habits
on and off the field. Dariuszach ERSHMANEZI Cardinals dot Com. Right over

(30:26):
here, JG mentioned that he lovesthe violence that you played with. You
mentioned the different tendencies that you pickedup. The emotional consistency is the great.
How do you balance that the violencewith discipline on the field. Honestly,
just through preparation and practice. I'ma big guy. I'm a big
believer in inside hands, so that'swhy I'm always working my hand placement and
then I lift weight, so youknow that's all connected. So I'm just

(30:48):
trying to be focused on my techniqueas much as possible. Hey, Marvin
over here, David Brown with theAssociated Press. You know a lot of
rookies coming to the league and theyget a little bit of leeway. It's
like, oh, he's young,he needs to grow and stuff like that.
But obviously you're gonna be expected tobe the guy here really quickly.
How do you deal with that pressure? How do you go about just so

(31:11):
much being expected of you so quickly? I mean, yeah, I have
high standards for myself, but I'mjust gonna go in there and try to
work, you know, the bestI can. I just want to help
the team win really, so withoutthat role I play, you know,
come September, let me just domy best, you know, do that
role. This one's for both ofyou, guys. The fans want to
know who you guys are on theinside. I don't know how much you're

(31:33):
willing to reveal to us today.A lot would be nice. Could you
tell us what you like to doaway from football? What what pisses you
off about things, and you know, what what makes you roll. I'm
pretty simple. I like, youknow, be in my apartment, watch
the movie. If I go outand I go to a restaurant, get

(31:56):
some food. But other than that, I may do too much. And
then I'm pretty easygoing. Guys,try to nothing bother me too much.
Yeah, I'd say the same thing. A real chill guy, just really
obsessed with football, But outside offootball, Like I said, I got
my two degrees. I got myundergrad hospitality management and the minor and business
I got my masters and Positive Culturewith mcs FLA leadership. So just thinking

(32:19):
about being well rounded. And thenI do philanthropy work. I started my
own nonprofit foundation, Darius Robinson HelpingHands Foundation. But really just football and
then everything else. Honestly, congratulations, guys, Welcome to the valley.
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

(32:40):
preparing for a game. Just kindof wondering where your love for kind of
the grind comes from and your lovefor that process comes from. I would
say my junior year because I playedlittle league ball off and on. But
I got my junior year and Iwas playing high school and my whole goal
is just to earn a scholarship.But during that process, I really fell
in love with the game, fellin love with working out relationships with teammates,

(33:00):
and now it's kind of like myvice and I can't let it go
and just kind of finding ways toalways get better, you know. Luke
Linting 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
be drafted by this organization, Andhow surreal is it for you to be

(33:22):
following on your own father's footsteps butin your own way. Yeah, I
mean it was very brief actually justin a second graduation. He's like my
best friend. But on the otherhand, I get to see him,
you know, continue take steps inhis career. He's still very young,
so he has a lot of goodfootball ahead of him. Literally your early

(33:42):
sense of King Barry his offense andhow things might be different for the offense.
And yeah, yeah, we haven'thonestly even started install yet, so
I haven't even got a lay ofthe land quite yet. I'll probably take
a look at just got our iPadswithin 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

(34:04):
job of trying to get his playmakersinvolved, which I think we have a
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 too. This is

(34:30):
what your offense? Yeah, yeah, it's definitely, you know, an
adjustment obviously when you're learning a newoffense. And it's kind of the same
mentality I take into last year inyears past, where you kind of just
want to take a day one approach, kind of erase what you've learned in

(34:52):
the past. But at the endof the day, I think, uh,
you know, schemes in the NFLare relatively similar. Is just the
name in the formations that may bea little different. So just getting used
to the terminology and Cliff's offense isjust going to be something that's adjustment for
all of us. But the goodthing about it is I got some good
time on my hands to really putsome work in studying when I leave this

(35:13):
place, so I could come inhere when we have walkthroughs and when we
start to put our helmets on,we can really hit the ground running.
So so far it's we haven't learnedanything yet. But my approach is the
saying, try to take good notesin there, ask good questions, and
then study on my own at night. I know you like, yeah,

(35:38):
yeah, I think I got somereally good work down in Florida. Is
just working on my footwork, justbeing better at the top of my routes,
sharper on my speed cuts, digroutes, out routes, and just
being cleaner with my footwork at thetop of the routes. I think,
you know, with a little bitof zone covers that we've seen in the
past, with some teams kind ofrunning more too high, you know you're

(36:00):
gonna get a little bit more ofcatch technique where guys are kind of sitting
at the top of your route.So I want to be better at being
efficient to gett out of those routeswhen a guy's kind of sitting at my
depth, whether it's a fifteen yardcomeback or a twelve yard curl route,
you know, being able to getout efficiently so I can keep creating keep
the separation within my route. Soobviously I'm always still working on my ball

(36:22):
skills and making sure I'm just catchinga lot of footballs in the off season,
but just really being better at thetop of the routes and you know,
sharper out of my cuts is somethingthat I think I can improve on.
Good to see you too. Youknow, you're obviously one of the
leaders of this team and team captain, and with so many new faces,

(36:43):
new players locker room, what isthe challenge you're going to have and the
other leaders in that locker room blendeverything together because there's so many new and
different personalities. Now, yeah,I think I think that's really started with
coach Quinn in the way he's reallyintegrated everybody over the first two days.
I think we haven't even got intox's and oo's quite yet. We've just
really beginning to know one another,getting out there with Chad and the strength

(37:06):
coaches and getting some good workouts injust kind of creating a foster in an
environment where everybody's the same and continuingto have a competitive environment. I think
that brings out the best in oneanother. And obviously, you know,
you have guys like Zach Ertz who'splayed a lot of football and won a
championship Marcus Marriota, obviously Bobby Wagner, who's a future Hall of Famer.

(37:27):
So you got some guys who havebeen brought in here who know what it's
supposed to look like at this level. And for myself, I just want
to continue to add my value andbe even more vocal this year than I
have in the past, especially withpossibly a new quarterback coming in. I
think that can really help our offense. Have you know, some more unity
with the guys who know what itlooks like, helping bringing those guys,

(37:47):
the younger guys along. I don'tknow, if you had a chance to
watch conference, he didn't want touse the word rebuild. Yeah, going
on with this branch right staff,all the players is theying. Honestly,

(38:10):
I just think of it as aas a new year. Just talking to
Sam Cosmy, Uh, we've beenhere for a few years, so it's
a lot of new faces. Ithink, you know, this is probably
the most I would say turnover we'vehad in the last few years. So
there's guys coming from all different areas, walks of life, and but I
think the one thing is the same. They're all coming in looking for an

(38:30):
opportunity to compete, take another stepin their careers, and UH prove that
they're one of the best players atthe position. And I think Coach Quinn
has emphasized that we're gonna have theopportunity to prove ourselves. Whether you're a
ten year vet or a second yearplayer. You know, this is a
clean slate for everybody. So Ithink it's just about getting on the same
page, enjoying coming in here andworking together, and also just pushing each

(38:55):
other in these workouts, and thenwhen we start getting on the field,
UH, really get that competition going. Try to simulate as we go along
in this off season process of howthe games are going to be. Hey,
how are you doing? Good tosee too, and yeah, I

(39:24):
think Coach Quinn has really assemble assembleda very unique group of coaches. There's
multiple head coaches, there's multiple quarterUH coordinators have come from different places,
and so you have guys who havea lot of football experience, some have
played, some have coached in biggames. And then you bring in,

(39:45):
you know, the the talent thatwe have defensively and offensively. And I
just think you can feel the unityand the sameness in in the message that
he's trying to preach to our team, and it's we're going to be tough
and we're going to be competitive,but we're also going to have fun.
And he like I think he saidin Your Guys' Interview, he said he
likes to do, you know,hardship with good people. So I think

(40:07):
that's fun. You know, aguy like me likes to put my nose
down and grind and work. SoI know him and I are going to
continue to hit it off. Andyou know it's just my job to help
bring other guys along with me.Thank you more. What does it look
like to take your next step asa vocal leader? Yeah, you're thinking

(40:30):
what does that mean to you?I think for me, I've grown a
lot in my vocal leadership. Ithink I try to always find the balance
of when to say something, whennot to say something. I think I
never want I've always wanted to bea person when I say something that means
something like you don't want to beYou're giving all the motivational speeches, but
you're not backing up with your play, or you're you're talking so much you

(40:52):
kind of your message gets drowned out, and so it's kind of continued to
find that balance of when to saythings and when to kind of just take
a step back. But I thinkI've I've gotten a really good feel of
how to do that. I thinkobviously with a new coaching staff, you
just try to understand what they howthey want things done, and you try
to, you know, bring whatyou do well into that, and you

(41:12):
also try to encourage the guys whohaven't taken those steps in their career to
do that as well. So Ithink for me, it's just really starting
in my position group, I thinkwe have, uh 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

(41:37):
season. What is I guess?Yeah, Yeah, I hit it really
hard this offseason, so I haveto just in case something that's happened to

(41:57):
like you know, I mean likeCohen or or you know, Pete words.
But I'm always gonna be ready fora life no matter what. How
quickly have you felt like you pickedup this new system that you're working in
after oh it's ah, we actuallypicked up, picked up pretty well cause
it's the same system that I'm usedto back in the hot see, cause
we're more like spread back at howI say, So you know, it's
pretty good one of these, likethe draft process off seasons. A lot

(42:22):
of people outside the buildings, arethe readers get the right tack? Yeah,
a lot of yeah, alright now, But a lot of people in
the building were like, we havethe right time. All the people get
motivated by that. You follow itlike a de pet that you're doing it,
though I don't. I read intoit a little bit. But also
at the same time, like theynot here, no words, but I
don't really care what they say.I know what I can do, and

(42:42):
the team know I what I cando, so they trusted me right now,
and I'm not gonna live in rightnow. How hard or how easy
is that to compartmentalize that and usethat as fuels going forward rather than to
kind of marita it, uh IJ I just keep receipts and everybody knows
that one person I don't really carefor'em at all. So it's all
good. But it's all love.I love uh outside of this, But

(43:04):
you keep doing it, keep gettingbetter. Keep on these nights, see
what I can do there. You'vebeen a outspoken about your supporter of Zami,
and obviously it's just his chance nowto be the dog. Wait,
what is it about him that youbought in so early? The reason why
I bought so earliest cause us Iwas at a house they they always taught
us to actually, I go gettingand that's since I got here. I'm'a

(43:25):
always wanna go get it, andI gotta picked late, and I always
wanna prove keep me wrong. Youknow, I think people wrong all my
life. I wanna keep doing that. That's all doing which I guess more
just like we all put it,like the set, you feel like a
community year nine day difference, nineday difference from my first year, in
my second year to now like now, my guy, I know I can

(43:49):
play. I know I can goagainst some one of the best, especially
with Knights, anybody else that webe going to play this year, and
I know what I can do.So all gotta do now is as you
meet my potential and shot would helpeverybody else out on the team as well.
You've practiced a lot against Malcolm andhe's really come into his own what
is it about Malcolm that's helped himmake that next step? There? Man,
Malcolm, he's quiet, he doesn'treally say too much. He can

(44:13):
comes to the work every day,really does, and he works hard.
He doesn't blit twice at anything.Yeah, he'll get mad over a couple
of rest bols at the same timethat like he has a mentality of at
all, Like he's he don't reallycare what y'all think or anybody else thinks
for real. So it's just like, all right, let's keep going.
That's how everybody is on the team. How about tyraises the Achilles was I

(44:36):
would say it's easy, you know, just because that's just my mentality,
and it was it was pretty easyto me. But you know, I've
had these injuries and it's been stormedlike the past two years, you know,
having have like good, great games, the next thing, you know,
hurt and then you know, sogot got the injury prone out there,
you know. But I think thestorm is over with, you know,

(45:00):
you know, and I think I'mI'm gonna gonna take off now,
you know, and there will beno setbacks and the injury prone thing will
be gone out of the window again. Yep, I'm sorry, You're gonna
be back. I am. Iam excited. You know. He does
a lot of great things, andhe's a great person, and we have

(45:22):
a great relationship. It's gonna beit's gonna be a fun year. We're
gonna have a lot of fun.We're gonna do a lot of great things.
So I can't wait to here waiting. The injuries you've had, is
that just bad luck? Is everyIs there anything you can attribute to beyond
just misfortunate? Yeah, it's justunfortunate, you know. But God has
a plan always. You know,I don't know what the plan exactly is,

(45:45):
you know, I don't know,but whatever plan it is, it's
for me to be here. Youknow, I had a great rookie year.
Uh I didn't. I didn't reallyhave the volume as other people with
my rookie year, but I stillhad a great rookie year. Six yards
of carry, you know, thingslike that. I think it was like
nine touchdowns ten including the playoffs.And so there's always been like, all

(46:09):
right, guy, let me showmy talent shine a little bit, like
even when I had the knee.So I had the knee, right,
A lot of people don't know,like I didn't get hurt again. Whenever
I got you know, got cleanedup. So I went down in twenty
one right, had the injury,the knee injury, and then came back
later the next year, and Iplayed the first few games and it just

(46:30):
feel there was a lot of scarsissue in there. So I did get
it cleaned up. I didn't gethurt again. I could have played the
whole year, but I got itcleaned up, so I can feel like
me. And so after I gotthat cleaned up, the first two games
back from the injury, I hadover one hundred and twenty yards rushing right,
and then went on had great,great ending of the year, you

(46:51):
know, one hundred total yards inthe playoff game we lost, which I
hate the most stats. Don't marryme. I don't want to win.
But then come back the next yearhurt again like torn achilles. So two
really unfortunate injuries. But that's justGod's plan, you know. And I
think that the storm is now over, you know, And I do think
that I'll be able to shine mylight to the whole world. Are you

(47:13):
concerned that you have that label?You can't stay and see I could care
less because I do. I do. I know this out there because as
as it should be, it shouldbe. I got hurt two major injuries
back or not back to back years. But you know, so I haven't
been on the field as much asI should. That's true, that is
true. But it's not like I'mhaving these little little dinky injuries and sitting

(47:38):
out. It's something I can't control, literally, So that's why I'm not
bothered by Like, yeah, Iam injury pollem you could say that,
you know, but I do thinkthat the Chargers are getting a guy that's
gonna be healthy from now on.You know, God will it, and
it's gonna be great, and Ido think that it's gonna be It's gonna
be a great. However, manyyears here, when you've been on the

(48:01):
field, you've been highly adopted.Yeah, five point yards for very average
for your career. Like knowing thatwhen you're out there you're very adopted,
how much confidence does that give you? That really all you needs is not
what you need all the confidence inthe world. You know, the way
I work, I wouldn't say justfrom the numbers, but just the way
I work, my work ethic,you know, and my relationship with Jesus

(48:23):
is like I have the most confidencewhen I step out there because I do
know, like if he grants methe health, it's overwight is. I
don't think I would be you know, I think it will be a great
year or whatever, a couple ofyears. However many years he grants me
great health, you know. AndI think just the work ethic, my

(48:44):
prayer and all that stuff, that'swhat helped me have that confidence with the
numbers will be there and they mightbe higher after this year, you know
what I'm saying. And it's crazyto think about because I had six or
six yards per carry, you know. So we'll see you're looking forward to
running behind this line put together?Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I
played with Bradley, I played withhim, you know, I know the

(49:07):
Slater, I know all the Iknow all the guys you know, and
I'm I'm excited. I think it'slike I said earlier, it's a talented
group. You know, we justgot to put together win some games.
Cause that's what I came here for. That's it all part of you,
or I wouldn't I wouldn't say partof the recruitming. But like whenever I
decided I was gonna sign. Itwas great to have him in the room.
What's your relationship? Yeah, we'regreat. We're we have a great

(49:30):
relationship. That's he's like my brother. So I think accompany ch compliment each
other very well. You know,he can do a lot of stuff too.
You know, we got a lotof people think he's just power,
power, power, but I thinkhe has some other parts of his game
two which it it'll be great causeI feel like I could do everything and
when one get tired, we canroll it in. We keep rolling win

(49:52):
some games. So when you thetwo of you get going, well,
how do you think that's gonna lookfor? What? Like? What will
be that partnership kind of back there? I know that's a hard question.
How do I think I think it'lllook beautiful? You know a lot of
people call this a passing league,but I think you gotta run the ball

(50:14):
to win the super Bowl. Youknow, if you look at the teams
who win the Super Bowl, theycan run the ball, they can control
the clock, and so if we'reboth good, it'll look great, beautiful.
How would you describe the Gregor runningoffense? I would I would describe
it as you know a great offense. I think he gives a quarter he's

(50:34):
going to give the quarterback a lotof options. He's gonna get the running
back a lot of options. He'sgonna give the receiver a lot of options,
you know. And I think it'llbe I think it's gonna be great.
His offense is going to be amazing. When we talked to him a
minute, you know, I waslike, why have you been? You
will build something good rushing offenses throughoutyour career everywhere you've been, and you
said that one part of it isjust you gotta call place. You got

(50:57):
a call run place as a runningback. You know how much confidence,
how much does it get you?You know, you have to play caller
that's gonna stick with it and allowyou and the offensive to get yours.
Gives me a lot of excitement.You know. It's gonna be Like I
said, it's fun to play athis offense, you know. And I
think he does have some good thingsin the past game too, But like

(51:17):
you said, he sticks with therun, 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, and
so I think his offense has that, and the guys he builds and puts
in there, it complements that identity. So I think it's gonna be great.

(51:38):
You mentioned your one hundred percent now, so you'll be full go for
traying him. That'ssation. Look,I ain't gonna answer any of the four
if it's up to me. Yes, Look, because I had this problem
like three two years three years ago, I'm thinking I'm full go. I
think I'm ready to go, andthe next thing, you know, I'm
on pup like, hey, looksome story above my pay grade. So

(52:00):
but I don't know. Hopefully Ican start. I think I'm ready to
start, you know, at thebeginning of training camp. But that's not
up to me. As I've learned, you know what I mean. So
that's my guy. As much asyou love on the West Side. How
bittersweet? Is it a certain mattersbecause what happened to him, Yeah,
that's the thing. That's not howIt's definitely how I and how I thought

(52:23):
about the transition will go. Youknow, I thought it would be a
homesoon timing and the cardinal his wholecareer. You know, you know,
you want to play here forever,you know what I mean when I was
talking about his plans, so youknow, you you wis transitions like one
of those fairy tale like it's yourtime. But but again, either way,

(52:50):
you know, we talked about it. You know, that's that's the
how it goes, you know.But obviously you know he's sees he's he's
been one of my biggest supporters.Again, I affect everybody leads in their
own way, you know, noteverybody's. The guys come around like and
that's not everybody, right, LikeI felt for me, that's me specifically

(53:12):
on game day spent with the Oline after we do one on one like
that's my Like, well, Humpdid, like that's my like big vocal
time. I feel like I've talkedto Hump about this, you know,
just recently talking about how what Iwanna do for the room was I wanna
bring that Hump energy that he broughtright so last year. Of course some

(53:37):
traits been doing it for years,but the year when I spent with him,
he brought a lot of the energyand the excitement and the happiness in
the room was just his natural energyto where I only had to focus on
me, you know, I didn'thave to make sure other other guys are
you know, feel some type ofway when it came in here because Hump

(53:58):
brought that. But out of Hump'snot here. But if I saw what
he did for the room, Iwant to be that guy to make sure
everyone's amp to go to practice,everybody's hype. Weren't taking the field team
one period. You know it's alow day or something. You know,
it's a it's a day, butlike I want to make you feel like
like your parents a tripper right now. I want to bring that because that's

(54:19):
what we and Home did with eachother. We will hpe each other up,
dudes like dudes about to be walked. We're lit. So I want
to do that. I want tobring that energy. I want to make
bring more guys, you know,to do that. You know, I
wanted to do that from day one, you know, I kind of I
wanted to do that from day one, from just talking to him, and
obviously it's that time. I spendthe off season before OTA started just being

(54:45):
in myself, just thinking about whatthe room needs, you know, because
I know I knew a new roleas one of the leaders, you know
on my offense is that we needa guy like that that's gonna make sure
the old line is picked up readyto go. Every day I was held
accountable little things that happened to practice. People aren't saying anything. And how

(55:07):
I may lead maybe different than somebodyelse may lead. You know. I
like to a practice at least likethe lead with positivity, you know what
I mean. So, but hethe energy gut went beyond just the hype
up the deal one and stuff too. So that's kind of how I wanna
be s goal mine literally my wholelife. I wanna be a NFL team

(55:29):
captain, like specifically the NFL.I wasn't a captain of high school.
I wasn't a captain of college.But I made a joke when I was
in high school. It's like there, I feel like I'm not gonna be
a captain til I get to theNFL. Yeah, but that would be
awesome, you know, but youknow, if it happens, i'd be
great. But not either way.I wanna assume a role as a captain

(55:52):
from the respect of the guys onthe team. They would did a word
to me and to get back tothat way. Yeah, I mean,
I can't say that. I mean, I guess the biggest thing is that
I felt like it has felt likehow it used to in the past.
But it didn't take just the firstday OTAs. It took training left and

(56:14):
right once the season ended, becauseI didn't know what it was gonna be
sure, So it took a lotof reps just to get back to feeling
like myself for day one OTAs andthen that whole first week. But now
like today, specifically just changing somesmall things with my feet I did today
talking about a line coach about somethings I can do with my feet to

(56:36):
get to that to sell at thattraditional angle that I love to set on.
Felt even I thought I felt,I thought I felt great already,
but my okay, I felt evenbetter of it. So I'm even more
excited tomorrow. Now I'm getting myfeedback and how I liked it the right
side and on the left side,so I'm excited. I mean, obviously,
I feel like in the league,whether I left or right, you're

(56:58):
still going against premier guys, soobviously you have high expectations for your left
and your right tackle. But there'sdefinitely uh like the the level of energy
and like the expectations definitely take andthe human spect cause now conned the blank
side that stuff that's de tackle role, you know. So so yeah,

(57:19):
I would say in terms of communicationas far as just even outside of facility
and just stuff like that, likereally creating that but tackle quarterback bond even
more off the field, I thinkhas been something that's even been cool.
I got a text one day it'sa hey, like, you play left,
and I was like, yeah,you know, yeah, I I've
been training both. I've been trainingboth. You know, I I aks

(57:42):
after the season, they're like,honestly, you know, we'll talk to
you some play in the season.And I just got a texting like depending
on what happens with with the freeagency then. So I was like,
you know what, I had awhole season right tackle. So if I
get the word, I'm going,I'm standing right tackling detail. The way
he comes you know, in eachand every day. He comes in the

(58:02):
same guy every day and uh tobe on CIBE and you know, I
don't think I've had to coach thatdetailed, but as Tom, you know,
he's very detailed in terms of youknow, practice ref you sending us,
uh the info, breaking down eachand every play and really just really
just focused on the detail. Tobe honest with you, I think,
uh, that's the thing that setshim apart. And you know, he's

(58:25):
he pushed us to be hard.I mean our our indie periods or you
know conditions. So of course that'sgood for us. But I mean he's
been great so far. So excitedto uh, you know, allow that
our allow our relationship to grow,and excited to work with him. And
it's what he's doing kind of complimentwhat you're doing individually, you know,
when you're away from the facility,working with you know, coaches one on

(58:45):
one or anything like that. Wesaid, what does he what does he
do here that kind of compliments whatyou do away from the facility when you're
troubling. I mean, I thinkhe does different stuff, So I think,
uh, that's a good thing aboutit. You know some stuff that
we do here. Oh sorry,uh, I don't you know usually do
outside of the facility. So it'sgood getting that different work in, different

(59:07):
drill work that I can you know, implement into my you know, off
season program and stuff like that.So it's good that I'm learning this stuff
for sure, you'd really good deepall of efficiency versus any times that especially
the last year. What what whatwhat is uh Art Smith in the offense
talk about you about trying to makemake that incorporate that into us to being
a big part of this all offense. I mean yeah, uh, I

(59:27):
think we have fast guys, guysthat 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 all
success and a lot of explosive playsin the past. So you know that's
just uh, you know what.I guess how our offense is built to
be honest with you, but Imean our job is to create explosives and
you know, push the ball downthe field. So anytime we get those

(59:50):
opts, we definitely wanna capitalize onthose. Are your arresting any part of
your mechanics and any money flu that? I mean yeah, uh, I
think there's always room to improve,uh mechanic wise and stuff like that.
So I think you know Matt Baker, uh he's a or a quarterback assistant.
He you know, usually stays onme the most about it. So
I appreciate the fact that he doesthat, and I usually, you know,
make sure he doesn't make sure.I just just stay on top of

(01:00:14):
it, you know as a whole, and you know, make sure my
mechanics are always clean. Can youtalk about one particular element that they're stressing.
It's it's different areas, to behonest, I don't think it's just
one specific area, but it's it'sdifferent areas, justin in your opinion.
Was there something that you wanted towork on, maybe get better at when
you got here at this point ofyour career. I mean, like,
like I said, there's you know, no matter who you are, you

(01:00:35):
know, there's always stuff to getbetter at, always different areas. Nobody's
perfect in one area, so Ithink you can continue to prove in all
aired in my game, you knowme personally, so I'm just focused on
getting better. When did we talkedto Russ yesterday? He said that rusted
that he personally felt kind of revived. Do you mean at another stop in
his career, is there any ofthat sense of maybe rejuvenation or feeling revival.

(01:00:55):
Those of cookies out like it's funnyright behind. How are you going
about the assessment of the talent inthe room over the past week or two.
How much is that on field offfield? Like, what's the process
of getting to know who you haveas players? Well, I broke down
well me being a guy that lovesthe running back position, and I already

(01:01:19):
broke those kids down because I recruithim out of high school. You know,
Q is from where I'm from inMontgomery. I was one of the
first guys to offer him just watchinghim, great contact, balance, creative
runner, great hands and trey.I recruited him out of Virginia exceptional short
air, your bursts and quickness andthings that I'm gonna help him get better
on. And then I recruited JamesPeeples out of out of San Antonio,

(01:01:43):
Texas. I knew what he wasgonna what he was gonna be TC and
Sam. Those two kids I'm gettingto know and I'm gonna help them improve
that game. But we got differentrunners in there. I like to call
myself, I'm in love with thisposition, so I get to break down
runners to help their game. Sotalented, talented room, very talented.

(01:02:04):
Uh far back uh. Jeremy BirminghamPodcast, How do you swear the fact
that southbast cookies are actually the bestcookies to Philip brittin Nicks and one,
those are way better than the countrychips are ways of ternent. I mean,
do you do you have to firstfind a balance there or someone.
Well, for me, I'm actuallynot eating any cookies. Nah, I'm

(01:02:25):
just saying I'm not eating any cookiesthis year. I gave it up for
a fast or no sweets for mefor the whole year. That something I
gave up. So they the termthe south bast cookie term. Look,
guys, I actually took that fromI represent the high school coaches of Meths,
Tennessee. I actually took that froma guy named coach Slocum. He

(01:02:45):
used to always say that soft bastcookie. Actually stole that from him.
I give him credit for it,and I tell him all the time he
said, you I should have brandedthat, cause you done took it and
ran away with it. But that'sjust where that comes from. So that
that now, I was. Thenas you get to a high stadium,
you start to look around the country. Every organ's a big place, that's
a that's a major job with Howhow do you think that very your opposite

(01:03:08):
logo are the jack run the blocko. When you get out out of the
living pree and trail, how doesthat change the way that you feel you're
either received or or does it adda different level to to just feeling like
I can go anywhere and get anybodyin. And that's the changest thing for
me. This is a great place. Oregon is a great place too.

(01:03:29):
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
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

(01:03:50):
same thing. So this is agreat logo. Great logo by well another
logo every day it's across I seearound my neck. I know what I
represent. So that's the greatest logoI could ever where. So it doesn't
matter what other logo I have on. I got that one on. I'm
going to any house and be arecruit. Uh uh deep right camera Ti
Robinson. The athletic from which youyou mentioned the time in Memphis and themis

(01:04:14):
four NFL running backs. You mentionedthere who you learned from that time that
you that you can take over tomanaging to grow up? And kids?
What did I learn from them?I just building a just teaching the kids.
We live in such a selfish worldthough, and I can tell the
kids all the times, it's gottabe much more the football. The ball
gonna go flat one day. AsI always say, what being in that

(01:04:36):
room there at Memphis is it wasn'tfour five? Teaching them how to be
a b by being one? Itell you them in all time, it
doesn't cost you anything to celebrate anotherman's success. So teaching them how to
be one, and then once theylearned to be one, they function in
they feed off one another. Sothat's what I learned from being there in
Memphis. Ront Andy Bach from let'em in the road across out of your

(01:05:00):
career in law enforcement kind of influenceyou as a coach and kind of shape
where you are. Oh well,I just got through talking to somebody about
that today. When I first gotin this profession and I got my own
room at Western Tech, I wasasked, No, how was I was
gonna be able to handle my room? I said, Man, I had

(01:05:23):
a part with fifty one inmates.You talking about me having got six or
seven guys? Are you kidding me? I'm talking about me having to do
traffic stops. So going on domesticyou know, vioence calls, it's simple
easy. No, people don't knowwhat you care. Also know, you
gotta have a certain demeaning about yourself. So when I walk into a room,
it's the reason why I go trainevery morning. This is when it's

(01:05:45):
the same thing when I was apolice officer. You look a certain way
kind of deter people from doing certainthings. So the reason why I go
train every morning, I'm gonna lookjust as good as my boys look.
So U it helped out a lot. In other words, Austin wore the
podcast, Uh, Carls, Welcometo Columbus. What would it mean to
I don't know, revolutionize the wayrunning backs are coach? What does that

(01:06:09):
take? I ain't even I'm notgonna say Revolutioniz's just some good It's some
good running back coaches out here.Everybody's different. It's some great coaches out
here. I just want the headguys who say that on these jobs to
not just hire guys as you know, all coaches on your staff should be
great recruiters, not just a runningback coach. We coach a position,

(01:06:31):
We developed players as well. Ijust want the coaches to realize, Hey,
you know what, let me lookand be thorough about this guy that
I'm hiring for this job. Ishe teaching the position? Is he development
the position? Because you're not gonnahire anybody just coach quarterbacks, are you.
Well? It shouldn't be like thatfor the running back position either.
And I'm only passionate about it causeI played it. I love it,
so it's the only position I wantto coach. Could I coach the other

(01:06:53):
positions? Yeah? I played dBin college too, but I love the
running back position so and I justwanted to see it coach well. Podcasts,
Yeah, a million questions. Iasked a couple of Number one,
when you when you when your wifewhatever? You got the message stuff.
Are we moving again? What wasWhat was her reaction? No, she's
just new guy that give us,gave us a new assignment. It was

(01:07:15):
never like we're moving again. Letme tell you guys something I grew up.
My mom was in the military,so I lived everywhere, lived in
Panama, South America. I'm usedto picking up and moving. I lived
in Fort Riley kannsas Montgomery's home ifit was my second home. So I'm
I'm used to moving now. Mywife it was different for her, but
she's just new guy that gave usa new assignments, approaches things. I

(01:07:36):
love the way the questions he asks. I love the way he makes mistakes
and then correct mistakes. It's veryveteran, like, I mean, there's
so much ball he has to learn, Like he literally does things that are
good. I'm like, do youknow what that worked? He goes coach,
I have no freaking idea, Solike I'm trying to teach him all
of that why it worked, sothen you know the consistency at which it

(01:07:58):
works just goes to the roof andso but I'm very you know, excited
and proud of the conversations we're currentlyhaving. And I'm exciting it for them
to keep going by what you likeso hard for you working with you.
I love working with Chip chip Is. I love talking Ball, I love
the viewpoints I love I love theveteran that he has. You know,

(01:08:27):
uh and uh, I love now, I like, I love all of
it. I think that you knowearly on the biggest impact, you know,
just you know, feeling perspective.I think in the run game has
been awesome, you know, andthen you know, off of the run
game, some of the actions oror relief throws or all that kind of
stuff. I love where it's at. I love working with them, and

(01:08:58):
I would say that I sleep alittle better, all right. Uh No,
it's it's really a great combo because, like you know, we're obviously
we're doing a lot as a group. It's not just Chip and I so
but you know, obviously Chip hasan image and a view on things that
I never had. So to havethat experience and to have that viewpoint,

(01:09:21):
I'm just trying to absorb as muchas i can, but then also highlight
some things that we've really done agood job of and make sure those you
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 know, the rest of the dynamics of search
Chip can talk about. But it'sbeen it's been awesome, so I'm excited

(01:09:44):
about it. We talked to him, Meca. You're talking about moving from
Slot to the house side. Youknow how good we've been in the slot.
Is that a difficult move for youguys as coaches to know how good
a guy is in one spot butknow that maybe for his long term future
and the no. I wouldn't sayit's anything on his future, because he's

(01:10:04):
capable of doing whatever you want toget done. But I'd say that it
says more about the room. Ithink it's it's the growth of you know,
Brandon and the growth grow of 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 comeout of that slot, You're gonna be
outside. We're gonna create mismatches outthere. I mean, his ability to

(01:10:26):
move around is critical. But Iwould say between Mech and between Carnell Takes's
ability to move around a lot,it's gonna provide a lot of flexibility for
our room and uh and those topyou know, six seven guys that are
really doing a good job right now. Progress this spring for like a because
there's no times that two of thosethings I'm true where us balanced how much
work does a need versus yeah,heavy heavy emphasis on what work he needs,

(01:10:49):
you know, versus anything else.Uh, I rely on him.
We have great dialogue back and forth. It's a two way to it's a
two way conversation and frankly, there'sgonna be times we're like, hey,
Mac, what do you want todo today? You wann go outside and
go inside? And I don't care. So we're not there yet. We
will be there, but it's justmore about you know what. I feel

(01:11:09):
like you as a d lineman.You can keep improving all the way through
ten years in this league. SoI'm excited to see what he's got.
How old did you know Sorenson whenhe was assistant here? And have you
gotten to know him a lot better? What's the relationship? Maybe right now?
I know him pretty well. Hewas always just a good dude around
the facility. He did our ballmeetings, so he's good in front of

(01:11:31):
a group. He's a good leader. He knows the scheme really well,
which is good. I was happyto see him promoted. He called me
in the offseason, we talked.I just congratulated him, and I think
he's gonna bring something similar to whatwe had with the Miko's be good.

(01:11:53):
Do you know Brandon Stanley well atall. I mean, obviously Joey played
for him. I don't know toomuch about him. I've obviously for my
brother, but I don't even thinki've said high yet. I haven't ran
into him yet, but I'm surei'll get to know him. When you
say it looks similar to Miko,the energy or the system, maybe a
little different energy, but I thinkjust knowing the system from the front to

(01:12:17):
the back, I think he knowshow it ties in. And he's been
around with some really good coaches,so I think it'll be pretty pretty seamless,
and I think we'll be firing onall cylinders. You're three months removed
from the super Bowl now, sojust how have you? I guess digested

(01:12:38):
it, and I guess physically everythinggood to go. Yeah, I feel
really good. I think it's beenone of my better off seasons of just
kind of it was a long year, so I took it nice and slow
to get back into it. Notas young as I once was, so
I'm taking a little a little slower. But everything's great. Feeling as good

(01:13:00):
as that felt, I'm excited toactually get some practice in. Last year
was kind of tough, getting thrownin week one after I walked through,
So that was another reason I'm excitedto be here is just to get practicing
a little bit in season. Practiceis one thing, but actually being able
to work your stuff and not havea game coming up is good. With

(01:13:25):
the Super Bowl unfortunately, I knowhow to bounce back from tough losses,
so it was rough for a littlebit, but not just annoying when people
bring it up. Since the lastseason, we've seen a Rock on TV
commercials and on the stage with KlukeCoombs and throwing out the first pitch of

(01:13:45):
the Giants game. But he seemslike a guy that's totally unaffected by celebrity,
which he has now. But whathave you noticed in his leadership style
and the way he carries himself anydifference at all. I think he's definitely
getting a little more vocal within thebuilding, and uh yeah, I mean
I don't think he's ever gonna change. I don't think he's somebody that's gonna

(01:14:06):
change even when he gets paid nextyear. So he's he's a man of
faith and he kind of reminds meof Scotti Scheffler, but except for just
super humble and really good kid andYeah, he's definitely famous. I don't

(01:14:33):
just from watching he saw Armstead getreleased obviously meant so much to the defensive
line into the team. I mean, Colin John were pretty open that they
were willing to talk about trading deeboor are you all? Does that just
another what's that feel like in thelocker room when those sort of joels happened.

(01:14:56):
I didn't even know that happened andI wasn't here here, but you're
talking about this offseason alarms and alarmer least, so that's certainly one thing.
Yeah, it's a tough business,for sure. You have to have
thick skin and I haven't gone throughthat, but I think you just have

(01:15:19):
to understand that it is a businessand the team's going to try and get
as good as it possibly can withor without you, and you have to
look out for yourself. That's whyyou go through holdouts and do certain things
that seem selfish in the moment,but it is what it is, And
when everything's settled, we're gonna cometogether as a team and try and go

(01:15:41):
get one. And what's the overallfeeling around the group right now, Like,
how much does it feel like theexcitement of the ramp up to the
season. Even though it's early,it feels good. It's been a couple
of days for me, so Ilike all the new guys. I'm getting
to know everybody. But I thinkthe past is in the past and we're
we're ready to go. Do youtalk to you talk to be at all
about handling the business part of this, and he's going through some things in

(01:16:04):
there. Let me chat a littlebit, but not too much about the
details. I just told him keephis head up and trying to stay positive
through it all. Your first impressionswhen you heard what your schedule would be
in that Aaron Rodgers' first up,it'll be fun. Yeah, it's gonna
be gonna be given. Excuse mekind of alluded to this for the fact

(01:16:30):
that last year you have down theladder. It's boom. This is how
we're doing things, and everybody's followingthat, and I think it's impressive the

(01:16:57):
details that everybody have been on,has has been on the effort and just
the competitiveness that that's been going onover the last few weeks. Yeah,
it's it's been great. How muchdo you appreciate that the stoppings described the
way jingles we shouldn't eat in themessaging doesn't eat mixed up. I appreciate

(01:17:18):
that much. I mean it's Iguess it's easy to appreciate when you kind
of see it working and you seeguys improving, getting better. I just
think the details are really important.You can pretend that leaving your shoes a

(01:17:39):
mess or your locker mess isn't abig deal, and what matters is playing
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 forming well

(01:18:00):
and and playing well when things count. So you know, I appreciate that.
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

(01:18:25):
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,
it seems like it might not outup too much, but I think
in the long term it does.And uh, it leaks into other things,
whether you're doing your right assignment onthe field, being late to meetings

(01:18:45):
or all these things. If youhold a standard and you you stay to
that standard, I think it benefitsyou long term. Ben Herbert, has
there been any anything in his trainingprogram or working with you that you feel
will benefit you? 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

(01:19:08):
the sense that he's bringing his wayof doing things and that's the only way
to do things. He understands thatguys have been in the in the business
for a long time, Khalil meand we have a way of doing things,
and all he wants to do isadd to that and help you get
better and perform the best he can. He's he stresses it all the time

(01:19:28):
that he's a tool for us,and you know, he's been he's been
great. The guys love him.The energy brings is awesome, and I
think the stuff that we're doing inthe weight room is great, a great
addition to stuff that I may maydo on the side or whatever that is.
Yeah, I think we I mean, we had a presentation today with
all the certain measurables that are changing, and if you guys are in the

(01:19:53):
meeting, you definitely see how beneficialhe's been to the team so far.
So obviously staying healthy is is ahuge factor to anybody's success. I'd say
it's plagued us a little bit fora while. So yeah, I think
he's he's definitely incredibly beneficial. Whatwere you fully covered? I know at

(01:20:14):
the end of last season you mighthave been able to pay Yeah. No,
I was not ready to go lastyear. No, tried practicing,
tried coming back, and uh itwas it was not good, but yeah
it was Unfortunately the year wasn't goinggreat and it just was unnecessary risk for

(01:20:35):
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
a great off season. My foot'sfeeling great, toes, good, hamstring,
skod I mean, there was alist of things last year my hand,
so all those things are good.Finger gout surgery on my finger,

(01:20:55):
so that's feeling good. Yeah,it's it's nice to be feeling better going
into year nine than you have sincemaybe five six years ago, which I've
said, I've said I've been feelinggreat last couple of years. I'm telling
you it's a real deal this time. But obviously anything can happen. But
I just feel it's fun feeling reallyconfident in your body and being able to

(01:21:18):
perform. So I could just goout during practice and you know, go
balls to the wall and do everythingthat I feel like I need to to
be able to prepare. It's fun. My brother and whoever I trained with
my trainer Todd back home, Ithink they'd be really proud of how I've

(01:21:39):
been working this offseason, and it'sjust exciting. The pointing was the injuries.
I'member the Green Bay game. Youkind of you, I'm just pinting.
Yeah, it was a bit ofa build up, a little bit
of an overreaction, but you know, it's just tough. It comes sometimes
like that, and I just feltfelt really uh defeated coming back. Had

(01:22:01):
a broken hand. I'm like,oh, yeah, I get to play
Boom first series foot pops. ThoughtI'd have to get surgery and all these
thoughts flooded through my head, brokedown a bit, and yeah, it
just hurts. You know, you'relosing, you're getting injured. You've felt
like you prepared really well in theoffseason, and then the year before you
had growing surgery, so you know, a lot of things build up.

(01:22:27):
Yeah, you don't get a breakif you're injured. Everybody wants to go
on. Fans are very nice,but no, I just I'm grateful that
I feel this way. I'm stillstill nicey Ripe twenty eight, so not
too old yet, but yeah,I'm just excited. I can't remember what

(01:22:47):
the original question was. At thispoint, you get something about my body.
How close you and Gift were,How how frustrating was it that you
couldn't for one of those last threegames. It was frustrating, but I

(01:23:08):
mean Gif was had my back thewhole way. I think for Gift,
for any but for for the wholeteam, just to show what it means
to me. It would have beenimportant for me to be out there,
but I literally couldn't. I triedto practice, injured my foot worse the
very first play I was and inpractice, so no chance that was happening

(01:23:29):
unless I wanted to throw my nextseason away as well. But no,
I'm just I'm proud of him forwhat he did with the team, how
he handled it, and I needto call him back. Actually sorry,
GIF. Yeah, I'm happy hegets to stay close by with the with
the Rams and just proud of allwe accomplished here together over the years and

(01:23:53):
and we'll be close for the restof our lives. It was the footage.
It was this guy blest a footsprang. Yeah, I sprained one
area of my foot. Then whenI tried to return, I sprained another
area. Was able to avoid gettingsurgery, which is kind of the main
goal, but yeah, it was. It was tough when it comes to

(01:24:14):
the addition of but dupree Wo.He felt like he's kind of brought to
the to the room and could bringon the field. Yeah. When I
heard we got my brother, Idon't know, maybe my brother told me.
I'm like, really, we justgot budd Like that's no, that's
no small pickup. He's a seriouslyelite pass rusher. Has had some trouble

(01:24:36):
with injuries as well, so Iunderstand how that is, but not only
him as a player, but asa personality. I heard Khalil just saying
he's he's a fun guy. He'sa funny guy, and to have that
in the room another vet is alwaysa great addition. But I'm just excited
to have him into Lee and tobe able to rotate like that and not

(01:24:56):
drop off at all when we comeoff the field is huge. And now
too, he's going into a secondyear. Just what do you what are
you kind of what are some ofthe maturity maturity areas you've seen from him?
You know, I'm gonna say notmuch, and that's a compliment because
he was already mature in those areas. I mean, he's on it everything

(01:25:16):
playbook wise, always doing his job, working hard, just refining his technique
and pass rush. I mean,we don't have the pads on right now,
so the real work will will begin, you know, in six weeks
now. So but yeah, Ilove Tulie. I've loved him since the
first day he's he's walked into thefacility and I know he's just gonna continue

(01:25:40):
to get better. What you thinkof the addition of Joe Alt, Yeah,
yeah, I'm gonna need to beathim up a little bit in camp,
so he's so he's ready, Butno, I think anything to protect
our number ten is a good,good investment. So he seems like a
real solid dude. Haven't talked tohim too much. Great build, seems

(01:26:02):
like he has good hands, goodfeet, strong. We'll see. We'll
see in a few weeks when Ilay a helmet in his chin how he
holds up. But it'll I'll takeit easy on him. No, Rashon's
a beast. Did you know CoachHarbond before he came here? And if

(01:26:23):
he did, just what were thosefirst couple of conversations like that? Yeah,
probably have crossed passed with him.Maybe maybe not. Actually I think
what was it his first year whenI was a junior? So he kicked
his ass as usual at Ohio State. No, No, they just want

(01:26:43):
a championships. I'd say they probablyhave the bragging rights right now. I'm
like the guy talking about his oldhigh school. Oh I remember we used
to kick No but no, yeah, no, the rivalry is dead.
I was just saying this learning,you know, nine years and kind of
forget about that. I'm not agreat alumni. Sorry, sorry coach,

(01:27:05):
But no, it's great. That'swhat's great about the NFL is you just
have guys from all backgrounds. Youcould hate their guts one one year,
and then you come on the sameteam and your brothers and you're all working
towards one goal together. So ourfirst talk together was great. I just
sat down with them, went upinto his office and chopped it up about
life mainly and his opportunity here andhow much it means to him, and

(01:27:31):
uh, yeah, I think he'sa special guy. I think he's the
way he conducts himself. He's aninteresting cat for sure, And I'm still
still feeling them out. But onething you can't denies that he loves football
and his main goal is to winfootball games. So and that's what we
need. When you see him workingout of you guys and pushing his lives
and doing all this stuff, justhow interesting is that to see? Yeah,

(01:27:57):
I mean he was a he wasa great player himself, and I
think he's always been you know,built like 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 voiced that to me, isthat his favorite part of all of it
is being with the guys and andthe connections he makes so Yeah, to

(01:28:19):
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. Yeah, it's funny togo from old gift, old gift to
this little young guy who's my age. I wouldn't want to get thrown into

(01:28:40):
a room with me and Khalil Iwas his age. But no, he's
been great. I love messing withhim a little bit. We little sarcasm
back and forth. But no,he's great. He's uh, he's very
talks very fast, and I don'tas you know, so sometimes so I
gotta be like, slow down,coach, come on. But no,

(01:29:03):
he's great. I'm excited, youknow, to get closer as the years.
As the year goes on, andI think he has he has a
lot of passion for the position andall he wants to do is learn and
and help us to improve. SoI'm excited about him, And I mean
I do miss Giff obviously it wasa long time with him, but I

(01:29:25):
am excited to have a new faceand kind of have that challenge for me.
You worked much with with Jesse's dad. Since I know he coached line
divers in Michigan. Wait did youask about Jesse? Did you ask about
doing? Okay, you asked aboutJesse. Oh my god, I was
talking about freaking doing the whole time. You guys are so confused. No,

(01:29:47):
sorry, I thought we were.I thought I was. I thought
you mentioned coach Ronie. No,No, coach Mentor has been great as
well. Yeah, they've both beengreat. So run that back. No,
he's been good. Uh yeah,very knowledgeable guy, same thing.
I'm excited to get to know himmore as the year goes on. Have

(01:30:10):
you worked Have you worked much duringthe season Jesse st Yeah, Uh 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 been
in years since twenty sixteen. Justwhat are some of this stuff? You?

(01:30:31):
What's just on a ramble about thewrong guy for fifteen minutes walking?
What? Yeah? What the hecks? Actually that's literally not the person.
Yeah, yeah, I figured out. What's something that you you worked undering

(01:30:55):
the off season? Something improve yourgame? Or is there something that you
can Here's My answer is pretty consistentthat I just continue to try to prepare
myself physically, whether that's my sprintwork or agility work and my lifting.
But yeah, just to get everythingfeeling great. I dealt with those injuries,

(01:31:17):
so I had to kind of rampit up with my finger and foot
and all those things. But nowI'm I'm full full speed out there,
and I'm just going to continue todo what I know will prepare me for
the season. And I know I'mgonna get plenty of technique work and position

(01:31:38):
work when I'm out here. Sofor now, I'm going to spend these
five weeks really getting preparing my bodyworkouts competitive again, another year of competitive
and all that stuff. Yeah.Yeah, it's usually too hot out there
for much competition. We're just tryingto survive. So but yeah, it's
always it's a it's a silent competitionbetween between each other, be like peeking

(01:32:03):
is like what was his time?Was his time? But uh 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
every day out there, so there'sthere's no off days. Have you you
and and haven't talked at all aboutI mean, I mean this also when

(01:32:23):
you were having a contract thing.Do you have guys have to talk about
on anybody? Yeah, I meanit's it's a conversation, not a not
really a serious conversation, but somethingthat's come up before. But yeah,
I mean it would be cool.It would be cool. At some point,
I gonna be more and more andhow similar will you will be?

(01:32:46):
You know in terms of playing,I don't know that yet. I got
of just mentioned previously. I don'tknow my role. I don't know the
ins and out yet. Once we'llget NO through the protocols and f p
A, we'll we'll talk about no, the schemes and everything. Right.
Uh so welcome. When you werein Denver in the three four, where

(01:33:09):
did you find yourself most comfortable andmost effective. I played a lot of
different positions in Denver. I meanearlier my year, I played zero,
I played three, two one.I mean, I'm definitely more comfortable in
a shaded position, mainly being athree technique and five technique. That's why
I found myself to be more comfortablewhether I'm standing up or I'm not,
whether it's runner or pass. Uh, those seem to be my best my

(01:33:31):
best fits and What is your impressionof Pete Carroll's defense and whole environment from
afar It seems like he holds inon defense a lot. Uh. I
can't really say too much about that. Yeah, I don't. I know
Pete Carroll very little, so uh, I'm just trying to figure out more
and I'll give you a better answerlater. What's some reputation around the league

(01:33:53):
out of the Seahawks? Uh,you know hard nos Hard had type of
team definitely on a little more laxas opposed to being stuck up or military
style, and which is definitely goodbecause then this program is one a lot
of football games have been super successfulfor many years, as long as I've
been a lined, as long asI've been watching football, and definitely this

(01:34:14):
has been a good program. AndPete Carroll has been a hell of a
coach for as long as I remember, even back in his college of days.
So I'm looking forward to experiencing that. John Boyle, Yeah, I
know you said you don't know yet. You know what your role is going
to be, which is what whatkind of player you fans who haven't watched
it, Denver, what kind ofplayer get? Definitely a high motor definitely

(01:34:36):
not a one trippony type of player. I like to attack, you know,
whether it's a first or first throughfourth down, I like to attack.
I'm always trying to apply pressure.I'm definitely just a high mortar guy
in my opinion. Brady either BradyHenderson for nice to meet you. Yeah,

(01:34:59):
this is not a team that reallybig splash signings in free agency.
Did you think going into it theSeattle would be in play? Uh?
No, not at all. Uh. You just it's kind of like being
a cure at the County store.You know, I've got a whole bunch
of different options coming at you,uh hearing, a whole bunch of different
crazy things, and uh, youknow, you only get to choose one.
And this is the place that thatwe both chose each other. And
I mean, I'm loving Seattle sofar. You know, I like these

(01:35:23):
colors for real, for real.What what did you got to do with
Seattle or see since you've been here? Not much? Uh, just kind
of just drive around the city,exploring, uh, getting down to the
market a little bit. I wantto get out of the Ferris will do
some more like touristy type of things. You know, I'm new to the
city, and I got a lotto learn about the city. Laric.

(01:35:43):
Yeah, there's been a lot ofcomparisons of you to Michael Bennett. I
was wondering if you know Michael Bennettat all and you think those are accurate.
I know Michael Berger, then itlike nothing. I know nothing about
it but besides his style of play. But I'm honored to be considered in
the same conversation as him and uhstyle of play. You know, He's
a Hall of Fame type of deeplineman that I've known about since I was
a kid. I mean, lasttime he played here, I was in

(01:36:04):
high school. So you know,it's cool to it kind of came full
circle a little bit watching him onTV and now I'm being kind of compared
to him in the way, youknow. I mean, I'm not touching
the surface of Michael Bennett. Youknow, he's a Hall of Famer and
I'm not there yet. So youknow, I just got to keep doing
my du diligence to be a betterplayer. Can hey dreamont welcome to Seattle.

(01:36:28):
I know you get to play severalseasons for Vic Fangio and three four
style defense, and Seattle's playing asimilar system. Now, dating back to
last year as a defensive lineman,what do you think is most important to
be successful in that system? Maybefundamentals or just playing style to be successful.
From what I learned, being gapsound and being patient has always been

(01:36:49):
the biggest thing, and that's howwe've been successful when I was in Denver,
just kind of like relying on eachother. I know that sounds kind
of cliche, but like there's kindof like the realm of being in the
three four defense. You gotta reallyreally rely on the guys behind you and
the guys on the side of youto really make their to do their job
to make your job easier. Allyeah, Uh, your your states that

(01:37:15):
you didn't start playing football till youwere junior in high school and largely played
basketball. So then that's what madeyou, I guess decided to go play
football then was away from basketball.No, No, I've always loved football.
First. Uh, it was justkind of just playing it out.
You know, I love the hoop, but you know, football was definitely
about calling. Given I was atwo hundred and sixty five pounds power forward

(01:37:36):
and I was like sixtytrees and change, so you know, I kind of
chose the route that God gave me. No, I'm not six eight mus
that you guys. Use is itabout the same or is it? It's
kind of really it's a long longplays, but it's more understanding for sure.
I feel like you could get tothat more understanding plays and I feel

(01:37:59):
like that's that's the difference. Hewas saying the other day, just kind
of like coming into this offense afterlike twenty years of breeze and just kind
of how it was just kind ofbuilt on top of each other and on
top of each other. It's likekind of a lot to kind of take
in. Do you do you findthat way kind of turn it down to
something new, starting at like zerowith everybody, it's just a little bit
easier to kind of get everybody onthe same d Yeah, I feel like
it's way easier. Like you said, it was kind of more of a

(01:38:20):
Drew Brees style, uh the lastplaybook, so uh all credit to them
though they built that around him,around his players, but uh, like
I said, it's it's more.Uh this playbook is more uh for uh
matchups, and uh, I feellike it's gonna be better for us.
How do you think it's gonna reallytake advantage of just skill sets. Uh,

(01:38:41):
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't do.Is kind of focus on what we can
do and building on that. Uh. I feel like it's playing to the
players strengths. So I feel likeit's gonna help us a lot has been
around the way this offense will alot more speed, and how has that
transition being so far? I mean, like I said, it's building around

(01:39:04):
the player of strengths. So ofcourse we got speed with me or she
and ati receiver. So just buildingaround that, Like I said, playing
to our strengths and be able tocapitalize off that. Feel like it's gonna
help us a lot most of likethe up tempo ast, you know,
getting a lot of plays in lesstime. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's definitely gonna play a big difference. Like I said, coming from

(01:39:24):
the West Coast, Uh, theybringing that stand for an offense here,
So I'm excited to be able tobe a part of that. For you,
personally, what's what's the next levellook like? For you? What
do you what are you trying toaccomplish 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

(01:39:45):
back after a bad game. Themental mental aspect, Uh, just learning
and learning that last year and beable to build on that this year is
a huge part. You know withMike Gon, do you take upon yourself
to kind of be that voice inthe room or to take a step forward
even further as I mean, it'snot really I mean, everybody kind of

(01:40:06):
grown in the NFL, so it'sjust on you to be able to have
that standard. Like I said,I just try to do that. Lead
by example. I'm not really outspoken, but just lead by example, working
hard, trying to dominate every repand hopefully they follow after that. Yards
after the catch? Is that youfeel like that's the strength of yours that

(01:40:27):
maybe wasn't utilize. I don't knowif utilizes the right word, but you
could show more. Yeah, it'san offense that is built around that.
Just catching the ball in space,catching the ball over the middle or even
on the outside with space and separation. Feel like it's built around having yards
after catch. So I'm definitely proudto be in the system, like I

(01:40:49):
said, and I'm excited. Butis that is that a mindset too,
like being good at yards after thecatch? Like Oh yeah, I mean
of course. I mean you don'twant to get tackled by the first person.
And my mindset is trying to takeevery take everything to the house,
you know, every touch. Souh, I definitely got to do that
more and definitely try to work onthat in practice. Keep a great dude

(01:41:13):
man, Uh some some that Idefinitely needed, some that he relates to
me. Uh, just from backgrounds, and uh he's a great coach,
great leader, Uh, motivational anduh. Like I said, I'm excited
to have him around and for himto push me is everything that I need.
So you're talking about like mentally bouncingback, you know, from tough
performances or whatever, Like, didyou try to find your resources going to

(01:41:36):
help you figure out how to dothat? Oh yeah, I mean it's
older guys that uh tell me that'snatural. Just have bad games. But
uh, just having the standard thatI have for myself and the expectations I
have for myself gets hard sometimes.So just being able to be hard on
your school, same high school,same junior high, same college. You

(01:41:58):
know. So I've known him sincefor for a really long time, but
that competitive fire burns deep with him, and that's the one thing that I've
always admired with him. And he'sgot an amazing athletic brain in terms of
how to process things and how tohow to put people in position to make
place. He's always been that prototypicalcoach on the field, no matter what
sport he was playing. So Iknew he was destined to be a coach,
you know. And I was fortunatein my career as a head coach

(01:42:20):
to have him on my staff ina couple of places, so I got
a chance to see him work firsthand, you know. I got to see
him work firsthand as a player andthen as a coach. So the success
he had is not is not surprisingto me? Is there where you seeing
where I had the success is at? Yeah? I think we all do
that. I think we come froma unique place in a really small hometown

(01:42:40):
in New Hampshire where we all takea lot of pride to where we're from.
And when anybody's successful coming out ofthere, then you kind of take
a little pride. That's it's theupbringing that we all had, you know,
in the UTH sports program that wegrew up in. In every aspect,
whether it was football, baseball,basketball, those coaches had an amazing
impact on us. And that's whywe are where we are right now.

(01:43:03):
Ryan said, he doesn't think ofit as you working under him, it's
working with him. Fact is he'sthe head coach. He makes me call
him sir though he just said canyou do that? They one, and
I was like, all right,right now. But I mean he ultimately
is the decision maker. You've beena head coach. How do you think

(01:43:26):
that's going to work. Do youthink there'll be any as close as you
are, any kind of awkward moments? The right term, But when he's
the ultimate decider and you are workingfor him, Yeah, I certainly understand
my role. I'm not Alhaic,Like I'm not I'm not in charge here.
Yeah. Some people get that reference. Other people don't get that reference.

(01:43:46):
But I'd certainly understand that, andand I actually kind of relish it
because I really love the scheming part. I love the individual part. I
love being in the meeting room ofthe quarterbacks. Uh, 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
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

(01:44:10):
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 gonna play during
the regular season and then beyond.So it's it's really collaborative. And that's
the thing I like, just inthe short time that I've been here,

(01:44:31):
is how collaborative everybody's been. Youknow, we're all trying to make each
other better and we're all trying todevelop this team. Touched on this when
you said, you know, youlike to do what you want to do
and not My sense is you,in your perfect world, you'd like to
scribble plays on a napkin and notdeal with boosters dot deal with all the
stuff that coaches head coaches have todeal with now, And how much of

(01:44:54):
a factor was that in this decisionyou can just do football. No,
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
my time at Oregon. I wasjust with Phil Night two weeks ago,
you know, I got an opportunityto spend some time with him and his
wife, Penny, who are dearfriends of mine that have been great mentors

(01:45:16):
to me in my career. Andthere's a bunch of people that a UCLA,
Terry Donahue, Andrea Donna who wereawesome to me. Angela Mazzoni is
a great friend, Casey Wassman,Troy Aikman. There was a bunch of
people at UCLA that I really enjoyed, you know, being around and talking
with. So I think sometimes everybodywants to make a narrative of it's either
this or that. It's never that, it's never just all ball, It's
never just all recruiting. It's neverjust all boosters. It's a mixture of

(01:45:41):
everything. But I think the onething that as this position as a head
coach kept moving on is that ifyou look at a lot of them,
they all become more CEOs. Youknow, I can't tell you how many
coaches that have called me since Imade this decision that said I'm two years
behind you, brother, you knowthat are thinking the same exact way.
And I think it's all part ofwhat we have to do. I think
we all need to protect this gameand promote this game, and I think

(01:46:01):
there are some rules that we needto get straightened out so that people understand
where what it's about. Because thegame is still about the players, and
I hope that never gets discounted.You know, it's it's always been about
the players, and I think ifwe can keep that at the forefront the
people that are making decisions on this, and I think Jeane Smith is one
of the best influences in in theNCAAA, is to make sure we keep

(01:46:24):
that the main thing. The mainthing needs to be the student athletes.
Leland dot Com, you know you'recoming in at a time where you've been
through some places where the expectations arehigh. I understand it's also coming into
a juncture where, you know,the three losses to Michigan, the not
making the playoff last year, theurgency is pretty high here. I guess,

(01:46:45):
just sort of what perspective do youhave on kind of the stakes that
there are for Ryan this year andthe decision that then he makes to bring
you in to kind of help solvethat. Yeah, I think the expectations
can be no harder than they arein your own brain, you know.
And I think if you try toworry about what other people are thinking in
their brains, you're going to getscrewed up a little bit. So,

(01:47:05):
you know, I talked earlier theone thing about Ryan that I know about
him and has always been he's theultimate competitor. So he's got There's nowhere
that has higher expectations of Ohio Statethan Ryan does, nor the rest of
us that joined him in are partof this and that are working with him.
So you know, I don't think. I think sometimes you can spend
too much time thinking about those things. You know, what you really have
to do is just as there's abig sign as you walk into this place,

(01:47:27):
it says when the moment, youknow, I think that's a real
thing that we have to do ascoaches, is to make sure that our
players aren't worried about what's going onin the future, or or aren't worried
about what's going on in the 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 that I'veseen here and I've only been here for
three weeks, but there's a consistencyto the players approach when they walk in
this building every day, which isit's unique. It's not like that everywhere

(01:47:48):
else. And it's one of thethings that I remark to Mick when I
you know, he said, Hey, what do you think? And I
was like, it's impressive. It'simpressive the culture of the players that are
in this program right now. ButI think it speaks a lot to the
leadership. There's a lot of olderplayers on this team, and they've set
the tone for the younger players,and I think the younger players have done
a great job of followship and gettingright in line with that. It's never
hit, it over play. Callingto someone before, what does it mean

(01:48:12):
to you? I guess he technicallydid it to Bill when he was here
for a couple of weeks. Butwhat does that mean to you to kind
of be getting that responsibility from himand he's calling essentially the offense that you
gave it. I guess in someway. Yeah, I still think the
play calling part will be a collaborativeeffort. And by that I mean that
if it's a good play, Icalled it, and if it's a bad
play, he called it. Becausethe great part is an assistant coach,

(01:48:33):
you can just point the finger alittle bit and just say, hey,
you know, I wanted to dothis, but he 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'sbeen a collaborative effort. And all of
a sudden, someone that's calling theplays isn't isn't like pulls one out of
left field that you hadn't practiced andhadn't been part of your offense and said,

(01:48:56):
hey, let's do this. Youknow, we're not running the annexation
of Puerto Rico. You know,we're not coming up with something special.
You know, in the middle ofthe fourth quarter that we haven't done.
But I think it's the key toreally being successful on offense is is how
you game plan, how you putit all together, and then how you
practice and train for that so thatyou get a chance to execute it.
Because the player's confidence comes comes fromtheir demonstrated ability that they've done this so

(01:49:17):
many times in practice that when theyget out on the field that this is
like that to them, you know, And it's not that they do it
so they do it right, it'sthey practice it so much so that they
can't do it wrong. So,you know, I think it's that whole
part of it that is really thekey to being a really good game planning
team, right Doug Lane ree KingdomNorth Chip. When you had that feeling

(01:49:38):
when you were coaching the quarterbacks duringBold, 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
out there. No, I neverthought about quitting anything, So, you
know, I just is there anopportunity that I think I can that fit,

(01:50:00):
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
fit. But I never thought aboutquitting or not coaching. I'm gonna coach.
I'm gonna coach, and then I'mgonna die. I mean, that's
how I think I think about things. Is I can't picture that. I

(01:50:24):
know someone I was on the Niketrip and they are like, how much
longer are you going to go?When I said I had to go another
fifteen twenty years. I don't thinkabout I don't think about retirement. I
don't think about any of those things. That's just not kind of my mindset
that you know. I love footballand in the as long as I can
be part of this game, thenI'll be part of this game. Just
the way things worked out with yourdeparture from UCLA, is there anything that

(01:50:47):
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
tell my players personally. You know, I think in this day and age
of the Internet where they read itsomewhere else and you have to text message,
and you know, that was alwaysimportant to me that I wanted to
make sure I talked to my playersand explain the reasons of what I was

(01:51:08):
doing. I wasn't leaving to takea head coaching job somewhere else. I
wasn't thinking that the grass is greenerat another university. Was just in my
personal situation, this is what Iwanted to do. I wanted to take
an opportunity to go be a positioncoach and coordinator, and that's how it
fit. You know. What Iwas happy is that I always thought to
Sean Foster, I think the worldof them and I think he's a special

(01:51:29):
you know, and the fact thatthat they were they gave him the opportunity
to take over there was you know, it worked out. I didn't have
any say in that decision, youknow, I was gone, But I
always thought that DeShawn would be agreat head coach and I'm really proud of
him and happy that that he gotthe opportunity to take that job right behind
him, you have your reputation asinnovator. Was part of the appeal.

(01:51:51):
This is that you get to getin the weeds a little bit. Maybe
not Mad Sciences, maybe too toostrong of a work could you work him
with in the system. But wasthere an appeal of I get to get
my hands dirty here again and innovateand get back to that side of things.
It was, But it was reallymore important of who I get to
work with, you know, Andso knowing you know, I've got I

(01:52:15):
know a lot of guys on thestaff besides Ryan also, so you know,
when I know what their mindset isand what their values are and how
they do things, and so Iwant to be a part of that.
But there's a part of that.Yeah, how much of a teacher you
get labeled in the innovator. Theteaching is a part of this. How
much of a teacher are you andhow patient are you? Yeah? I
think we're all teachers. I meaneducation is the transportation of knowledge, you

(01:52:39):
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
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 thesocratic method of there's a lot of questions,
you know, and a lot ofcheck for understandings just to kind of
find out what the players are comingfrom, because it's what they know that

(01:53:01):
that's ultimately gonna win games, notwhat we know. You know that we're
not playing the games. We're notstepping across those white lines, you know,
and your job as a coach isto create an environment where they have
an opportunity to be successful and thenget out of their way and let them
go do it. So I thinkthe teaching aspect is huge, and we
continue to research, you know,some of the latest trends in teaching to
make sure that we are transporting thatknowledge to our players. The second ROLLD

(01:53:25):
left Steve Helwagan twenty four to sevenSports. Yeah, coach, just curious
you got five scholarship quarterbacks with differinglevels of experience from age and everything else.
Not to annoyed him, but justwant to ask specifically about Will Howard
coming in after starting part of twoyears at Kansas State. He just seems

(01:53:45):
to promote this idea that he's afootball player, you know above all else.
Just how impressed are you with hismakeup, his experience, what he's
bringing to the table walking in hereright now? Yeah? Really impressed.
You know, you don't have totalk to Will for more than five minutes
to kind of know where he's comingfrom. He's really focused. You know,
he knows he's got a short windowleft in his college career, and

(01:54:10):
it really wants to capitalize on whatthat is. There's a maturity to Will,
you know. I really I've hadexperience, My experience in this thing
since the transfer portal opened in collegefootball is some of the best players I've
had an opportunity to coach award 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,

(01:54:30):
is that I've got nine months,you know. So there's a sense of
urgency I think when you're dealing withwith transfers, and I think Will has
exuded that since he's been here.But the other thing that I just in
the short time that Will has beenhere is how quickly he's fit in with
the entire team, you know,and how much the rest of the players
respect him. You know, hewas one of the Gold Award winners for
his work in the weight room inthis offseason, so that says a lot

(01:54:53):
for him coming in here as ina short time being able to win a
weight room award, you know,to start off, you guys 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

(01:55:14):
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 aBut I've always seen it play itself out.
So I've been fortunate that there's alwaysgonna be some quarterback battles at at
some point in time. At everyschool there's a quarterback battle, you know,
and then and really you you gottalet them play it out on the
field, and that's where it hasto that that's where it has to be

(01:55:36):
decided. Just a couple more Hey, coach can welcome than we We're excited
to have you here, thank you. I'm kind of to talk about the
innovative part. Ryan said that that'ssomething that he's always loved about working with
you, and now he wants youto bring that here and how it would
fit with Ohio State. Do youhave any idea what that's gonna look like

(01:55:56):
yet or is it just way tooup? I have no idea, you
know. I think part of itis is you're trying to put the players
in position to make play. Soa lot of that comes from getting to
understand the players and what their skillsets are and how we feature what their
skill sets are, you know.And the one thing after day one,
I can tell you that there's alot of skill set out there, you
know. So that's that's what getsyou excited, you know, That's what

(01:56:18):
That's what you jump out of bedin the morning and you're excited to go
to work because of the talent thatyou get to work with. But the
one thing that's the most impressive isthe work ethic that goes along with that
talent. You know, it's notjust empty talent. It's you got some
kids who want to I mean allof them since I've been here, want
to work, So that that's whatgets you excited. But I think assessing
what the skill set is you knowthat we have available to us on the

(01:56:40):
offensive side of the ball is vitallyimportant. And then our job is to
put those guys in positions to makeplaces lots of pressure. I mean,
you've experienced what it's like to coachnational championship cal over teams this program right
now and moving into a situation whereyou got to win quick and now.
So does that feel like pressure herefor you or is it a little bit

(01:57:01):
of excitement or both? Well,I've always subscribed to his pressure is what
you feel when you don't know whatyou're doing. So if you don't want
to feel pressure, and then youshould know what you're doing, So,
you know, I think it's it'spart of that, and I think part
of our job with our players interms of the education process is getting them
to understand that too. Is thatyou know, it's it's about your preparation,
It's about you and your development.It's not about that you can't be

(01:57:23):
governed by what other people say.It's it's what's my mindset and how am
I intrinsically motivated? And how doI really compete against myself on a daily
basis to get a little bit better. You know, we got a little
bit better today because we get outon the field today and got a chance
to do some football. And thenthe challenge is when we get back on
the field on Thursday, can webe a little bit better than we were
on Tuesday. And if we're doingthat, then we keep stacking good days

(01:57:44):
on top of good days, andI think we'll be in good spot and
welcome, Thank you. I'm gonnaask about the pros and cons of coaching
from the box and coaching from thefield. It's interesting talk to some off
some coordinators, or Tom Herman talkingabout he swore he wanted to coach from
the box. Saw the game somuch better, sterile environment, not all
the chaos on the field. Somecoaches you talk to the like, I
want to be on the field soI can look at my guys in the

(01:58:04):
in the eye. Where are youas a as a coordinator? Honestly,
and I've thought of this a lot. I thought of it a lot during
COVID because we had the empty stands, you know, so I had thought
about just walking up into the standsfor a little bit because I had a
better advantage. I've always believed youcan see the game better from up above,
but I believe you can feel thegame better from the field. So
if there was any way we couldget a zip wire where you could do

(01:58:27):
both, you know, coach calledfrom there and then zip down of the
field get a chance to talk tohim, because it's a different deal when
you're talking to the quarterbacks on aphone, you know, than being able
to look in their eye and kindof see where they are with it.
And part of it is the fieldpart of it. I remember when I
coached Ryan once. We were playingYukon and he got hit hard going out
of bounce and he just walked byme. And I was a play caller,

(01:58:47):
and he was like, run thenext play, and I just kind
of looked at him. I sawthe look in his eyes because I don't
think he could have thrown it,you know, he was still trying to
get his win back. But youwouldn't know that if you're up in the
booth, you know, and youcall a pass play from up in the
bo and you're like, how comewe can't complete that? Well, he
just took a shot going out ofbound. So it's that fine line and
I don't have an answer, youknow. I think I think it's feel

(01:59:08):
on the ground and it's see fromup above. Maybe in this day a
technology they'll figure it out. Butwe'll see how that that that operates,
and whatever Ryan feels is the bestfor the team is what we're gonna do.
So your teams at the Oregon wereobviously now ever playing at this assid
pace and running a bunch of playsper minute, and yep, maybe not

(01:59:30):
by so pretty fast. What ruledo you see tempo and having an offense?
And in the States in college footballand has maybe changed. I think
the game is always evolving, youknow. I think when I left in
two thousand and twelve to go tothe National Football League, Oregon was the
only team that was playing really reallyfast and had shiny helmets. And when
I came back in twenty seventeen,everybody had shiny helmets and everybody was playing

(01:59:55):
fast. So I think the gameis always going to go up and down,
and there's gonna be different cycles thatit goes through. I think tempo
is part of an offensive, butI don't think it's an offense in itself.
I think it's more of like ifyou go to dinner, it's a
side order. You know, it'snot the main course, but it's it's
always good to have it. SoI think there's times when you'll use it,
but you're you're not gonna use itextensively the entire game, just like

(02:00:17):
you're not gonna throw the ball everysingle snap in the game. You're not
gonna run the ball every single dayanything. I can't do it, and
I don't want that to every questionAnd they just said that it felt like
sometimes you were holed up somewhere watchingfilm. You texted, hey, you
missed this, or you want toWell, like the first day he was
batting all up Russ's passes, soI had to let him know. You
know, you got to take advantageof that. You gotta make sure guys,

(02:00:41):
are you know, uh know thatyou still care and you still want
to be a part of this.Uh, you know, just watching practice,
there's a couple of things we're doingdifferent, whether I'm communicating with dumbbar
or other people, you know,Soviet. So you're that you're also talking
with him and you you've given himpointers during the off seat. Is just
a constant communication. How do yousee you grow as a person? You

(02:01:02):
know, as far as how he'sapproaching things, how he's getting ready for
this season, for amost his rookieyear. Uh, you know, I
think the thing with Keanu is he'smore comfortable. You know. You know
it's not his first time around thetrack. You know, it's actually like
he can you know, uh,catch his feet under him. You know.
I always think when you're in yourrookie season, you're going from bowl

(02:01:24):
game. I don't even know Wisconsinplaying a bowl game. Sorry Wisconsin,
I don't even know. But youknow, personally, I just think when
you go from bowl game to trainingfor the combine to you know, rookie
minicamps, OTA's the you know minicamp, I mean the training camp the
regular season, you really don't geta time to really catch yourself. You

(02:01:44):
know, he understands the playbook nowhe can be more vocal, you know,
and I think with my absence,the other guy's absence, you know,
you need guys like that to stepup and be ready for those opportunities,
But do you take you had thesame you have during the season is
the more what just tightened down everything? You know on my left side because
I was overcompensating a little bit,but you know it was there wasn't anything

(02:02:10):
that lingers. You know, I'llsay this, A growing is not like
an a cl It's not like anything'sever gonna ge affected again. And you
know, you know, I'm feelinggood, able to do everything squat and
heavy with power and speed, soyou know, it feels good to get
after again. What do you thinkof what the team was able to feel
accomplish as off easily return for bringingguys like Russian and things with d You

(02:02:32):
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
in the classroom, It gets donetraining, uh you know, and then
you see where you're at in trainingcamp, and then you build on that.

(02:02:54):
You know, I think we gotthe right guys in the building.
It's just about putting a complete teamon the field. Cam how penther coll
is it to separate the business partof the game from the actual football player
in the week. Uh. Youknow, you you always wanna you always
have to treat it like a businessbecause you know one day it's gonna end.

(02:03:15):
Uh, and that's a bend job. Uh. It's not like in
college where you know you got fouryears guaranteed. I don't know, well
now you you don't even know whethernil and know it's crap, but the
transfer portal portal. But you knowyou have to you know, I still
have love for this game, andI still work my tail off and I
still put everything into it, andthat's not gonna change. But you have

(02:03:40):
to know, uh, what youbring to the team and what your what
your value is. Kamyall, didit feel 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,
you know, just getting after it, learning new guys, going through the
same drills I've been doing by myself. Uh. I actually like having more

(02:04:04):
people around, cause like kind ofgo start crazy crazy when it's just you
and another guy, You're like,damn, I gotta go back up for
another rep already, and so youknow, it's nice to be up here
and get a chance to you know, be with my guys. Cam.
Were you confident and Dele We'll getdone with your emotions. Oh, I'm

(02:04:26):
gonna we'll try to remain pretty neutralbecause you know, I don't wanna be
too either way. All I knowis I wanna be here, but we'll
see what happens. Was my lastyear here? I I I've had a
great career here, but I'll lookforward to play next year. Can you
with that second surgery? You saidit this time was on the left side.

(02:04:48):
It was the first time around onthe right side, right side during
the season, left side, andthat was just tightening down my corner.
My corma saw. It wasn't thesame as my ad doctor. You know,
you can ask doctor Bradley, uh, doctor doctor Zuckerbron who uh did
the surgery as well. You know, I if anything's gonna help me and

(02:05:11):
it'll make me a lot stronger formhere on up. You say you were
training with another guy, who haveyou kind of been Tyson? Oh?
Uh, I've been training with himfor the last eight years. We've always
trained together. We got a trainerup north, uh Shadow Cole Haley,
who's my guy, traded trained trained, uh Heath Miller, Brett Keesel,
the multitude of guys that I allrespect, and we've just been getting after

(02:05:35):
Camm's very true guys. Historically thirtyfive, they get paid big contract that
you think that's held against you.I think there's not a lot of history
behind it. But you know,for me, I I look as I'm
not looking to be like anybody else. You know, my game is different
from everybody else in this league.You know, I like to think,

(02:05:56):
you know, I can play therun in the past, and then that's
where I'm different. You know,I remember last year Mike t just brought
to my attention. You know thething that's really cool is you watch powerlisters,
and you know, my game's builton powering technique and those guys go
into the forties and 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.

(02:06:21):
Then there's not a lot of history. But I'm here to make history and
I'm here to you know, andwin another Super Bowl year and you know,
have a great season, do youhave a set goal over yourself on
how many years you want to playin the NFL or do you just take
things here by the year. Youknow, it was it was tough answering
that question right after the season.I will say this, guys, I

(02:06:44):
I can't keep answering that question rightafter the season. That is not fair
to the season, That's not fairto my family. Uh. You know.
But in my mind, I gotthree years and I want to maximize
them. I wanna play at ahigh level, and I wanna go deep
in the playoffs and and you know, we got a good team and I'm
gonna do my part to be readyfor all those situations. Yeah, he's

(02:07:04):
playing on practice. When you reportingwith troub or is a cost of doing
any good? You might pull inand enforce the new initiations. I I
have not even thought that far.I've taken the day by day. Uh
you know. Uh uh I toldmy agent and we talked about it.
I mean, uh, we werecool coming out here. You know.
I'll be here for many you know, and then I'll be there retraining game.

(02:07:28):
Throw my two cents in there,you know. So that's just Uh,
it's been awesome, man. Wehe's he's you know, a resource
for me, just a person thatI can always bounce my thoughts off of.
And now, you know, justa year you said, thirteen months,
now I feel more comfortable just youknow, bringing certain things up.
You know, you never you neverwanna come off too strong. But I'm
a curious guy. I got alot of questions. I like, I
like football a lot. I liketo talk and talk the games. So

(02:07:49):
you know, come to find out, he's the exact same. So we
uh, you know, we getalong well. And you know we're gonna
keep keep building that relationship. Sometimesin this league, playing you know,
team games, they trying to makea twenty. You know, it's like
it sound like a little a littlefever dream to be honest, but but
uh, if we can find away to k you know, stay up
right out there, keep keep airingon his feet. You know, I'm
I'm excited for that and uh everythingthat comes with it. But uh but

(02:08:13):
yeah, like I said, 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's like that's alot of games, you know, all
of a sudden take a lot ofhits. They take a lot of hits
where they're not looking, and it'sjust how can we keep him healthy?
Yeah? Yeah, are you whendo you think I do? You're a
received the room now. Positions youguys have made when one healthy, get
everything? Like yeah, you know, I'm excited to see it at at

(02:08:33):
full health. You know, we'vei haven't got to see all the all
the guys out there at once.And and you know, it's one of
those positions where every day is somethingmight happen to nick up. You know,
it's just a a tough position tostay out there at all times.
But I feel like we got agreat group and and the number one thing
is how can we stay healthy?How can we you know, I'll be
out on the field, and Ithink having depth like this and the group

(02:08:54):
we have is gonna help us.Having guys that can do different things,
that can go catch ball over themiddle, all types of things that it's
gonna take some of the strain offoff all of us. You know,
it's it's a good group. SoI'm excited to, uh, you know,
get out there. I feel likewe haven't had the whole whole thing
together. But you know, comeseason time, Moroland, it's gonna be
exciting. What about the guy isin your whole number? Yeah yeah,

(02:09:16):
Malka, Yeah, man, he'suh it was a brute and then once
he catches that ball, I meanhe's he's got great instincts of where the
defense is going to be at,how to make someone miss. Yeah,
man, just just like I wassaying, you can go over the middle
take hits. I mean, I'mexcited to see him run with the ball
once we got passed on because Iknow I wouldn't be trying to tackle him.
And he looks like a like aproblem a little bowling ball out there,

(02:09:37):
you know. So I'm excited.Have we got Jeremiah JJ? Smith
JJ? How'd you feel out thatof that came out? Breen? A
coool player? When you come tothese kind of tournaments, what kind of
techniques do you like to work Oneyou think that you're gonna deep short stuff

(02:10:00):
from crossing the routes? What doyou work on when you're out of tournament
like this? Really just getting backinto Google, you know, doing the
wet so really just working on myreleases. Uh that's from your game,
my friend size I've been I've beena chuck. So just really getting back
here. Now we know you pulledthe trigger on Ohio State, obviously you
gotta take this. That's kind ofmake sure that you're you're perfect down your

(02:10:20):
decision. What was it about OhioState and Brian Hartline and Ryan Day that
made you feel comfortable to commit early? Really they sent me my first visit,
but not the first Kim. Uh, they offered me out after you
feel like first just system my firstyear, you know, really just what's

(02:10:43):
up? What's up? What's whatthey saw? Was? Really they they
need? They gave me, uhreally just a kid that I'm gonna talk
hard. I was the top artesttoized. I'm trying to have good size.
Now I know you got something yourSFP family up there. You got
brandon n s carnal take. Whatdoes it mean to potentially be able to
link up with them in a yearand be able to kind of run back

(02:11:05):
what you guys have done in SouthFlorida Express in Columbus, Ohio. It'd
be great Gobio's Day take, it'dbe greatful. Great first Rob. Yeah,
you're a super humble kid. I'vebeen really impressed by you. Today.
Is there anything that you want OhioState fans to know about you?
You know again, I know you'rejust your all work, all work,

(02:11:26):
all work. But what are theygetting when they get a JJ Smith to
come to Ohio saying, kid comingin at the job, don't do what
I got to do to take careof about sport. Doesn't just come in
too much job. That's perfect.Man. Well, God bless you.
I appreciate you, my man.Awesome watching you today. Thank you so
much, sister and JJ Smith.You have to adapt, but there's certain

(02:11:50):
things that we're not going to change. There's certain values we're not going to
change or just you know, youknow, principles that have you know,
stood the test of time. AndI shared this with a group before when
I started doing some research. Aswe were doing some some of our recruiting
you know, introductions and some ofour you know, talks about you know,

(02:12:11):
the traditions of Ohio State. Wetalked about how Ohio Stadium was built,
you know, and you when youwhen you do your research on that
one hundred years ago, you know, folks had the idea of building a
stadium over sixty thousand people, andthat's because of what Chick Carley was doing,
and you know, they had awooden bleachers over here, and all
these people started coming in and theidea of bringing in a stadium that of

(02:12:33):
our sixty thousand people at the timewas like, this is crazy. What
is college football turning into? Andthey instead of going to the state or
going to the school the community,they went to the community to raise the
money they raised over at the timeover a million dollars. Well, I
fast forward one hundred years and theconversation still might be like what is college
football doing right? And in thissituation then il we had to turn to
the community for help, and BuckyNation showed up again in a big way.

(02:12:58):
So although the landscape is changing,I don't know if you know,
one hundred years later, if it'sthat much different. It's just in a
different time, in a different youknow, set of issues that we're working
through. But I think it's exciting. I think there's a lot of positives
to it. I do. Ithink that we're taking the next step with

(02:13:20):
the revenue sharing to try to institutionalizesome of it, which would be big
for US bills. Yeah, everyyears got question. It seems like this
year's team has fewer questions off theline. Specifically, if you look ahead
to more than a month, whatare the real questions that you have in

(02:13:43):
your mind about position, battles andwho's going I would say on offense,
you know, we've got to squareaway the quarterback as you know, I
feel like, you know, theoffensive line on the right side, we've
got to solidify that. I feellike we got to build, you know,
enough depth at receiver that we feellike we can put in five or

(02:14:07):
six in the game and feel goodabout it. On defense, I think
we're still looking to figure out,you know, who are going to be
the guys inside, you know,the the third, the fourth, the
fifth, defensive interier, a linementthat we're going to put in the game.
And then same thing just just Iwould say depth, a little bit
of safety, just to kind ofsee who those next guys are. They're

(02:14:28):
going to step up and so weknow it's going to be a long year.
We're going to need everybody and andso in a lot of those areas,
it's depth. Special teams wise,you know, punter is going to
be you know that that is significant. You know, we just brought in
Nick and you know, so there'llbe a battle there. So I'd say
those are probably the areas we're focusedon the most dep Ryan just to fall

(02:14:52):
from the offensive line, there wasI think a school apology you guys might
be looked for a transfer in thatpost spring window. Did you guys do
that? Did you guys not findthe guy or were you just confident the
guys you have, just like youknow in January, if if if we're
going to bring somebody in is tofill a hole, We're not just gonna
bring somebody in to bring somebody in, Like at all positions, we'll always

(02:15:15):
look to see what's out there.We did evaluate some of the guys that
were out there, and you know, you know, we felt like coming
out of it as we evaluated it, you know, there was a couple
of guys that you know, wechecked on, but but ultimately, like
based on where we were and someof the young guys that are coming up,
you know, we felt like wesaw some progress in the offensive line
in the spring. So you know, it wasn't there wasn't as many folks

(02:15:37):
in the portal, you know,in after the spring. So we looked
at it, we identified it,we did our due diligence, but you
know we're gonna go with through.We have now second round bills, right,
You're it was interesting that you havetwo of maybe the top five ors
of guys in sport and then abunch of guys who haven't play, uh
maybe someone that I don't My question, but did you consider trying to add

(02:16:01):
there understanding the probably the difficult sell. We can have such talent on the
top of the prince that we havethe experiences like what were those conversations like
and how did you settle on beingcomfortable with you know, tre Well,
Like you said, you know,I think we're we will get some experience
there with those two guys, andthen you know, we felt like coming
out of the spring that James andSam both did a nice job and you

(02:16:22):
know we're gonna have to play themand they're gonna have to you know,
take on a little bit of that. You know, we have you know,
started having conversation with Caleb Bowns.I was part of the recruiting process
of possibly you know, doing alittle bit of running back as well.
It's something that he wanted to do. So we've been having him in some
of the meetings and some of theindividual drills as a possibility there if you

(02:16:43):
know, needed so down the roadto continue to build depth at that position.
But you know, I think,you know, we feel like,
you know, if you have youknow, four strong running backs going into
it, then you know that's gonnabe that's gonna be enough to carry the
season. I do think that therethe quarterbacks will run the ball more this
season, so that should take somecarries away from them. But to your

(02:17:05):
point, you know, James andSam are gonna have to step up to
the guys that we can count on. Save that for another day. Yeah,
just fall up on it. Ishe capable of stepping in and being
running back obviously? Yeah, we'llsee, we'll see. We talked about

(02:17:26):
in the recruiting process, you know, the first time around and more specifically
in the second time around, andso he's you know, he's been around
a little bit just to get afeel for it. We did very little
in the spring. We did Ithink we pitched them an option or something
like that in the spring just tokind of get them going. But yeah,
we'll see, we'll see where thatgoes. We don't have a specific
plan right now, but we dowant to introduce him to that just the

(02:17:50):
same thing like Lorenzo Styles has playedyour see where he did that Notre Dame.
You know he's out there a littlebit, just kind of learning.
It's healthy. You know, you'reseeing it from the other side of the
ball. This time of the year, you can get away with that a
little bit, a little bit inthe preseason. Where it goes, we'll
see, but you just never know. And we're trying to put some contingency
plans in place because it could bea long season. Yeah, this is
my forty fourth year cover of HouseDay. I don't remember ever expectations like

(02:18:13):
this In the summer there something werealmost as big. Sure do you send
that too? And what is thatpressure like? As you're working through a
summer and people ask me that,I go back to, the expectations every
year are the same. I mean, it's just the truth. When opening
press conference I said you got tobeat the team up north, and when
every game after that, that's justthe expectations. And when you come up
short, you know, you've gotto figure out a way to get those

(02:18:35):
things fixed. I think we havedone that. But the expectations are the
same every year. Pressure is thesame every year. I just like the
pressure when you've got a really goodteam behind you. So that's what we've
got right now. And you know, we know it's going to be a
long season. We know what we'reworking towards. But I will say this
about this team, Well, we'vebeen talented. That's there's been times in
the past we've been talented. Idon't know since I've been here if we've

(02:18:56):
been this talented and this experience togetherwith guys that have played a lot of
football, fourth and fifth year guys, and that doesn't matter. We'll go
Thanks Evstoor, Stephen, since youbrought it up. Maybe this is just
talks because it's summertimes so you cannow just have the conversations. Maybe we're
making a big out of nothing longterm situations, but we've seen it around

(02:19:18):
college football in the league, guysplaying both sides of the ball. I'm
doing it quite well right Travis Hunneris doing it out in Colorado, and
Caleb Jasid's been department turns, sowe see what he could do with the
ball. But there's also the staminaaspect of that. Just get into the
sixteen game season. So I'm notsaying it's twenty forty snaps or something like
that. But what about his athleticismwhat he brings to the table and let
you know that if you wanted toexplore it in a real game, he

(02:19:41):
could last and still be an effectiveseety Yeah, yeah, we'd have to
see all that he did it inhigh school. But we got some really
good running backs in a room.So it's not something that we're planning on
doing, but uh, well,we are gonna, you know, work
on a little bit Caleb. Calebenjoys that part of it. We did
agree that that was something that wewere gonna look into where Oh I don't
I don't really know right now,but I know that he has the capability

(02:20:03):
to do it. He has theathleticism and do it, and you know,
we'll kind of see where it goes, see see how he does,
and you know, maybe hand theball Tom a little bit of the preseason,
because again, it's going to bea long season. We have to
make sure we have continuency 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 eventalked about him coming in as a as

(02:20:24):
an offensive player. Ultimately, wethink his ceiling is highest on defense.
But you know, but I alsoagree, I think that having you know,
guys going in other side of theball and just see it, listen
to meetings is really healthy for thedevelopment. So we're gonna do that regardless.
Your defensive recruiting right now is maybefurther long it's been in the years

(02:20:46):
past, and I think we passedmuch questions about it in the past.
Way is this a product of seeingit over the last couple of years and
now it's 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, and I think Tim walls an unbelievable
job as well in the back end, and you know, Matt stepped right
in and James and Larry. Ithink they're all doing a great job.

(02:21:07):
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.
And then I think you're seeing alot of guys just excited about playing
in this defense. I think theysee the capabilities and the flexibility too.
You know, right now, youknow the way we play, excuse me,
the way we play right now isbased on you know, we have
four really talented defensive linemen that arereally good, and we got a lot

(02:21:31):
of that to those positions. Butthere's also flexibility with some of the things
Gym's done in the past that youknow, we're definitely looking at and some
of the recruits that we're looking atwho brings some versatility pass rusher, you
know, we had that jack positionand those type of things. So,
uh, that's exciting as well.And I think you're seeing a lot of
the recruits, you know, reallyget fired up when they get here.
People. Yeah, coach, Ithink your first couple years, your identity

(02:21:54):
was very bigger a standpoint and airingout type team. What I look at
the playmakers you have to because youridentity change. I guess what do you
think the identity is of this pointfour? Well, 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

(02:22:15):
to stop the run, run thefootball, take care of the ball,
and there'll be opportunity used to throwthe ball, that'll that'll happen. But
you know we're gonna have to,you know, do those things to win
close games and play situational football.But I think, you know, you
won't really get a feel for whatthe identity of the team is until we
get into probably the beginning of October, you know, and I think we
all have ideas of what it couldgo. But you know now that we're

(02:22:39):
playing in a playoff format, justlike a lot of those NFL teams sometimes,
you know, they don't really quiteunderstand their identity until they get about
halfway through the season. I don'tthink it'll take that long. But you
know, we're able to play somegames and kind of work through some things.
And I don't think our defense isgoing to change a bunch in terms
of what we did last year.I mean, it's a lot of the
same guys back could look a littledifferent on offense. Time for two more

(02:23:00):
go to Dougla Mararis. Okay,right, you lose an important recruiting staffer
to promotion at Michigan just the secondtime soone's gone to Michigan is this offseason?
How do you react to something likethat? Is something that someone like
that would take information that was learnedhere that could help Michigan or Burt Ohio

(02:23:24):
stages the reaction. Yeah, allgood questions, and you know, I
just I want to talk about theguys that are here, you know,
the staff members that are here,the coaches that are here, the players
that are here, the ones thatare Buckeyes. Joe Didjon with the scheduling
change that was announced yesterday? Howwhy did they come together? Didn't have

(02:23:45):
anything to do with the expanded theplayoff? They think the beginning of the
season a little different. Yeah,you know, I don't know all that
came in came with it. Iknow it got presented to me a while
back, and you know I wason board with it. So yeah,
I mean, I think, youknow, we do have to look a
little bit different at our scheduling aswe move forward, based on the way

(02:24:05):
the format is at the end ofthe season. That's quickly about the linebackers
got in here a little bit late. How do you feel about your linebackers?
Cody seems like he as like he'slucking as a starter. CJ.
When do you see his role beingsonny? When you see his role being
gay and all? This guy Yeah, good versatility all those guys, Arvel
Reese, Like you said, CJ, Gabe, Sonny, Cody, you

(02:24:28):
know I'm missing a couple, I'msure, but like that was that y
Rvel? Yeah, I mean theseguys are very versatile guys. You can
see the length on them, andyou know they do a good job in
terms of like fitting the runs.They can they have enough length, you
know, to covering zone. Butthey'll also blitz and that's something that we
wanted to really work on this offseasonis getting better at blitzing, you know,

(02:24:50):
and hopefully we can even take thenext step in the preseason. But
all playmakers, I think when youwhen you see us, you know,
in the length that we have there, we look a little bit different than
then in the past, and andthat's exciting. You know when you when
you tie that in with our frontfour in the back end, you know,
it's important to make sure that thelinebackers the one they're the glue.

(02:25:11):
Cody's had an unbelievable off season.He leads to he leads the pack with
that group, but you're seeing alot of those guys come on last right,
you talked about this defense being similarto last year. You could be
very good as a base you canbe more aggressive. How do you envision
visions? And I believe in thisteam. Okay, maybe this isn't true.

(02:25:31):
You play like ohiose they finished secondfor the first time around this race?
Is that truth? Clachure? No, common that's but obviously when they
were recruiting, you're still back acouple of years ago, Jim. Those
when here a lot of potential topicsthe end years, maybe it was more
telling me what it could look like. And now I guess seeing what's looked
like over the last few years,has that made me match? When they

(02:25:52):
would Kelly get back to the That'sdefinitely true. They played great defense last
year and just seeing how watching thefilm and seeing how they progress and seeing
how their defense played last year definitelyhelped me make a more sound decision and
having more facts about what it wouldbe getting into They told you, like
what's the moose stags about? Theymaybe see you at or more so the

(02:26:18):
adjuster than the bandit. But atthe end of the day, I mean,
I I just wanna play where Ican get on the field. Okay,
does defense look like what they werepitching you on? As the group.
Has it lip flipped up to whatthey were trying to tell you was
what I looked like? Yeah,the definitely has Do you have a connection
with what? What the what?What's came around the film? Did you

(02:26:39):
ever? Very genuine person? Hehe always keeps it straight with you.
Everything that he says, he hascome to fluition, so I can't knock
him on anything. He's uh veryclose to my pops too. They grew
up together. So just knowing thatrelationship with him and our relationship together,
is I tr I trusted him?Go without you sort of campaigning? So

(02:27:01):
your friend place uh much year?Or is that something that you want to
keep doing? When did you likedoing that another? I did like doing
that at Alabama, But at theend of the day, that's the coach's
decision. So I can't really uhspeak on that right now. What are
your trying? That great guy,very int uh intelligent. A lot to
learn from him. He knows thisdefense very well. Just being able to

(02:27:24):
learn from him and see how hesees the game, well, I think
that'll very progress mine, uh mydevelopment? What guys that do you know?
Because stuff than the other. Butif in those last places or away
had you started to mother with him. You see you like from me out
if you haven't move a lot ofback to do maybe maybe if something guy's
boss the boarding or be anything.Do you wa you guy last day?

(02:27:48):
Anything you'd like to get brother in? And how you use any good guy
with you? See? Hey?How you doing? Though? Uh,
you're good, I've been good.It was. There was definitely some back
and forth. There was a lotto think about, a lot to process
between me and my family, soit wasn't really much to say to the
media or anything. But at theend of the day, I made the

(02:28:09):
decision and I'm here, so I'mglad to be here. Yeah. Pretty
What about me? As you press? How is it? How do you
that who's already? How do youplay that? I think the development from
when I was a kid. I'vebeen training with my dad and my brother

(02:28:30):
since i was four or five yearsold, So I don't wanna say I
was built for this, but Imean, at the end of the day,
I've been doing this since I wasa kid, so there's barely been
no change. What did you tosee him delp right now? As you
look back for about Nick's safety?What what what made him special? Very
disciplined person. He was committed everysingle day to being his best self,

(02:28:52):
and not many people can actually saythat and be truthful with that. He
was the same person every single day, and he taught me a lot about
commitment, about being disciplined, consistency, everything that goes with that, and
being great. I feel like that'swhat he embodies with with dead in mind,
What what is it about safety anddeepens that excites set? What do

(02:29:13):
you know? What I mean?Everybody makes a a a pig's somewhere in
their lives, or what play offensea fish pass? What what is it
about playing deepens with decide shooting?I feel like it's being a part of
a a bunch of moving parts thathave to work together. The offense has
to do their own thing, butthe defense everybody has their own responsibility.

(02:29:35):
And when everybody can do their ownresponsibility, everybody's gonna make plays and everybody's
gonna be able to succeed. SoI just feel like being a part of
that and trying to help myself andhelp my team be better in terms of
that, that's a that's a bigthing for me with dead in what,
what did you get a good safeabout that assay. Obviously it's not as
a keepers good roots of the teams. What what do you a party on

(02:29:56):
with? In terms of that topdollar? A lot about how to see
the game pre snap and during theplay, a lot about going into the
game in terms of how you watchfilm, how you study, what things
to see from the other team,everything like that. That's that's what he
teaches. Was added with that?What's out? Does he know him right

(02:30:18):
now? I mean he used tocome off with us. It's a fairly
intelligent gap. How what what's yourperson who played like you? Uh?
Very intelligent for sure. He seesa lot and he has an answer for
everything in terms of what teams canbring him. So I just feel like
him the different ways that he playsdefenses that will allow me to develop in
different ways. How a last favorite? Were you very instinctual player, very

(02:30:48):
athletic, being able to make playsall over the field, being able to
see plays before they happen. Itwas you? I think too? What's
y just played guns and little Boy? How much here is it to understand
a lot of leason he pays intoa game of playbook say the last time

(02:31:09):
some people I think I understand itmore. I mean, I definitely can't
understand it from a uh Ohio Stateperspective cause I haven't played and then I
haven't been through that, so Ican't really speak on how they feel.
But I'm definitely hugging to be missingwith myself. Do you feel what you
said you believe in any What isit about you? I mean when you

(02:31:31):
played for the next day was thegreatest book? We argue with you about
that? Now you things which ofthem put that says to you? Just
what wasn't about him you'd like todo? You know? I think you
prout that the first time around,and in the second time then did they
come back into your prow for eachtogether? And what was a probam waiting
the next week to teacher? Hewas the same person. He was,

(02:31:52):
uh, very genuine when I wasgetting recruited high school, and he was
very genuine when I talked to himtwo weeks ago. So just being able
to understand that he's about the peoplethat he works with, and he's very
he believes in the people that he'saround, and he believes in the people
that he believes in. So justknowing that and knowing what he stands for
that means a lot, he said, said there was a lot, but

(02:32:16):
you were into oh, just Iknow everything, disent bastions, what going
how what was that might from yourage? Kiss I make this recruiting on
steroids. I'd say I got likea hundred and two calls in one day,
so just uh, well not inone day, probably seven eight hours,
but just being able to minimize whatmy mind was going through, that

(02:32:43):
was a that was a big thingfor me. And being able to make
a sound decision off of what Iknew. He has me, calls me
calcuns noise, except that's time bringingthe autumn blots as adults, but really
kind of sid get out what Iwant him and make him sound right.
Pretty much, you have to gosilent. You have to be able to

(02:33:05):
control your circle in terms of gettingyour opinions from people that you trust in,
people that you know you can counton. So that was the biggest
thing for me, just being ableto understand what the people around me were
thinking and how I wanted to goabout it right so high at the end

(02:33:33):
of the day, I love playingfootball and that's what I'm here to do.
I'm not here to make money ordo anything like that. I know
there's a lot of opportunities here interms of the city of Columbus, but
at the end of the day,I'm here to help this team win football
games, and I'm here to domy best and try to develop so that
you will though. Uh I Iplayed and called throughout my life, so

(02:34:00):
it's not I mean, Georgia's different, but I mean I have had some
cold experiences, so that's not areally a big thing for me. Through
the boscess table of Parsport, howmuch would you talk to the porches at
highest skate book people? You justfought with what your rules? Did you
when you were talking about public hons? You want to do the saxons for
the cause? I discussed, Okay, I wanna get public pooks to do
this, and that it was discussed, But it wasn't. It's not something

(02:34:24):
that was a deal work or anythingfor me. So I wasn't. That
wasn't the biggest the biggest yes orno for me. And what you were
with the expectations for the Whive State, the same expectations that I've had my
whole life, the same expectations thatwe had at Bama to win games and
dominate every game and go win achampionship. When you were here, I

(02:34:48):
play for a lot of Skip Punsand saw the culture they ever saw the
they have bread or thinking here fora couple of weeks. If there are
similarities in the approach to how theygo about and try to win a measure
bo this program just in a coupleof teachers and really just going up so
they trying to get you in acup usership. It's all about the work,
It's all about the process. It'sall about doing everything daily to push

(02:35:13):
yourself to be where we need tobe at the end of the at the
end of the ride, how couldyour program pretty help? Uh? I
would say the day of or daylike before the decision, it was m
pretty much just sitting on FaceTime withhim and my uncle, uh, just
talking about what was gonna go intothe decision and seeing their input on what

(02:35:37):
they had to say about things.You neither I'm a I would say,
I'm a pretty respectful person and Irespect the people that reached out to me,
even if I really wasn't trying tolook at their school. So I'd
probably say, like eighty of'em, you have to tell me go on
to fo pride to get when youmight want to go though just cause of

(02:35:58):
acting coving of how about going outwith that? I feel like you have
to have some sort of idea.But people have an idea where they're gonna
go during recruitment too, So Iwouldn't say it's that big of a difference,
but you definitely have to have amore of a singular mindset on a
few places. That what way forvery calm, very I like to chill

(02:36:30):
out, not not a lot todo, just uh, hang out with
my people and hang out with myfriends, hang out with my family,
just be around people. Don't yougot to make plays for any person?
I'm like that for you? Whatyou thing about it was? Uh,
it was a highlight for me forsure, just being uh being named at

(02:36:52):
and going in a relationship with ShawnAlexander He's a great person and learning about
him. It was it was definitelyan honor for me. Do you worations?
I feel like more than just Latethan the Sunny, you can compliment
each other. A lot of peoplein the secondary can work together to be

(02:37:13):
cohesive and be uh a brotherhood.So but Late than and Sunny they welcome
me and I appreciate them for that. So I think us working together,
we can we can do some realdamage. If there's a game, there's
a game where if you have themgoing through, that's a pieces who are
that's like that? As day thatyou watch me? Which games would you
play this to you and feel likeit's best tation? I would say as

(02:37:37):
a collective the whole season. Youcan see the growth. You can see
the growth from the beginning of seasonto the end. But I would say
M Mississippi State or Texas A andM would probably be the best too.
Head, Yeah, happen? Okay, what are you the farm of beast?

(02:37:58):
Is this really? Oh? Ican't say that. That's that's for
God to decide. I can't reallysay that. Is it Twitter? Is
it? What fun? You recruitof high school? Or refer to all
the people? Definitely as a highschool, not as rushed, I would
say, could be like that.You need you Domini technist youself like that

(02:38:24):
you mechicalizepect of what im I wouldsay, I'm a lead at that.
Being able to watch film and determinewhat are the keys to look at each
pay play, being able to determinewhich guys I need to change up my
techniques for uh. Being able todetermine what I'm looking at in terms of

(02:38:46):
before the play and what my teammatesneed to look at before to play.
I would say I'm I'm eleade atthat and being able to make those differences
each week are a big thing forme. They like you mentioned for the
movie Some Strength and Radians that youfind your man speak expla ran here.

(02:39:11):
Uh, there's a lot of similarities. Uh. Coach Blue runs a great
program and I love everything that hedid for me there. And those guys
uh that worked there, like Coachyou G you J So I'm appreciative of
how they worked and they did greatthings there. Coach Mick does a great
job here. So I can't reallysay one's better than the other. But
Coach MC he's he's a very intenseperson. What do you g wump us

(02:39:33):
apart? I know, what doyou what are your wumpus apart at?
Really? Oh, I love thecity. I love being around here.
Uh. I love the feel ofthe town. So just being a part
of it is it's a great thingfor me about I SP I expect us

(02:39:54):
to be one of the best.I expect us to excel and be better
than they were last year. Iexpect us to be elite. Excuse me,
really, I mean I saw it, but honestly, it was about

(02:40:20):
me making my own decision. Uh, me making the decision that was best
for myself. So I mean,like, if you're going against high League,
you're going against high You're going againstyou know, with the Hero and
k Mack and these guys. Nowwe're getting really good gradable reps. That
way. He had a great hehad a great offseason. Uh just all

(02:40:41):
started in the weight room with Mick. I mean, his his weights up,
He's thick. He's always been anexplosive guy, but playing with a
little bit of power, you know, behind that, he's learning to do
that, you know, in thenatural maturation. I mean for all those
guys, you talk for him,you talk I mean just his class alone.
I mean you're talking him, you'retalking Joe, you're talking Tiger.
Like those guys are going into yearthree, that's when you really start to

(02:41:05):
figure it out your body, thespeed of the game, the technique,
the fundamentals. And he's done agood job of adapting and really growing himself
on the pace that you need tofor a young guy. That's you know,
coming out of the fire a littlebit. Last year he talked about
like being at a better weight now, and it's a better weight, it's
real weight close to three hundred andcomes up being faster, more confident.

(02:41:26):
Is that where for a center likewas last year kind of trial by fire
for him? Is it just likehow was that process? But not playing
it all his first year starting mitcheIt's for whether it's Carson Hensman or you
know, Johnny Jones, like youget thrust into real reps and the full
speed, it's faster than you've everseen. And so now he has that
book of work too that he canlook back on, where the understanding of

(02:41:48):
the game, the understanding of thespeed of the game, the intensity.
You know, I've said a thousandtimes that he doesn't get incrementally faster or
stronger. The game mentally slows downfor him. So he can use his
skill set that way. So whatis that we're talking about. It's his
weight, that's his strength because thosenumbers are going up, so he can
play with more pillar strength, hecan play more contact, he can play

(02:42:09):
more comfortable. Even though his fortytime didn't go from a five to zero
to a four to eight made himselfin. He just jumped right in.
Unbelievable job both ways of him justcoming in with shelving the ego that he
had he really had none, andwalking in saying, I'm walking into a
room, as we told him whenwe recruit him, like you're coming into

(02:42:30):
a room a bunch of good dudes, and then our good dudes are good
dudes. He came in and therewas no It's like, you're here,
here's how we do, here's howwe operate, and let's go. And
so that learning curve for all thosewhether it's a high school media guy or
a veteran midia guy that transfers in, there's a learning curve there, just
you know, circling back to wehad natural maturation a little bit because he's
been through a little bit of springball, he's been through a little bit

(02:42:50):
of camps, so you're still learningnew terminology, you're learning a new skill
set. But he just dove rightin and wanted to be a sponge and
wanted to learn it. He's doinga good job and he's improving every day,
you know. So that's what's makingthe battle and the competition all these
graded snaps really, you know,good for us is because they all have
that mindset. So from SETH awesome, the unit in the group awesome because

(02:43:13):
there was no combativeness to it.It was let's get in, let's go,
and let's compete and then let theguys win. Said, uh,
just learning the same deal all youngguys you come in, you got to
learn how to play in friction.So having you know, three tech,
having a two I, having thoseguys like right in front of it that

(02:43:33):
every time you take one of thosereps and you're out of your base or
you're in your base, you feelthe good, you feel the bad.
So being more consistent that way,you know, you can't make moves or
shift guys if they're not mentally there. And so for him, he's got
a pretty good football FQ. Sohe's continued, he's growing every day,
he's working and he's getting beat everyday too. And he's learning from those
you know, so from the springtime, you know, we have saying in

(02:43:54):
our room, we're like in thespring it's yes and it's no, and
I know it's k and ow,why didn't the rep work? What happened?
And how do I make sure,I don't repeat the same mistake.
And so whether he's coming in andwatching the tape on his own and then
come up with questions, he's grabbingme and watching tape with me, or
we're coming doing stuff as a unit, he's learning so that the same deal
of the game can slow down andhe gets more comfortable there in friction.

(02:44:15):
So I mean he's his weights up, his strengths up. He's spent an
off season with Mick. You know, there's a lot of development that still
has to be had. Obviously nota finished product, but being able mentally
for a guy to handle that,you know, helps a lot. Similar
to Luke a leaner guy. Didyou tell him that he paid you to

(02:44:41):
say that? That might be thefirst time he ever heard that in his
life. No, uh, Now, you know, like Luke Carson,
whoever it may be, that thatjump of a eighteen to nineteen and nineteen
to twenty year old kid that playsa lot into it too. Being in

(02:45:03):
a full year with Mick, Imean, all those guys you come in
at midyear, like your Devo andDion and Ian Moore. Right now,
you're keeping your head above water.That's your whole first year now you can
actually get and we can sit.So when you sit and talk about a
jam combo or a lock or whateverthe call may be to Luke, he
registers that and not like something newbecause then there's paralysis by analysis. So

(02:45:26):
I think the mental part, ontop of another year natural maturity of getting
bigger and stronger, that's always gonnahelp. You're not gonna guys here,
They're not gonna regress. It's gonnakeep adding progress and how fast can we
get that going. It's what we'reworking on every day with him. But
Dodd said that he would had beenball guard to this point, and coach
Days mentioned it several times that like, Josh could play guard too, and

(02:45:46):
you guys are trying to work throughthat fire. He's I mean Josh could
play all five. I mean hesnapped the ball in high school. You
know, Josh had a great offseason. But for you, when you're going
through a spring and it's factfinding andit's how much do you want to put
them in different spots or not?Because you also have an eye on August
to try and settle on a fivemen rotation. What do you have to

(02:46:09):
get a really good gradable set?So that everybody has numbers of you know,
just like we said before, howmany times have we done a run
blocking or pass blocking in this situation, so that that all evens out.
So that's it's not experimentation. It'sjust making sure that you get a good
book of work to look at andgrade that. So as we you know,
work guys around the platoons and gojust to make sure that everybody gets

(02:46:31):
good gradable reps. So we cansit back by the end of spring and
say, all right, this isyou're comparing apples to apples and oranges oranges
and not you know, apples oranges, because it's completely different that way.
So that's kind of the thought behindthat. As you're going through the spring.
You got you a couple of yearsago, I would have tould you
two years from now, Kelly isgoing to be here as the office and
what would you said? That laughed, you know, but then I said,

(02:46:54):
you know, it's college football,so who knows, right, what's
that been? Like, I'm sureyou're yeah. I mean he just added
to another piece of just good peoplehere. I mean, you're still you're
coming to work here with guys everyday, you know, with the kids.
We talk about a ton. Butthen for us as coaches the staff,
so adding just another good dude that'sin the room. Obviously as he

(02:47:18):
says something, and you know,he might speak in old terms or terms
that we had, you know,maybe be a little bit of a Rosetta
stone, like no, no,this is this He's like, yeah,
that's right, because that's that happensto all coaches. That happened to me
when we got here. At first, I was at with the coach day
sometime with Ryan's like, you know, what do we call this? Because
he was in a system like thatbefore. He said, oh, this
is this now. So I thinkjust the you know, uh translation of

(02:47:39):
Rosettes stone there helped. But justoverall standpoint of adding a great guy,
that's a great coach that's been around, that's he's going to supplement the room.
And every time you add something newto the room, then that makes
the room better, It makes youindividually better. Oh look how he does
that. Maybe I could do that. Maybe I could bring that to my
meeting room. Maybe I can bringthat to communication, to the staff or
to the or whatever it is.Because he's he's done it for a long

(02:48:03):
time and he's done at a highlevel for a long time. So it's
good to add that guy to us, and then continues us the rest of
the staff for me and Brian andKey and and and everybody just learning and
growing with that kind of specifically,just I mean, does he from a
talent standpoint, does he see thingssometimes others don't see? I mean,
does he? I mean you meanwhat does he kind of brings from the

(02:48:24):
chalkboard aspect of things? Well,I mean what you're saying, so what
does he see? It's good tohave fresh eyes come in that. Maybe
you know you're getting a routine andyou get in a rhythm and then all
of a sudden running game football.You know, He's one of those guys
I think goes into the category it'sforgotten a lot of more football than some
people have learned in their life.But no, his he I believe he

(02:48:48):
coached every position on the field,both sides of Walter's whole career. So
as he looks up and he writeswhen he's talking about, well, this
will linebacker is going to do that, then he might have coached that at
Columbia, right, or this iswhat the three text going to read on
the down block of a tame becausehe's coached the offensive line and he's been
coordinator for a long time. Sojust a really good vision of big picture
understanding and you know, the nextstep and not just being running now.

(02:49:11):
Yeah, if he had a themeor whatever, it is spring because I
mean it seems kind of like ahow to make it a breaking time for
him, but the time to stepup and step in. The point was
nobody cares. Nobody cares what youknow, what struggles you have or whatever.
You got to go up to afield to get the job done.
I mean it's like if you knowanything different about tag Rick, you get

(02:49:33):
what do you see about Tiger?Yeah, he was competing his butt off.
I mean he's kind of living thatway. You know. That's why
we have that the red line overthere when you cross the line. You
know, Coach Date talks about thathere like that. It's it's the game
doesn't care you're off the field.You got to come out and step out
and do your job. It doesn'tcare about anything off the field. Right.
That can sound really negative and harsh, but then it also if you

(02:49:54):
just spind your tone, like isn'tit beautiful that the game doesn't care.
It doesn't care your skin color,your socioeconomic background, where you've come from.
If you just want to do itthe right way in the fifty three
and a third, the game willlove you back, you know. And
so I think it's the approach mentallythat guys take that way. So yeah,
for Tegra, he's he's taking thatapproach like he wants to come in

(02:50:16):
and be a guy. So he'sfighting and cawing and scratching every day.
So when he makes a mistake,he's trying to correct it. When he
does it well, he's trying toenhance it. And that's what competitive people
do and that's what he showed upto do. So I's that's good that
he said that what he's coming inon the field been like as a center.
And is that difficult when you're comingin to a new offensive line to

(02:50:37):
have that or is there something nateabout the center position if you've been experienced
at it like he has, whereyou kind of have that. I guess
a command on the field over withany offensive one story to say it over
and start over again. You're sayingthe comfort of center with you now,
Okay, Yeah, I'm saying likehow has his Higgs command of the field
been and hasn't been difficult? Iguess to adjust for him if he's to

(02:50:58):
have a sort of field command,you know, yeah, I mean it's
on command. It's just great communication, getting everybody on the same page.
Yes, having a bunch of bankedreps helps. But then when you do
come into a new offense, Uh, just like we talked, you know
with Chip a little bit earlier.You know, he might have called it
yellow and we call it green orsomething. But when it came to Ohio,

(02:51:20):
study is that you know, theexpectation is, yeah, I'm gonna
have that other thing on us.When I think that's just gotten better now
going in through the three where youcan really look at it and say,
we have veteran players who understand thedefense and understanding the position, plus the
great actor. What do you likeabout Sonny a contractor you know, it's

(02:51:43):
a it's a change for Sonny becausehe's playing in the box, you know,
from a low position instead of droppingin, so things happen a lot
faster. But you know he's reactedsuperbly. I mean you can't share because
it has got football intelligence. Heunderstands the scheme played a lot of physicians.

(02:52:05):
I think he's gonna be great becauseone of the biggest uh parts of
being a linebacker is you have toknow every all the pieces around you.
Say you can play fast and uhsome He's showing a lot of that in
the first two days. Do yousay tech about the spots where were you
where you start back football? Yeah, I feel it's it's permanent. But

(02:52:30):
you know, in terms of faceand and nickel packaging, you know it's
permanent. But there may be otherthings where he'll still have multiplicity. You
know, there's gonna be packaging.Who gives you move to flimb back at
this level? Is that? Whatwould you do? Just just go into
the totty five pounds now? Orgive you to be ponies against? Who

(02:52:52):
is your mom stems? Thank?Yeah, a little bit of both.
I mean, anytime you make amove, you want it to be right
for the play and for you know, the defense and the team. And
I think that fit up naturally.You know, Sonny, Sonny had to
fight to stay lean as a dV and now he now you know,
he gets to eat you know,and and uh and but I think it

(02:53:16):
worked out for both of us idea. Well, you know when you when
you when I first met him,when when I first got here. You
know, I think everybody talks about, you know, he's going to be
a linebacker. He's going to bea linebacker. But I really wanted to

(02:53:37):
see him at safety first. That'swhat he wanted to do, That's what
I wanted to see. You know, I felt long term in my vision
for him that playing safety early inhis career was going to give him a
better perspective of the defense. Youknow, had Malcolm Roderiguez who was is

(02:53:58):
with the Lions at Oklahom sitting out. He's about half a Sunny size,
but he started as a safety andwhen he became a linebacker, he understood
things a lot better. So myvision for Sunny was to, you know,
start him out of safety and theneventually move him down. How was
CJ. Hicks doing? And CJand and Sonny competing for the same spot
and generally speaking, yeah, Imean, you know, part of the

(02:54:20):
time they are you know, partof the time we'll have all three of
them on the field with coach,So there's balance there and that they're competing
and they also could be in thesame package. But CJ's got a great
attitude. You know, I've alwaysfelt that CJ has a lot of pressure

(02:54:41):
on him, you know, beingfrom Ohio. But he's coachable, and
he understands growth and our plans forhim, and he's got a great attitude
and gay powers. Where's he atentering his third year? Probably and it
didn't you didn't see it because hedidn't play a lot in me games,
but in our opinion game, youknow, the second half of the season,

(02:55:03):
what we see in practices, it'sprobably one of the most complete guys
he really was. So he madea huge jump second half of the season
in terms of what he was doingin practice and when he got into the
game, a huge jump. Youknow. So I feel like he is
a guy that is going to compete. He's a guy that's gonna be ready.

(02:55:26):
You know. I feel like he'smade too, made us improvements and
we can start to count on him. Are you looking at just to Will
right now? Or is he aguy that's moving around to the Taj's moving
around too, you know. Soyou know, you get into a three
linebacker package, you know, Sonnyand Cody and c J. You're you're

(02:55:48):
pretty good right. But now,but you can't just have one yacht.
So you know, the son he'snot there at the Sam. Then CJ's
got to know how to play ittoo, you know, so that you
could playing gave in and Mike andCody can play well, you know,
and you still have a great lineup, so you always have to plan
for you know, Okay, we'llstart out this way, but who's who's

(02:56:09):
in next? So CJ has toknow both positions too. Yeah, are
are y'all still a four two fivedefense? How would you? I mean?
Yeah, we're still fortune five?Yeah, no, absolutely, multiple,
Absolutely, we're still forty five,but multiple, multiple deployments at times,
you know, we can be fourthree, But yeah, you still

(02:56:33):
got some right, So now yougot yeah, you got Sonny at a
Sam Becker who's who's has experienced playingsafety, you know what I mean?
So that that that really creates moremultiplicity. How does it help you do
your job now that you have afull time linebacker's coach, j Yeah,
it's uh, you know, justhaving James initially last year was a big

(02:56:54):
bonus because of his experience and andthe way he works with the players.
He's a lot nicer to them thanI am. You know, the last
year it was good cop, badcop. You know, now the bad
cops left the room. So I'msure the players love it, you know,
the season. I think the defense. When you look at the defensive

(02:57:16):
line and you feel settled, whatin the secondary feel settled? I think
outside looking back spot? What what'stheir news? What? You know?
The baby's question on top to markgetting this? That have the right guys
to make stuff week started? Yeah, really confident. I think adding sunning
it into that makes a guy who'sgot a lot of experience, a lot

(02:57:39):
of playing time, you know,that really bolsters that position in that room.
So I'm confident in what we havethere. Cody Simon, you know,
is the guy who we think it'sgonna be great and who's meaning there
a lade or the defense, SoI think it'll be extremes, you know.

(02:58:01):
Yeah. R Vel. You know, we kind of experimented with r
Vel at the end last year alittle bit, and you know, I
keep getting asked, you know,can he be a linebacker? Can he
be a linebacker? And I thinkhe's gonna be a great linebacker. You
know, he just needs growth andlearning. So I would like to just

(02:58:24):
continue to grow off r vel mentallyin football intelligence, you know, at
the linebacker position. So will therebe a role for him this year?
I don't know, because he isso athletic. You know, he's a
guy you kind of look at andsay I can do different things with you
know when we get to the season. You know, that's a guy you
can always create something for that doesn'tinvolve as much thinking, you know,

(02:58:48):
so he can just go. Butout here, I want to keep growing
him as a linebacker because his timewill come where you're at the costs the
jacket positions. Yeah, I meanit's it's it's always there, you know.
I'd like to get it in thisspring. You know, we didn't
used it, dabbled in at yearone, didn't use it last year.

(02:59:11):
It's always in our package, youknow, so at some point we'd like
to get to it just to kindof keep it fresh. Register What do
you like about their technique? Size, sport. Yeah, he's got great
speed, you know, good size. He's just that he looks like a

(02:59:31):
nickel. You know, his skillsare his skills are like a nickel.
So you know he's still learning.But you saw Jordan make just cement tremendous
progress with that last year. Sowe gotta we gotta bring Lorenzo on the
team last year. You trying tokeep it there. Yeah, Hero really

(03:00:00):
flashed last year at times when yougo back and watch the film. So,
uh, the fact that we playa lot of Russlan, I mean,
that's a that's a guy who's whoused to have a good spring for
us because he's gonna be uh,he's gonna be next man in, you
know. And you know with aguy like Hero, he starts to really
come along. You know, youstart to look at some you know,

(03:00:26):
double egle type of packaging. Youknow. My thoughts are you know,
with the with Jack and j T. You know that at some point I
want to train them as outside linebackers. You know, so if you've got
Hero ti League of Tie and youget to you can get to more of
you know, uh, you know, five five guys, five d linemen

(03:00:50):
in the game. You know,with training guys like Jack and and j
T and Kiyata. You know,it's just kind of in my thoughts like
if we're strong inside those those guyscan become more multiple, you know.
And I think it's techniques and thingsthat they can use when they get to

(03:01:11):
the next level. So that's kindof been my thoughts too. Should you
expound on that little bit you're sayingJack and j T possibly with that outside
linebacker concept? What exactly would that? Well, you know, you're always
looking to get the best eleven onthe fields, right, So when when
you look at a twelve personnel set, you say, okay, I got

(03:01:33):
you know, Sonny, Cody andCJ with with the four down? You
know, you know, could wehave another component with you know, Jack
and JT and and three tackles andCody and Sonny or Cody and CJ.
You know, I think you knowwho's going to be who's going to be
the best eleven? You know againstbigger sets? Could it possibly be hero,

(03:02:00):
you know, versus having a thirdlinebacker? Could it be three tackles?
You know, that's in my thoughts. We haven't installed that yet,
but I but I I'd like toget to that just to see. And
like I said, I feel likewith those guys, uh, the more
they know of how to really bean outside linebacker, the better it's gonna

(03:02:22):
help them when they get to thenext the next level. So it's something
i'd like to do for them tothink, yeah, I expect. I
mean Lathan was making very good progress. You know, always loved the way

(03:02:45):
he played, his attitude, hisphysicality. First year, you know he
had some eye violations. You knowhe was he was improving on that until
he got hurt, so you knowhe goes down. I'd say the responsibility
is, you know, first andforemost, to lead by example. I

(03:03:07):
could sit there and I can sayall the things I don't want to say,
talk up a storm. At theend of the day, you gotta
just you gotta work the work,got to do, to do what you're
supposed to do. And I thinkthat's gonna ultimately lead guys in the right
direction. So that's just the thingthat I can kind of take it on
the most is just lead by example. Get up, Yeah, okay,
well the quick looks? Can youhurry? I'm a flying standpoint to me

(03:03:30):
like we had a good year lastyear. I mean you know what I
mean, if we if you lookback at the opposition, how far if
you come in that round, Yeah, I've came along with It's it's a
very say. I'd argue to saytight end is probably the most developmental position
on the field. It takes along time to get around to. It
takes a lot of work. Ithink it's a full process. It's not

(03:03:52):
something that it's a winner turnaround ora six month turnaround. You come in,
you trying to catch it on thefly. That's something that takes a
lot of time and attention. I'mjust thankful for you know, my great,
great coaching staff and the great unitaround me and got you back then
starting off with you know, Rock, from those guys to Kaid, I
think there's been a great example forthe way they're supposed to a tap blocking
and being tied end here at OhioState. And I've been just you know,

(03:04:13):
thankful to be able to have thatexample. We fail a way.
What are you waiting now to fortywhatever? What's it been like when you
have wor Yeah, well, what'sbeen great? He's been good as somebody
that's came in humble and is readyto work. That's that's been like the
only words that I have from notnot a minute of just that many words.

(03:04:33):
But he's here, here, hereto work, and he's done just
that. And I'm just we're gladto have you learned a lot at smart
walking kinds are calling like I knowyou guys work. Sorry Bill, you
missed your guy anyways. But alsothat's when he used to know you guys
learns a little bit best a littlebit of walking. Yeah, I think
essentially that's the that's the culture ofour room is when we come off football

(03:04:54):
violent, we're just looking to swingas hard as we can. We'll clean
up your details out and so that'skind of our mindset. One into it
and uh, yeah, you're flocking. How long does it go? Like
to know that you still be receivedor so on your in reality, like
you know you're pole block people todo it, Like how hard does it
to kind of change the words actuallybe more I know you guys don't pay

(03:05:16):
attesture like outside noise, but alsolike block people say, Scott text me
really pretty good for walking too.Yeah, I'd say it starts off with
like you kind of got to Itstarts off with tuning out with the outside
noise and and what other people haveto say about it, And it's really
more up the mindset. I kindof look at it as it's like a
drop in a bucket, you know, if I got a big bucket there's

(03:05:37):
no one thing I'm gonna do toto make this bucket full. It's it's
a daily thing where I put onedropping in the day and you look back
over a year, two years,three years, you look back and be
like, man, I've gotten alot better. And so, like I
said, I'm just very thankful forthe unit. The guys that I have
around me pushed me very hard,and I'm just thankful. You mentioned that
the development hard at tight end.What was the best challenging part of you

(03:05:58):
to me? Flo thing is tothe puddy For yeah, I'd say it's
definitely the size pup on it.You know, you can't you got to
be someone that's you know one,uh, you got to be big,
you gotta be strong, you gotto be fast. With a lot of
jobs that you'll do, it's avery asking job. You need to brought
the bigger some of the biggest guysin the field, but also run routes
off some of the smallest guys inthe field. And so I think it's

(03:06:18):
thankful just to be out here anddo exactly that. What was it like
to get that shot the other dayin front of the pro scouts? You
know, just run routes, catchfalls, oh yeah, show off Yeah.
No, it was a good opportunity. I think some of the big
you know reasoning behind it were justkind of giving those guys out there that
we're at Prodavia limited numbers, Sojust get out there and give those guys
that we're either. But I neededthe opportunity to get to go out there

(03:06:39):
in front of scouts. I thinkthat's a it's a pretty good deal.
And your take on the quarterbacks tothis point, the quarterback battle is going
on? What what? What's beenyour take on Will for example, get
to know him? Yeah? Andthen and of course, David, I
think the mindset that we embody aroundhere is ironing shoppening iron. And so
that's kind of like it's not justyou know, one room, it's from
top to bottom, cup whole team, no matter what position you are,

(03:07:03):
we're here to work. And Ithink we're all here to make each other
better. Whether it's in a cornerbackroom and tight end room, we running
back room, offense versus defense,coach for his coach, doesn't matter.
We're all just you know, ironand shopping iron. Especially this time of
year in spring ball, we're notdoing too much game planning for next week,
which we're really just spending this timeto get better and hid just build
a good foundation for ourselves. It'ssomething to work on moving forward. If
you've seen Will Will Howard fitting inmore and more, is the practices have

(03:07:26):
gone on, you know, gettingto know everybody and all that kind.
I mean, I always been beennerfor a while. Yeah, No,
I think I think it's time.I think as times goes, no matter
where you are, you start toadapt and you start to get used to
the what we got going on here, and so it's good to have them.
Thanks you came in. What's itbeen like? Yeah, morning Puss.

(03:07:56):
Yeah, I'd say when it comesto that, I think it's all
the glory to the Lord. AndI decided to give my life completely to
the Lord a little over a yearago, and that kind of really changed
my outlook on the way that Iapproach is football. It's no longer something
that I idolize. It's just somethingthat I do. And I think from
the time of my life where Istopped, you know, compartmentalizing who God

(03:08:16):
was in my life. God wasn'tjust something that I do on Sundays or
something that I do. In theBible study, it was something it went
from what I do to who Iam. And so now I embody that
is who I am. And sosome of the fruits of the spirit is
peace, patience, and kindness,and so those are kind of the things
that I've started to embody on thison this journey. I think it's easy
to kind of compartmentalize football away fromfaith, but ultimately it's all one.

(03:08:37):
It's all one. So it's givenme a spirit of patience, peace,
and and enjoy with the guys aroundme. And so I'm just I'm thankful.
I'm thankful to be here. Butjust being quite honest, just I
know for a fact, I wouldn'tbe where I'm at right now. And
I know on the outside looking inyou may ask, like, you know,
where are you right now? ButI wouldn't be where I'm at,

(03:08:58):
you know, right now if itwasn't for my you know, relationship with
the Lord until they came into mylife and you know, he changed around
for the body. Gee, whatdid you see from benet Christian last year?
How did you go about the suspensionand howlready wre thing about who was
out? Yeah, I think hedid a great job, a lot of
perseverance. I think that's no matterwho you are. When you kind of
hear news like that that you're gonnabe out for a year, that's hard

(03:09:18):
no matter where you are. Onething, I'm really proud of him because
he you know, he came upand he he he came to show up
every single day, and he gotbetter. He got better. The easy
thing to do in that kind ofsituation was a throw in the towel and
be like, man, you know, you know, forget this, or
you know, I'll get better nextyear. But I saw the drive at
him. One thing I seen outof him. Every day he showed up,
he got better, And I'm proudof Bennett, and I'm proud of

(03:09:39):
this unity. Watch. Question seemedlike you're saying him what you feel if
you here in your heart. Imean, yeah, I mean I don't
know. I don't really know howto answer that question, because if you
go from one unit to another unit, the moment you trade units, you're
no longer in the you were initially, and so you're you're now a tight

(03:10:01):
end. And so I mean toanswer that question, I think the time
that I went from in the receiverthat approaches things. I love the way
the questions he asks. I lovethe way he makes mistakes and then correct
mistakes. It's very veteran, LikeI mean, there's so much ball he
has to learn, Like he literallydoes things that are good. I'm like,

(03:10:22):
do you know what that worked?He goes coach, I have no
freaking idea, So like, I'mtrying to teach him all of that why
it worked, so then you knowthe consistency at which it works just goes
to the roof. And so butI'm very you know, excited and proud
of the conversations we're currently having,and I'm exciting it for them to keep
going. I love working with ChipChip Is. I love talking Ball,

(03:10:48):
I love the viewpoints I love Ilove the veteran that he has, you
know, and I love Yeah,like, I love all of it.
I think that you know, earlyon the biggest impact, you know,
just you know, feeling perspective.I think in the run game has been

(03:11:11):
awesome, you know, and thenyou know, off of the run game
some of the actions or or reliefthrows or all that kind of stuff.
I love where it's at. Ilove working with them, and I would
say that I sleep a little better, all right. Uh, No,

(03:11:35):
it's it's really a great combo because, like you know, we're obviously we're
doing a lot as a group.It's not just Chip and I so but
you know, obviously Chip has animage and a view on things that I
never had, So to have thatexperience and have that viewpoint, I'm just
trying to absorb as much as ican, but then also highlight some things

(03:11:58):
that we've really done a good jobof and make sure those you know,
nothing's really changing, We're just tryingto enhance. We're not changing, we're
enhancing. So where the things fitis perfect, you know, I think,
uh, you know, the restof the dynamics and search Chip can
talk about. But it's been it'sbeen awesome, so I'm excited about it.
We talked to a mecca and you'rejust talking about moving from slot to

(03:12:20):
the house side. You know howgood he's been in the slot. Is
that a difficult move for you guys'scoaches to know how good a guy is
in at 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's it'sthe growth of you know, Brandon and

(03:12:45):
the growth grow of Bryson. That'sreally, you know, allowing my mind
to say, hey Mech, beprepared. You're gonna move around a lot.
You're gonna come out of that slot, You're gonna be outside. We're
going to create mismatches out there.I mean, his ability to move around
is critical. But I would saybetween Mech and between Carnell TAS's ability to
move around a lot, it's gonnaprovide a lot of flexibility for our room.

(03:13:05):
And uh and those top you know, six seven guys that are really
doing a good job. Right now, progress looks like this spring for Amica
because there's no times think two ofthose things. I'm true when you has
balanced how much work does a needversus too much? Yeah, heavy,
heavy emphasis on what work he needs, you know, versus anything else.
Uh, I rely on him.We have great dialogue back and forth.

(03:13:26):
It's a two way to it's atwo way conversation. And uh, frankly,
there's gonna be times we're like,hey, Mac, what do you
wanna do today? You wanna gooutside, you go inside, 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

(03:13:58):
mean, I may sure I'm bringingguys that are able to do all,
but I have not asked them toyet. So the only guys that in
our room currently I've asked to dothat has been Mecca and Carnell, and
those are probably the two guys thatI would, you know, think heavily
on doing moving around a lot.I'm not putting that on anybody else right
now, not saying they can't,but at this point, having two guys

(03:14:20):
being able to swing, you probablydon't need much more than that. I
need guys being experts at what they'regood at, so it it helps the
Offenset'll be great at everything and bean expert at something and we can use
that to our to our advantage situation. The room's always different, frankly,
I mean from twenty eighteen and thennineteen and through COVID and and those guys,

(03:14:46):
and and then the depth of thoseguys and then where Mech and Marvin
and those guys were as freshmen comparedto you know, It's just it's always
different, and uh, I expectthis one to be different again, I'm
not sure at what level yet.Last question, understand between the TV room
in your last room, especially youknow back and forwards. I'm curious.
Yeah, as a leader just likeyou, you know, played at Ohio

(03:15:07):
S has how experience. I'm curiousabout how you've seen him kind of build
jeer back trom especially on the recreeAbby not a successfully hasn't maybe kind of
the effective your recruit how that's kindof enchanced. He would probably know more
for that question than I would,but I would say that, Yeah,
we obviously feel right to work.Hello everybody, Darius Robinson, University of

(03:15:31):
Missouri. I just want to thankmister Bill will Mont to your coach Gannon
for this amazing opportunity. I'm gladto be here with Marvin Harrison right next
to me, so, uh,I feel great. I'm really excited and
I'm excited for this journey gratefully seefifteen here in town. Marvin, when

(03:16:05):
did you know the Cardinals were goingto select you? Did you know before
they called or was there an agreementin place? Before. No, I
did not know until I got thephone call from the Arizona Cardinals Marvin Richard
science Foxten, welcome to the valley. I know kind of tweeted to you,
tweeted out to you once you gotdrafted. What was it like to

(03:16:26):
get a message from the franchise quarterbackand what kind of thoughts have you had
about teaming up with this guy inthe near future. Yah, Yes,
sir, it's been great. Youalways want to support and love from your
quarterback and to cause a great playersuper excited to play with him, and
it's gonna be my job to makehis job easier. Darius Darren Urban from
Azycardinals dot com. I know thata lot of players these days aren't sticking

(03:16:50):
in one school for a long time, and you did it for five years.
I mean even Marvin did it forthree. Like what went behind that
and why was it meaningful for youto stay at one school? Yes?
At Missouri, you know, wehad some tough seasons, but we were
really built with an edge energy,details, good in emotional consistency, and
I just find myself just trying togrow and get better each year and also

(03:17:11):
as a team, you know,win more games each year, and that
was my that was my home,that was my family. I was blessed
to, you know, get twodegrees as well off the field, and
I just love MISSOI two degrees.Wow. Marvin mcbob McMahon at Arizona Republic,
congratulations, Thank you to both ofyou. You're known as all business,

(03:17:35):
and I want to know how that'sgoing to serve you well in this
league from personal standpoint, your brand, everything you do in a daily preparation,
there's a lot that goes into beingall business. Tell me what that
is to you. Yeah, yes, it's being a pro kin and raised
and grew up to do and keepthe same mindset, same attitude that I've

(03:17:56):
had throughout my whole career. OnceI get here, continue to work hard,
be consistent and discipline you know,and all that I do. So
I'm looking forward to put in thework. Hey, Marvin, Josh Wayne
ESPN. What were the best piecesof advice your dad gave you about being
an NFL player? I mean,yeah, it takes a lot of work,
a lot of preparation. You know, from Monday to Saturday, it's

(03:18:18):
all work and then Sunday should bethe easy part. I go out there
and have fun, ready to putthe work in. So it starts with
the work first and then when Sundaycomes it is Rieka benefits. Hey,
Darius Howard, balls are from cardswire. I can't help but notice that
ring on your finger. Is thata cotton bowl ring? Yes, it
is the cotton bowlers. You showedit to Marvin very quickly. No that

(03:18:41):
I was telling Marvin. You knowhe was glad he didn't play. The
whole week leading up. You know, you see Ohio State. Everybody said,
okay, Marvin Harrison and now he'sgonna plays, to go play.
He didn't play, so you knowwe lucked out. So hey, Marvin
Paul KELVC Cardinals Broadcasting, do youbelieve that receivers have to earn the trust

(03:19:03):
of their quarterback? And if so, what does that usually require? Absolutely,
you got to earn the trust ofthe quarterback. And I think it
starts you every day in practice andbeing consistent. Really, and you can't
just do it one day, can'tyou do it for one week? Has
to be done over and over andover again. I think that's how trust
has earned. So no matter whereyou get picked, you're first receiver.

(03:19:24):
It's round seven, doesn't really matter. Have to go and earn trust to
the quarterback, your coaches, yourteammates, so it all starts in practice.
What's going on, guys, Goodto see again, Tyler Drake,
there's no sports systems for Darius.What's the feeling of just being able to
represent your school as that first roundpick and what kind of impact can that
have for those guys falling in yourfootsteps. Yeah, it's awesome. I

(03:19:45):
feel like I'm setting the standard goingforward. But that's the name with Zoo
is known as Delon Zoo, soI'm just added to the family. But
now I feel like I'm setting thestandard for my younger teammates that this is
attainable if you work really hard,be consistent, and really good coach.
I feel like every program is builtout the strimp coach and that develops all
the habits on and off the field. Darius zach Erschmanscardinals dot Com. Right

(03:20:07):
over here, JJ mentioned that heloves the violence that you play with.
You mentioned the different tendencies that youpicked up. The emotional consistency is the
great. How do you balance thatthe violence with discipline on the field?
Honestly, just through preparation and practice. I'm a big guy. I'm a
big believer in inside hands, sothat's why I'm always working my hand placement

(03:20:28):
and then I lift weight, soyou know, that's all connected. So
I'm just trying to be focused onmy technique as much as possible. Hey,
Marvin over here, David Brown withthe Associated Press. You know,
a lot of rookies coming to theleague and they get a little bit of
leeway. It's like, oh,he's young, he needs to grow and
stuff like that. But obviously you'regonna be expected to be the guy here

(03:20:50):
really quickly. How do you dealwith that pressure? How do you go
about just so much being expected ofyou so quickly? I mean, yeah,
I have high standards for myself.Just gonna go in there and try
to work, you know, thebest I can. I just want to
help the team win really so withouta role I play, you know,
come September, let me do mybest, you know, do that role.

(03:21:11):
This one's for both of you guys. The fans want to know who
you guys are on the inside.I don't know how much you're willing to
reveal to us today. A lotwould be nice. Can you tell us
what you like to do away fromfootball, What what pisses you off about
things, and you know what whatmakes you roll. I'm pretty simple.

(03:21:33):
I like, you know, bein my apartment, watch some movies.
If I go out and I goto a restaurant, get some food.
But other than that, they dotoo much and then I'm pretty easy going,
guys, So try not to nothingbother me too much. Yeah,
I said the same thing. Areal chill guy, just really obsessed with
football. But outside of football,like I said, I got my two
degrees. I got my undergrad hospitalitymanagement and the minor and business. You

(03:21:56):
got my masters and positive culture leadership. So just thinking about being well rounded.
And then I do philanthropy work.I started my own nonprofit foundation,
Darius Robinson Helping Hands Foundation. Butreally just football and then everything else.
Honestly, congratulations, guys, Welcometo the Valley. I'm Robbie Baker with
Fox ten. Darius. This isfor you. After the draft last night,

(03:22:20):
you had a great response about howyour process and preparing for a game.
Just kind of wondering where your lovefor kind of the grind comes from
and your love for that process comesfrom. I would say my junior year
because I played little league ball offand on. But I got my junior
year and I was playing high schooland my whole goal is just to earn
a scholarship. But during that process, I really fell in love with the
game, fell in love with workingout relationships with teammates, and now it's

(03:22:43):
kind of like my vice and Ican't let it go and just kind of
finding ways to always get better.You know, Luke liitting here with twelve
Sports, congrats abouth with you,Welcome to the valley. This one's for
you, Marvin. I'm curious yourthoughts or what was that conversation like with
your dad after your name was calledyou were able to be drafted by this
organization and how surreal is it foryou to be following your own father's footsteps

(03:23:05):
but in your own way. Yeah, I mean it was very brief,
actually just in the second graduation asI walk up to the stage and then
I had to do a bunch ofinterviews afterwards. So I don't think it
has hit both of us yet.I don't know what's happened. And I
think, you know, one ofMichaels always make him proud, So I
hope I did that, Marvin,Bobrock pH and X Sports. When do

(03:23:26):
you anticipate catching your first passes fromKyler Murray? I don't know. I
don't know. I guess we'll see, hopefully as soon as possible. Darius,
you mentioned philanthropy, and I knowthere's been it's been talked about how
you took some of the NI nilmoney to do a get back to school
for the kids in Colombia. Wherewhere did that belief in doing those things

(03:23:48):
come from? I said, myfamily, My brother and my mom really
instilled that end of me. Answeredme at a young age, just give
back your blessings to others. Inmy fifthyear on Missou is the best year
in my life. So while whatI'm not sharing my blessings with others.
So that's what really motivated me todo that. And now being in NFL,
you know my goals to do threeevents each year. I just get
back because you know, it's lifeoutside of football and bigger blessings out there.

(03:24:13):
Marvin, you obviously played with anumber of highly drafted receivers at Ohio
State. What sort of feedback haveyou gotten about the NFL from them?
An you know about making the transitionin the league itself. Yeah, it's
a long season. I think goingfrom in a twelve game record season you
have in college to was it seventeengames now? And you got three preseason,
I feel just the biggest challenge thegame stations thing. Obviously never all

(03:24:35):
skilled and very talented athletes, Sothe mental part is probably the biggest thing
and the biggest change from the collegeto pros. Marvin, what's your timeline
for hiring an agent? Right overhere on the way part right you haven't
hired an agent? Why is that? Is there a timeline to hiring one?
And are you going to sign theNFLPA licensing? I think the talent

(03:24:56):
on this team is really good too, and I think that I can come
in here and make a big difference, you know, and we can win
a lot of football games, youknow. So that was my That was
part of my decision. You're Achilles, How tough was that? How long?
Take? Are you back now?I'm one hundred percent now, And

(03:25:18):
it was like a walk in thepark. It's like a sprained ankle,
you know, it was very easy, you know, because I had the
knee. The knee was pretty hard, you know, and the Achilles was
I would say it's easy, youknow, just because that's just my mentality,
and it was. It was prettyeasy to be. But you know,
I've had these injuries and it's beenstorm like the past two years,

(03:25:41):
you know, having haveing like good, great games, and nextually you know,
hurt and then you know, sogot got the injury prone out there,
you know. But I think thestorm is over with, you know,
you know, and I think I'mgonna gonna take off now, you
know, and there won't be nosetbacks and the injury prone thing will be

(03:26:03):
gone out of the window again.That's yep. I'm sorry that I am.
I am excited. You know.He does a lot of great things,
and he's a great person, andwe have a great relationship. It's
gonna be it's gonna be a funyear. We're gonna have a lot of
fun. We're gonna do a lotof great things. So I can't wait

(03:26:24):
here wait the interest you've had isthat just bad luck? Is every Is
there anything you've can attribute to beyondjust misfortune? Yeah, it's just unfortunate,
you know. But God has aplan always, you know, I
don't know what the plan exactly is. You know, I don't know,
but whatever plan it is, it'sfor me to be here. You know,

(03:26:48):
I had a great rookie year.Uh I didn't. I didn't really
have the volume as other people myrookie year, but I still had a
great rookie year. Six yards ofcarry, you know, things like that.
I think it was like nine touchdownten including the playoffs. And so
there's always been like, all right, guy, let me show my talent
shine a little bit. Like evenwhen I had the knee. So I

(03:27:09):
had the knee, right, Alot of people don't know, like I
didn't get hurt again whenever I gotyou know, got cleaned up. So
I went down in twenty one,right, had the injury, the knee
injury, and then came back laterthe next year, and I played the
first few games and it just feethere was a lot of scars issue in
there. So I did to getit cleaned up. I didn't get hurt
again. I could have played thewhole year, but I got it cleaned

(03:27:31):
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
of the year, you know,one hundred total yards in the playoff game
we lost, which I hate themost stats. Don't marry me. I
want to win. But then comeback the next year hurt again like torn

(03:27:54):
achilles. So two really unfortunate injuries. But that's just God's plan, you
know. And I think that thestorm is now over, you know,
And I do think that I'll beable to shine my light to the whole
world. Are you concerned that youhave that label you can't stay three?
I could care less because I do. I do. I know this out

(03:28:16):
there because as as it should be, it should be. I got hurt
two major injuries back or not backto back years. But you know,
so I haven't been on the fieldas much as I should. That's true,
that is true. But it's notlike I'm having these little little dinky
injuries and sitting out. It's somethingI can't control, literally, So that's

(03:28:37):
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 gonnabe healthy from now on, you know,
God will it and it's gonna begreat, and I do think that
it's gonna be It's gonna be agreat However, many years here, when
you've been on the field, you'vebeen highly adopted, years for very average

(03:29:00):
for your career. Like knowing thatwhen you're out there you're very adopted,
how much confidence does that give you? That really all you need is is
knowledge. You need all the confidencein the world, you know, the
way I work. I wouldn't sayjust from the numbers, but just the
way I work, my work ethic, you know, and my relationship with
Jesus is like I have the mostconfidence when I step out there because I

(03:29:22):
do know, like, if hegrants me the health, it's overweight,
is it. I don't think I'llbe you know. I think it will
be a great year or whatever acouple of years. However, many years
he grants 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 might be higher after this

(03:29:45):
year, you know what I'm saying. And it's crazy to think about because
I had six or six yards percarry, you know, so we'll see
you're looking forward to running behind thisline that they put together. Oh yeah,
yeah, yeah. I played withBradley. I played with him.
You know, I know the Slater, I know all the I know all
the guys you know, and I'mI'm excited. I think it's like I
said earlier, it's a talented group. You know, we just got to

(03:30:09):
put it together win some games.Cause that's what I came here for.
That's it all part of year oruh, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say
part of the recruiting. But likewhenever I decided I was gonna sign,
it was great to have him inthe room. What's your relationship, Yeah,
we're great. We're we have agreat relationship. That's he's like my
brother. So you guys, Ithink accompany ch compliment each other very well.

(03:30:33):
You know, he can do alot of stuff too, you know
it God Like a lot of peoplethink he's just power, power, power,
but I think he has some otherparts of his game. Two which
it it'll be great cause I feellike I could do everything, and when
one get tired, we we canroll it in. We keep rolling win
some games. So when you thetwo of you get going, well,
how how do you think that's gonnalook for? What? What would like

(03:30:54):
like what will be that partnership kindof back there? I know that's a
hard question. How do I thinkI think it'll look beautiful. You know
a lot of people call this apassing league, but I think you got
to run the ball to win thesuper Bowl. You know, if you
look at the team to win theSuper Bowl, they can run the ball,
they can control the clock, andso if we're both good, it'll

(03:31:16):
look great, beautiful. How wouldyou describe the great running offense? I
would I would describe it as,you know, a great offense. I
think he gives a quarter He's goingto give the quarterback a lot of options.
He's gonna give the running back alot of options. He's gonna give
the receiver a lot of options,you know, and I think it'll be

(03:31:37):
I think it's gonna be great.His offense is going to be amazing.
When we talked to him, youknow, I was like, why have
you gone LA built something? Giverushing offenses throughout your career every where you've
been, And you said that onepart of it is just you got a
call place, you got a callrun place as a running back. You
know how much confidence, how mucha second does it give you? You
know you haven't played all or ifthat's going to stick with it and allow

(03:32:00):
you and gives me a lot ofexcitement. You know, it's gonna be
Like I said, it's fun toplay in his offense, you know,
And I think he does have somegood things in the past game too,
But like you said, he stickswith the run, and that's that's the
identity you You want an offense thathas an identity, right, you won't
be looking everywhere else to find youryour identity. You want to have it.

(03:32:24):
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, full go for Look,I ain't gonna answer any of the four
if it's up to me. Yes, look, because I had this problem

(03:32:46):
like three two years three years ago. I'm thinking I'm full go. I
think I'm ready to go, Andthe next thing, you know, I'm
on pup like, hey, looksome stuff above my prey pay grade.
So but I don't know, hopefullyI can start. I think I'm ready
to start you know, at thebeginning of training camp. But that's not
up to me. As I've learned, I'll tell you, I wouldn't say

(03:33:11):
that. I think I've been I'vebeen in some great organizations, and I
think this this organization is a greatorganization, and the training staff is great,
and so they just want what's bestfor me, you know, and
they're they're taking care of me,which that's what you want in an organization,
and so that's where that comes from, which I appreciate it, Like
I really appreciate that, you know, because I'm the type of guy,

(03:33:33):
like I work really hard, somaybe 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 tome, yeah, I'm out there.
But you never know what any frustrationfor you during the heading into agency,
you know, dealing with with rehaband not you know, having won a
full season tape or adoption to goout there, is there any part of

(03:33:56):
that or you're like, gosh,you know, have hit the open market
with a different situation. You know. Nah, I like it. I
like, how would I say this? I like it the hard way,
but not you know, I likeit the hard way. I like it.

(03:34:18):
I like trial and true relations.So I mean the dice that I
was given the role was I wascoming off of Achilles, and that was
that was the Lord's plan. Soit was beauty in that, Like I
was comfortable. I was caught likethere was multiple teams, you know,

(03:34:39):
I wasn't. It wasn't like Ididn't have any other team. But I
was comfortable and sitting back and justI think it's like you know how to
write, like when used your righthand, you know how your handwriting should
look. It's about taking the repsto make sure matches. I guess you
know, so you're taking the repsto get back to that. I think
it's all does. I mean obviously, like he's one of my biggest supporters,

(03:35:03):
you know, so obviously you knowhe's he's he's excited about the opportunity
for me, you know, soI'm excited about it. Help you,
oh a lot. He helped mea lot, even feel like the first
day just trying to help me getused to to write tackle. He got

(03:35:24):
my feet used to write tackle,like my first day practice. I'm like,
dude, I still feel he feela little off. I don't feel
balanced to my stands, and heshowed me the small technique and to do
with my feet, which I stilldo even even tho I left tackle,
just kept supart my routine. Thatwas part of my process and getting to
my stands. So stuff like thatthat he taught me from day one and

(03:35:46):
obviously in practice was fun. Justcompete with him, you know, it's
just to meet at the back ofthe pocket and to dap each other back
to every rep like that was compete, you know what I mean. So
that's my guy. As much asyou love, I want your side.
How bittersweet? Is it a certainmatters because it happened to him. Yeah,
that's the thing. That's not howIt's definitely how I and and that's

(03:36:07):
not how I thought about the transitionwould go. You know, I thought
it would be you know, homesoontiming and a cardinal his whole career.
You know, you know, youwant to play here forever, you know
what I mean. While I wastalking about his plans, so you know,
you win, you wish transitions likeone of those fairy tale like it's

(03:36:30):
your time. But but again,either way, you know, we talked
about it. You know that that'sthat's the how it goes, you know,
but obviously you know he sees he'she's been one of my biggest supporters.
Again, I felt that everybody leadsin their own way, you know,
not everybody's the bright guys coming around, and that's not everybody, right,

(03:36:54):
Like I think for me, that'sme specifically on game day with the
old and after we do one onone like that's my like, well Hump
did like that's my like big vocaltime. I feel like I've talked to
Hump about this, you know,just recently talking about how what I want
to do for the room was Iwant to bring that Hump energy that he

(03:37:18):
brought right so last year. Ofcourse some traits were doing it for years,
but the year when I spent withhim, he brought a lot of
the energy and excitement and the happinessin the room was just his natural energy
to where I only had to focuson me, you know, I didn't
have to make sure other other guysare, you know, feel some type

(03:37:41):
of way when it came in herebecause Hump brought that. But out of
Hump's not here, but I sawwhat he did for the room. I
want to be that guy to makesure everyone's amp to go to practice,
everybody's hype. Weren't taking the fieldteam on period. You know it's a
low day or something. You know, it's it's a day, But like,
I want to make it feel likethe parents a tripper right now.

(03:38:01):
I wanna bring that cause that's whatwe hope to each other. We willahpe
each other other, dudes like dudesabout to get walked through. We're lit.
So I wanna do that. Iwanna bring that energy. I wanna
make bring more guys, you know, to do that. You know,
yeah, I wanted to do thatfrom day one. You know, I
kind of I wanted to do thatfrom day one from talking to'em.

(03:38:24):
And obviously it's that time. Ispend the off season before OTA started,
just being in myself, just thinkingabout what the room needs, you know,
because I know I knew a newrole as one of the leaders,
you know on my offense, isthat we need a guy like that that's
gonna make sure the old line ispicked up ready to go. Every day.

(03:38:46):
I was held accountable. Little thingsaren't happened to practice and people aren't
saying anything, and how I maylead maybe different than somebody else may lead,
you know, I like to apractice at least like the legal positivity,
you know what I mean. So, but he the energy had went
beyond just the hyped up the dalI and star too. So that's kind

(03:39:07):
of how I wanna be s goalmine literally my whole life. I wanna
be a NFL team captain, likespecifically the NFL. I wasn't a captain
of high school. I wasn't acaptain of college. But I made a
joke when I was in high schools. Did I feel like I'm not gonna
be a captain til I get tothe NFL. Yeah, but that would

(03:39:28):
be awesome, you know, butyou know, if it happens, i'd
be great. But not either way, I wanna assume a role as a
captain from the respect of the guyson the team. They did a work
to me and to get back tothat way, yeah, I mean,
I can't say that. I mean, I guess the biggest thing is that

(03:39:48):
I felt like it has felt likehow it you used to in the past.
But it didn't take just the firstday OTAs. It took training left
and right. Once the season ended, I didn't know what it was gonna
be sure. So it took alot of yeah reps just to get back
to feeling like myself for day oneOTAs and then that whole first week.

(03:40:13):
But now like today specifically just changingsome small things with my feet that I
did today talking about a line coachabout some things I can do with my
feet to get to that to sellit that traditional angle that I love to
set on. Felt even I thoughtI felt, I thought I felt great
already by my okay, I felteven better of it. So I'm even
more excited tomorrow. Now I'm gettingmy feedback than how I liked it the

(03:40:33):
right side and on the left side, So I'm excited. I mean,
obviously, I feel like in theleague, whether I left or right,
you're still going against premier guys.So obviously you have high expectations for your
left hand and right tackle. Butthere's definitely uh like the the level of
energy and like the expectations, definitelytaking a human spect cause now connected the

(03:40:56):
blind side that stuff that's detail,you know. So so yeah, I
would say in terms of communication asfar as just even outside of facility and
just stuff like that, like reallycreating that but tackle quarterback bond even more
off the field, I think hasbeen something that's even been cool. I
got a text one day, I'slike, hey, like you play left

(03:41:20):
and I was like, yeah,you know, yeah, I've been training
both. I've been training both.You know. I I asks after the
season. They're like, honestly,you know, we'll talk to you.
So play in the season and Ijust gotta text me, like depending on
what happens with with the free agencythen. So I was like, you
know what, I had a wholeseason right tackle, So if I get

(03:41:41):
the word, I'm going I'm standingright tackle. I don't just do what
I did before. I'm built onthat bus. I was like, I
might as alost trained the left tacklenow as if I'm gonna be left tackle,
and I'd rather do that than trainingon right tackle. Get the ko
Hey you're the left tackle. I'mlike, ooh, I didn't switch on
my feet yet, you know whatI mean, So let me just preparing

(03:42:01):
in advance. I was like,yeah, it was guy. You know,
I think occasionally on third down therewould be a lot of twists.
I would just know like it's automaticallycoming, and I fact that was my
mindset for like the first half ofthe season, but like I didn't have
to go into a game and withsurprise like oh my gosh, they did
that. I kind of figured like, okay, like this is this is
the type of rushman again, likethis is how this guy usually rushes.

(03:42:22):
But I get the vibe, thisis how the ends like the rush you
know, tackles that are you know, first year guys who got the premiere
patch on. I already knew whatit was gonna be, already knew of
every stunt, and honestly, justknowing that's kind of an advantage too,
So you're not you're not you're notold. They brought the twist on my
side. Again, it was neverAaron Donaldick, you know, to coming

(03:42:43):
out the lines like three plays ina row in two minutes. I knew
that it was the whin it happened, So, like, you know what
I mean, I'm watching more thaneverybody else, and he rarely Evelan goes
out there on occasional third down wason the d M. I was like,
already know it's gonna be, He'sgonna pick me, you know what
I mean. So in fact,it's kind of it's also kind of advantage
in a way, but it's alsoexciting like Okay, I'm gonna get the

(03:43:05):
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 waslike, hey, when they tell me
to let me know about I'm justgonna train it. I was training all
left to Ta's. I guess ifI didn't hear anything about Ta's, I
would have came in like so youknow what I mean, because just like

(03:43:30):
I'm cool training both continuing. Iwould have been cool training both continually.
But I feel like anybody, anyposition will be like okay, like you
wanna as soon as possible get yourfeet of accountability at the time, Dustin,
what about what did you see theguy count of all? Yeah,
I mean he's quick. You know, he can create a lot of space
and uh small spaces, so it'squick, you know, uh savvy with

(03:43:54):
its rout running, and you knowhe's just he's just a hard worker.
You know. You know there's someplaces where he knows he's not getting the
ball and he's still still winning thereoute 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 think
it's you know, really uh gonnarub off on the other guys too.
I'm good about the i'm'a getting another. What's it like working with uh some

(03:44:16):
of the tight ends that you guyshappened in there? I know after Smithia
straight just talked about a versatility thata lot of other guys have, especially
in that grip. Yeah, Imean we have a different uh uh a
lot of you know, different guysin the tight end room. You know,
Darnelly brings sides to the room.Uh, Rodney Speed, Uh,
Connor he has a great awareness inthe field. Pat of course he you
know, he's a great all roundtight end. And then uh you know,

(03:44:39):
uh Prow he's a he's a bat. He's smart, he knows what
he's doing. So, I meanjust all the guys in the room,
what's you know, they're smart andintensive and they've i f I feel like
they've just justice to the offense.Well, So it's what's been like working
with tom or on? What's hebeen kind of working? What you wants?
Yeah, I mean Talab great,Uh just his a tis attention to

(03:45:03):
detail the way he comes you know, in each and every day. He
comes in as the same guy everyday, and uh, to be on
cybing. You know, I don'tthink I've had to coach that detailed,
but as Tom, you know,he's very detailed in terms of you know,
practice review sending us, uh theinfo, breaking down each and every
play and really just really just focusedon the detail. To be honest with

(03:45:26):
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 are you know,conditioning, So of course that's good for
us. But I mean he's beengreat so far. So excited to uh
you know, allow that our allowour relationship to grow, and excited to
work with him. What is whathe's doing kind of compliment what you're doing
individually, you know, when you'reaway from the facility working with you know,

(03:45:50):
coaches one on one or anything likethat. He said, what does
he what does he do here thatkind of compliments what you do away from
the facility when you're troubling. Imean I think he does a difference stuff.
So I think, uh, that'sa good thing about it. You
know some stuff that we do here. Oh sorry, uh, I don't
you know usually do outside of thefacility. So it's good getting that different

(03:46:11):
work in, different drill work thatI can you know, implement into my
you know, off season program andstuff like that. So it's good that
I'm learning new stuff. For sure. You'd really deep all off efficiency numbers
as any times that especially the lastyear. What what what? What is
uh our smith in the offense talkabout you about trying to make make that
incorporate that into to being a bigpart of this office. I mean,
yeah, uh, I think wehave fast guys, guys that can get

(03:46:33):
down the field with speed. Uh, guys like Quez, Calvin, Scottie,
Van, you know, me andRust. You know, we've we've
had a lot of deep all successand a lot of explosive plays in the
past. So you know that's justuh, you know what, I guess
how our offense is built to behonest with you, but I mean,
our job is to create explosives andyou know, push the ball down the

(03:46:54):
field. So anytime we get thoseopts, we definitely wanna capitalize on those.
Are you a coasting any part ofyour mechanics and any I mean,
yeah, uh, I think there'salways room to improve, uh, mechanic
wise and stuff like that. SoI think, you know, Matt Baker,
uh, he's a four quarterback assistant. He you know, usually stays
on me the most about it.Okay, So I appreciate the fact that
he does that, and I usually, you know, make sure he doesn't

(03:47:16):
make sure. I just just stayon top of it, you know,
as a whole, and you know, make sure, uh, my mechanics
are always clean. Can you talkabout one particular element that they're stressing.
It's it's different areas. To behonest, I don't think it's just one
specific area, but it's it's differentareas justin in your opinion. Was there
something that you wanted to work on, maybe get better at when you got
here at this point of your career. I mean, like, like I

(03:47:37):
said, there's you know, nomatter who you are, you know there's
always stuff to get better at,always different areas. Nobody's perfect in one
area. So I think you cancontinue to prove in all areas in my
game, you know me personally,So I'm just focused on getting better.
You should never heard. So whendid we talked to Russ yesterday, he
said that rusted that he personally feltkind of revived. Do you bring at
another stop in his career? Isthere any of that sense of maybe rejuvenation

(03:48:00):
or feeling revived? Obviously you haven'tbeen in the league for thirteen years,
but is there a new energy thatyou get being in a different organization,
going through mini camp in a differentway for the first time. I think,
so, you know, just beingaround a new team, uh uh,
an organization that's you know, justjust with this culture, you know,
me being in you know, twodifferent places now, you just I
realize that, you know, youdon't get this culture everywhere. I think

(03:48:24):
Chicago, I think they are,you know, kind of changing into the
narrative now. But I mean,this has just been the culture here for
so many years to where I meanyou can see it. It's just the
way that you know, we attackeach of every day and coach cy you
know, he stays honest about it. So I think just having that and
uh, you know, reiterating that, you know each and every day like

(03:48:46):
that keeps guys in the closing.Uh, guys aready compete each and every
day. Is it easier to stepinto an organization when there already is such
a culture that's been established for along term to kind of know where you
fit and know what's expected most demost definitely, I think you know,
especially as a leader, as aplayer on the team. You just don't
have to thank you for checking outthis content from posts at Sports. If

(03:49:11):
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