Press Conference (Justin Frye)

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Like if you're going against high league, you're going against high you're going against
you know, with the Hero andkve Mack and these guys. Now we're
getting really good gradable reps that way. He had a great he had a
great offseason. Uh just all startedin a weight room with Mick. I
mean, his his weights up,He's thick. He's always been an explosive

(00:21):
guy, but playing with a littlebit of power, you know behind that,
he's learning to do that, youknow, in the natural maturation.
I mean for all those guys youtalk for him, you talk I mean
just his class alone. I meanyou're talking to him, you're talking George,
you're talking Tiger. Like those guysare going into year three. That's
when you really start to figure itout your body, the speed of the

(00:41):
game, the technique, the fundamentals. And he's done a good job of
adapting and really growing himself on thepace that you need to for a young
guy. That's you know, comingout of the fire a little bit.
Last year. Yeah, he talkedabout like being at a better weight.
Now it's a better weight, it'sreal weight, close to three hundred,
and talks about being faster and moreconfident, is that where center like was
last year kind of a trial byfire for him? Is it just like,

(01:03):
how was that process but not playingat all his first year starting mitche
It's for whether it's Carson Hensman oryou know, Johnny Jones, like you
get thrust into real reps and thefull speed, it's faster than you've ever
seen. And so now he hasthat book of work too that he can
look back on, where the understandingof the game, the understanding of the
speed of the game, the intensity. You know, I've said a thousand

(01:25):
times that he doesn't get incrementally fasteror stronger. The game mentally slows down
for him. So he can usehis skill set that way. So what
is that we're talking about. That'shis weight, that's his strength because those
numbers are going up, so hecan play with more pillar strength, he
can play more contact, he canplay more comfortable. Even though his forty
time didn't go from a five tozero to a four to eight, he

(01:51):
just jumped right in. Unbelievable jobboth ways of him just coming in with
shelving the ego that he had hereally had none and walking in saying I'm
walking into a room as we toldhim when we recruit him, like you're
coming into a room a bunch ofgood dudes, and then our good dudes
are good dudes. He came inand there was no it's like, you're
here, here's how we do,here's how we operate, and let's go.

(02:12):
And so that learning curve for allthose whether it's a high school media
guy or a veteran media guy thattransfers in, 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 bitof spring Boy, he's been through a
little bit of camps, so you'restill learning new terminology, you're learning a
new skill set. But he justdove right in and wanted to be a
sponge and wanted to learn it.He's doing a good job and he's improving

(02:34):
every day, you know. Sothat's what's making the battle and the competition
all these graded snaps really, youknow good for us is because they all
have that mindset. So from sethawesome, the unit and the group awesome
because there was no combativeness to it. It was let's get in, let's
go, and let's compete and thenlet the guys win skill set. Uh,

(02:58):
just learning the same deal a youngas 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 every time you take one ofthose reps and you're out of your base
or you're in your base, youfeel the 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 mentallythere. And so for him, he's

(03:19):
got a pretty good football FQ.So he'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 in thespringtime, you know, we have saying
in our room, we're like inthe spring it's yes and it's no,
and I know it's k and owwhy didn't the rep work? What happened?
And how do I make sure Idon't repeat the same mistake? And
so whether he's coming in and watchingthe tape on his own and then come
up with questions, he's grabbing meand watching tape with me, or we're

(03:40):
coming doing stuff as a unit,he's learning so that the same deal of
the game can slow down and hegets more comfortable there in friction. So
I mean he's his weights up,his strengths up. He's spending off season
with Mick. You know, there'sa lot of development that still has to
be had. Obviously not a finishedproduct, but being able mentally for a
guy to handle that, you know, helps lot. Similar to Luke a

(04:13):
leaner guy. Did you tell himthat he paid you to say that?
That might be the first time youever heard that in his life. No,
uh, now, you know,like Luke Carson, whoever it may
be that that jump of eighteen tonineteen nineteen to twenty year old kid,

(04:34):
that plays a lot into it too. Being in a full year with Mick.
I mean, all those guys youcoming at midyear, like your Devo
and and Dion and Ian Moore.Right now you're keeping your head above water.
That's your whole first year. Nowyou can actually get and we can
sit. So when you sit andtalk about a jam combo or a lock
or whatever the call may be.To Luke, he registers that and not

(04:56):
like something new because then there's paralysisby analysis. So I think the mental
part, on top of another yearnatural maturity of getting bigger and stronger.
That's always gonna help. You're notgonna guys here, They're not gonna regress.
It's gonna keep adding progress and howfast can we get that going.
It's what we're working on every daywith him. But said that he would
had been all guard to this point, and Coach Days mentioned it several times

(05:17):
that like, Josh could play guardtoo, and you guys are trying to
work through that fire. He's Imean Josh could play all five. I
mean he snapped the ball in highschool. You know, Josh had a
great offseason. But for you,when you're going through a spring and it's
fact finding an experimentation, how muchdo you want to put them in different
spots or not? Because you alsohave an eye on August to try and

(05:40):
settle on a five man rotation.What's the balance? You have to get
a really good gradable set so thateverybody has numbers of you know, just
like we said before, how manytimes have we done a run blocking or
pass blocking in this situation so thatthat all evens out. So that's it's
not experimentation, it's just making surethat you get a good book of work
to look at and grade that.So as we you know, work guys

(06:02):
around the platoons and go just tomake sure that everybody gets good gradable reps.
So we can sit back by theend of spring and say, all
right, this is you're comparing applesto apples and oranges oranges and not you
know, apples oranges, because it'scompletely different that way. So that's kind
of the thought behind that. Asyou're going through the spring. You got
a couple of years ago, Iwould have you here office, what would

(06:25):
you say that? Laughed, youknow, but then I said, you
know, it's college football, sowho knows, right enjoying. Yeah,
he just added to another piece ofjust good people here. I mean,
you're still you're coming to work herewith guys every day. You know,
with the kids, we talk abouta ton, but then for us as
coaches and the staff. So addingjust another good dude that's in the room.

(06:49):
Obviously, as he says something,and you know, he might speak
in old terms or terms that wehad, you know, maybe be a
little bit of a Rosetta stone likeno, no, this is this He's
like, yeah, that's right,because that's that happens to 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 likethat before. He said, oh
this is this now? So Ithink just the you know, uh translation

(07:12):
of Rosettes stone there help. Butjust overall 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 addsomething new to the room, then that
makes the room better, makes youindividually better. Oh look how he does
that. Maybe I could do that. Maybe I can bring that to my
meeting room. Maybe I can bringthat to communication, to the staff or
to the kids or whatever it is. Because he's he's done it for a

(07:35):
long time, and he's done ata high level for a long time.
So it's good to add that guyto us and then continues us the rest
of the staff for me and Brianand Key and and and everybody just learning
and growing with that specifically, justdoes from a talent standpoint is does he
see things sometimes others don't see?I mean, does he I mean,

(07:55):
you know what does he kind ofbring from the chalkboard aspect of things.
Well, I mean what you're saying, so what does he see? It's
good to have fresh eyes come inthat maybe you know you're getting a routine
and you get in a rhythm andthen all of a sudden running game football.
You know, he's one of thoseguys I think goes in the category

(08:15):
it's forgotten a lot of more footballthan some people have learned in their life.
But no, his he I believehe coached every position on the field,
both sides of Balter's whole career.So as he looks up and he
writes when he's talking about, wellthis will linebacker is going to do that,
then he might have coached that atColumbia, right, or this is
what the three texts gonna read onthe down block of a tackle, because
he's coached the offensive line and he'sbeen coordinator for a long time. So

(08:35):
just a really good vision of bigpicture understanding and you know, the next
step and not just being right now. Yeah, if he had a theme
or whatever this spring, because Imean this seems kind of like a how
to make it or breaking time forhim, but the time to step up
and step in. His point wasnobody cares. Nobody cares what you know

(08:58):
what struggle or whatever. You gotto go to the field to get the
job done. I mean it's likeif you anything differently about Tat, what
do you see about take? 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 over therewhen you cross the line. You know,
Coach Date talks about that here likethat. It's it's the game doesn't

(09:18):
care you're off the field. Yougot to come out and step out and
do your job. It doesn't careabout anything off the field. Right.
That can sound really negative and harsh, but then it also if you just
spin your tone like isn't it beautifulthat the game doesn't care. It doesn't
care that your skin color, yoursocioeconomic background, where you've come from.
If you just want to do itthe right way in the fifty three and

(09:39):
a third, the game will loveyou back, you know. And so
I think it's the approach mentally thatguys take that way. So yeah,
for Tagri that he's he's taking thatapproach like he he wants to come in
and be a guy. So he'sfighting and clawing and scratching every day.
So when he makes a mistake,he's trying to correct it. When he
does it, well, he's tryingto enhance it. And that's what competitive
people do, what he showed upto do. So I that's that's good

(10:01):
that he said that's coming in onthe field been like as a center And
is that difficult when you're coming intoa new offensive line to have that or
is there something innate about the centerposition if you've been experienced at it like
he has, where you kind ofhave that I guess command on the field
over with any offensive line, Sorryto say it over it start over again.
You're saying the comfort of center withtwo now sat Okay, Yeah,

(10:24):
I'm saying, like, how hashis Higgs command of the field been and
hasn't been difficult? I guess toadjust for him if he's to have a
certain level of onfield command, youknow at that center position. Yeah,
I mean it's on command is justgreat communication, getting everybody on the same
page. Yes, having a bunchof banked reps helps. But then when
you do come into a new offense, Uh, just like we talked you

(10:46):
know with Chip a little bit earlier, you know, he might have called
it yellow and we call it greenor something to say was that, you
know, the expectation is, yeah, I'm gonna have the other put in.
And I think that show just gotbetter now going into year three where
you can really look at it andsay, we have veteran players who understand

(11:07):
the defense and understand the position,plus the great after jib what do you
like about Sonny about the actor thefirst seas, you know, it's a
it's a change for Sonny because he'splaying in the box, you know,
from a low position instead of droppingin, so things happen a lot faster.

(11:28):
But you know, he's reacted superbly. I mean he's say, he's
a guy who's got football intelligence.He understands the scheme, played a lot
of positions. I think he's gonnabe great because one of the biggest parts
of being a linebacker is you haveto know every all the pieces around you
so you can play fast and uh, Sonny's showing a lot of that in

(11:50):
the first two days the squads whereyou back, yeah, I feel it's
it's permanent, but you know,in terms of face and and nickel packaging,
you know it's permanent. But theremay be other things where he'll still

(12:13):
have multiplicities. You know, there'sgonna be packaging. It gives a need
to find back at this level.Is that verdu to he's just put into
it. To listen to him?Did you find found down or giving us
a defonies against your money and Steve? It's yeah, a little bit of
both. I mean, anytime youmake a move, you wanted to be
right for the player and for theyou know, the defense and the team.

(12:35):
And I think that fit up naturally. You know, Sonny. Sonny
had to uh fight to stay leanas a DV and now he now you
know, he gets to eat youknow, and and uh and but I
think it worked out for both ofus. Well, you know when you

(12:56):
when you when I first met himor when I first got here. You
know, I think everybody talks aboutyou know, he's going to be a
linebacker. He's going to be alinebacker. But I really wanted to see
him at safety first. That's whathe wanted to do. That's what I
wanted to see. You know,I felt, long term in my vision

(13:20):
for him that playing safety early inhis career was going to give him a
better perspective of the defense. Youknow, had Malcolm Rodriguez who was with
the Lions at Oklahoma State. Nowhe's about half a sunny size, but
he started as a safety and whenhe became a linebacker, he understood things
a lot better. So my visionfor Sonny was to you know, start

(13:41):
him out of safety and then eventuallymove him down. How was Hicks doing
and CJ and Sonny competing for thesame spot generally speaking? Yeah, I
mean, you know, part ofthe time they are, you know,
part of the time we'll have allthree of them on the field with coach,
so there's balance there and that they'recompeting, and they also can be

(14:07):
in the same package. But CJ'sgot a great attitude. You know,
I've always felt that CJ has alot of pressure on him, you know,
being from Ohio, but he's coachable, and he understands growth and our
plans for him, and he's gota great attitude and gay powers. Where's
he at entering his third year probablyand you didn't see it because he didn't

(14:31):
play a lot in the games,But in our opinion game, you know,
the second half of the season,what we see in practices, it's
probably one of the most complete guys. He really was. So he made
a huge jump second half of theseason in terms of what he was doing
in practice and when he got intothe game, a huge jump, you

(14:52):
know. So I feel like heis a guy that is going to compete.
He's a guy that's going to beready. You know. I feel
like he's made to name us,improve us and and we can start to
count on it. Are you lookingat just to Will right now? Or
is he a guy that's moving aroundto CJ's moving around too, you know.
So you know, you get intoa three linebacker package, you know,

(15:18):
Sonny and Cody and c J.You're you're pretty good right but now,
but you can't just have one yadso you know, the Sonny's not
there at the sam then CJ's gotto know how to play it too,
you know, so that you canwringing Gabe in and Mike and Cody can
play well, you know, andyou still have a great line up.
So you always have to plan foryou know, okay, we'll start out

(15:41):
this way, but he's he's innext, so CJ has to know both
positions too. Yeah, are arey'all still a four two five defense?
How would you I mean, yeah, we're still fortune five. Yeah,
no, absolutely, multiplayers. Absolutely, we're still forty five, but multiple,
multiple deployment at times, you knowwe can be four three. But

(16:04):
yeah, you still got some right, So now you got Yeah, you
got Sonny at a sam backer who'swho's has experienced playing safety, you know
what I mean? So that thatthat really creates more and multiplicity. How
does it help you do your jobnow that you have a full time linebacker's
coach and Jake one? Yeah,it's uh, you know, just having

(16:26):
James initially last year was a bigbones because of his experience and and the
way he works with the players.He's a lot nicer to them than I
am. You know, the lastyear it was good cop, bad cop.
You know, now the bad copsleft the room. So I'm sure
the players love it, you knowseason. I think the defense, when

(16:48):
you look at the defensive line,I feel setling. Look in the secondary
feel settled. I think outside lookingat spot, what what's their what?
You know? The baby's a questionon top time kid mark in disap that
of the right guys to start,Yeah, really confident. I think adding
sunning it into that makes a guywho's got a lot of experience, a

(17:12):
lot of playing time. You know, that really bolsters that position in that
room. So I'm confident in whatwe have there. Cody Simon, you
know, is a guy who wethink is gonna be great and he's bearing
the a leader or the defense.So I think it'll be a strength like
you see others less too, youknow. Yeah, r Vel. You

(17:36):
know, we kind of experimented withr Vel at the d End last year
a little bit, and uh,you know, I keep getting asked,
you know, can he be alinebacker? Can he be a linebacker?
And I think he's gonna be agreat linebacker. You know, he just
needs growth and learning. So Iwould like to just continue to grow off

(17:59):
our vel men in football intelligence,you know, after linebacker position. So
will there be a role for himthis year? I don't know, because
he is so athletic. You know, he's a guy you kind of look
at and say, I can dodifferent things with, you know when we
get to the season. You know, that's a guy you can always create
something for that doesn't involve as muchthinking, you know, so he can

(18:22):
just go. But out here,I want to keep growing him as a
linebacker because his time will come asthe Jackets. Yeah, I mean it's
it's it's always there, you know, I'd like to get it in this
spring. You know, we didn'tused it, dabbled in at year one,
didn't use it last year. It'salways in our package, you know,

(18:45):
so at some point we'd like toget to it just to kind of
keep it fresh. Look like RegistersTicks. What do you like about their
technique science sport. Yeah, he'sgot great speed, you know, good
size. He's just that he lookslike a nickel. You know, his
skills are his skills are like anickel. So you know he's still learning.

(19:11):
But you saw Jordan make just cementtremendous progress with that last year.
So we gotta we gotta bring Lorenzoon the team year you kind of keep
up there with Mike. Yeah.Hero really flashed last year at times when

(19:34):
you go back and watch the film. So, uh, the fact that
we play a lot of Russian andI mean that's a that's a guy who's
who he's to have a good springfor us because he's gonna be h he's
gonna be next man in you know, and you know with a guy like
Hero, he starts to really comealong. You know, you start to

(19:56):
look at some you know, egotype of packaging. You know. My
thoughts are you know, with thewith Jack and j T. You know
that at some point I want totrain them as outside linebackers. You know,
so if you've got hero Thig,League of Tie and you get to

(20:18):
you can get to more of youknow, uh, you know, five
five guys, five d linemen inthe game, you know, with training
guys like Jack and and j Tand Kiyata, you know, you know,
it's just kind of in my thoughtslike if we're strong inside those those
guys can become more multiple, youknow, and I think it's techniques and

(20:41):
things that they can use when theyget to the next level. So that's
kind of in my thoughts too onthat little bit you're saying Jack and j
T possibly with that outside linebacker conceptexactly? Would that well, you know,
you're always looking to get the besteleven on the field, right,
so when when you look at atwelve personnel set, you say, okay,

(21:06):
I got you know, Sonny,Cody and CJ with with the four
down you know, you know,could we have another component with you know,
Jack and JT. And and threetackles and Cody and Sonny or Cody
and CJ. You know, Ithink you know who's gonna be Who's going

(21:26):
to be the best eleven, youknow against bigger sets. Could it possibly
be Hero, you know, versushaving a third linebacker? Could it be
three tackles? You know, that'sin my thoughts. We haven't installed that
yet, but but I I'd liketo get to that just to see.
And like I said, I feellike with those guys, the more they

(21:51):
know of how to really be anoutside linebacker, the better it's going to
help them when they get to thenext the next level. So it's something
I'd like to do for them todo. Yeah, I'll expect. I

(22:11):
mean, Lathan was making very goodprogress. You know, always loved the
way he played, his attitude,his physicality. First year, you know,
he had some eye violations. Youknow, he was he was improving
on that until he got hurt.So you know, he goes down.

(22:34):
I'd say, the responsibility is,you know, first and foremost, to
lead by example. I can sitthere and I can say all the things
that I want to say, talkup a storm about the end of the
day, you gotta just you gottawork the work you got, you got
to do, tripos to do andI think that's gonna ultimately lead guys in
the right direction. So that's thething that I can kind of take it

(22:55):
on the most is just lead boy, say okay, really quick, looks
you can hurry. I'm a flyingstandpoint to me, like we had a
good year last year. I meanme, you know what I mean.
If we if you look back atyour oppos say how far have you come
in that round? Yeah, I'vecame along with It's it's a very say.
I'd argue to say tight end isprobably the most developmental position on the

(23:18):
field. It takes a long timeto get around to. It takes a
lot of work. I think it'sa full process. It's not something that
it's a winner turnaround or a sixmonth turnaround. You coming trying to catch
it on the fly and something thattakes a lot of time and attention.
I'm just thankful for, you know, my great, great coaching staff and
a great unit around me and gotyou back then starting off with you know,
Rock. From those guys to Kaid, I think there's been a great

(23:41):
example for the way they're supposed toattack, blocking and being a tight end
here out of Ohio State. AndI've been just you know, thankful to
be able to have that example,Fellaway, What are you wait now for?
Whatever? What's it been like?Yeah, well, what's been great.
He's been good as somebody that's camein humble and is ready to work.

(24:03):
That's that's been like the only wordsthat I have for him, not
not a minute of just like manywords, but he's here, here,
here to work, and he's donejust that, and I'm just the word
got to have you learned a lotwalking a little smart and blocking here just
kind of it's are always fun,Like I know you guys work on Sorry
Billy, it's your guy anyways.But also that's what he's knowing. You
guys learned a little bit. Youguys learn a little bit of walking down.
Yeah. I think essentially that's thethat's the culture of our room.

(24:25):
It's when we come off the ballviolent, we're looking to swing as hard
as we can. We'll clean upthe details out and so that's kind of
our mindset going into it. Anduh, yeah, you pre you're from
blocking. How hard did it though? Like if to know that you still
be received or something your in reality, like you know you're us block the
people to do it, Like howhard is it to kind of change the

(24:48):
wordsection more. I know you guysdon't pay at that's like outside noise,
but also block people. Scott textlike really pretty good for walking on too.
Yeah, let's say it starts offwith like you kind of got to
It starts off with tuning out forthe outside noise and and what other people
have to say about it. Andit's really more of a mindset. I
kind of look at it as it'slike a drop in a bucket. You

(25:08):
know, if I got a bigbucket, there's no one thing I'm gonna
do to make this bucket full.It's it's a daily thing where I put
one drop hood of to day.When you look back over a year,
two years, three years, youlook back and be like, man,
I've gotten a lot better. Andso, like I said, I'm just
very thankful for the unit. Theguys that I have around me pushed me
very hard, and I'm just thankful. You mentioned that the development be harder

(25:29):
today. What was the best challengingpart that you to me? Fellow things
to the budget for Yeah, I'dsay it's definitely the size component. You
know, you can't you gotta besomeone that's you know one. You got
to be big, you gotta bestrong, you got to be fast.
There's a lot of jobs that yougot to do. It's a very asking
job. You need to bought thebig on some of the biggest guys in
the field, but also run routesoff some of the smallest guys in the

(25:51):
field. And so I think justthankful just to be out here and do
exactly that. What was it liketo get that shot the other day front
of the pro scouts. It's justrun routes, kitch balls, Oh yeah,
show off. Yeah. No,it was a good opportunity. I
think some of the big you knowreasoning behind it and just kind of giving
those guys out there that we're atPDAVIA limited numbers, so just get out
there and give those guys that we'reeither but needed the opportunity to get to

(26:12):
go out there in front of scouts. I think that's a it's a pretty
good deal. And your take onthe quarterbacks to this point, the quarterback
battle is going on. What's spendyour take on Will for example, we'll
get to know him. Yeah,then and of course David, I think
the mindset that we embody around hereis ironing shopping iron. So that's kind
of like it's not just you know, one room, it's from top to

(26:32):
bottom throughout this whole team. Nomatter what position you are, we're here
to work, and I think we'reall here to make each other better.
Whether it's in a cornerback room,a tight end room, were running back
room, offense versus defense, coachfor his coach, doesn't matter. We're
all just you know, iron andshopping iron. Especially this time of year
in spring ball, we're not doingtoo much game planning for next week,
which we're really just spending this timeto get better and just build a good

(26:53):
foundation for ourselves, have something towork on moving forward. If you've seen
Will Will Howard fitting in more andmore, is the practice is have going
on, you know, getting toknow of the body and all that kind
I mean, I've always been beennerfor a while. Yeah, no,
I think, yeah, I thinkthat's time. I think as times goes,
no matter where you are, youstart to adapt and you start to
get used to the what we gotgoing on here, and so it's good
to have them. Thanks YEA whenyou came in. What's it been like,

(27:26):
Yeah, just learning puss. Yeah, I'd say when it comes to
that, I think it's all theglory to the Lord. And I decided
to give my life completely to theLord a little over a year ago,
and that kind of really changed myoutlook on the way that I approached in
football. It's no longer something thatI idolize. It's just something that I
do. And I think from thetime of my life where I stopped,

(27:48):
you know, compartmentalizing who God wasin my life. God wasn't just something
that I do on Sundays or somethingthat I do in a Bible study.
It was something. It went fromwhat I do to who I am.
And so now I embody that that'swho I am. And so some of
the fruits of this spirit is peace, patience, and kindness, and so
those are kind of the things thatI've started to embody on this on this
journey. I think it's easy tokind of compartmentalize football away from faith,

(28:10):
but ultimately it's all one. It'sall one, and so it's given me
a spirit of patience, peace andenjoy with the guys around me. And
so I'm just I'm thankful. I'mthankful to be here. But just being
quite honest, I just I knowfor a fact, I wouldn't be where
I'm at right now. And Iknow on the outside looking in, you
know, asked like, you know, well where are you right now?
But I wouldn't be where I'm at, you know, right now if it

(28:32):
wasn't for my you know, relationshipwith the Lord untually came into my life
and you know, he changed aroundfor the better. Gee, what did
you see from Bennett Christian last year? How to go out suspension and how
already working about who was about?Yeah, I think he did a great
job. A lot of perseverance.I think that's no matter who you are,
you kind of hear news like thatthat you're gonna be out for a
year. That's hard, no matterwhere you are. One thing, I'm

(28:52):
really proud of him because he youknow, he came up and he came
to show up every single day,and he got better. He got better.
The easy thing to do in thatkind of situation is a throw in
the towel and be like, man, you know, you know, forget
this or you know, I'll getbetter next year. But I saw the
drive at him. One thing I'veseen out him every day he showed up,
he got better, And I'm proudof Bennett, and I'm proud of
this unit. Got Why the questionI thin, Like you said, you

(29:15):
know hard, I mean, yeah, I mean, I don't know.
I don't really know how to answerthat question, because if you go from
one unit to another unit, themoment you trade units, you're no longer
in the unit you were initially in, so you're you're now a tight end.
And so I mean to answer thatquestion, I think the time that

(29:37):
I went from in the receiving itto approaches things. I love the way
the questions he asks. I lovethe way he makes mistakes and then correct
mistakes. It's very veteran, like, I mean, there's so much ball
he has to learn, Like heliterally does things that are good. I'm
like, do you know why thatworked? He goes coach, I have
no freaking idea, So like,I'm trying to teach him all of that

(30:00):
why it worked, so then youknow the consistency at which it works just
goes through the roof and so uh. 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. I love working withChip Chip is, I love talking ball,

(30:22):
I love the viewpoints I love Ilove the veteran that he has,
you know, uh and uh,I love yeah, Like I love all
of it. I think that,you know, early on the biggest impact,
you know, just you know,feeling perspective. I think in the

(30:44):
run game has been awesome, youknow, and then you know, off
of the run game some of theactions or or relief throws or all that
kind of stuff. I love whereit's at. I love working with them,
and I would say that I sleepa little better, all right.

(31:07):
Uh No, It's it's really agreat combo because, like you know,
we're obviously we're doing a lot asa group. It's not just Chip and
I so but you know, obviouslyChip has an image and a view on
things that I never had. Soto have that experience and to have that
viewpoint, I'm just trying to absorbas much as I can, but then

(31:30):
also highlight some things that we've reallydone a good job of and make sure
those you know, nothing's really changing, We're just trying to enhance. We're
not changing. We're enhancing, sowhere the things fit is perfect. You
know, I think, uh,you know the rest of the dynamics of
search Chip can talk about. Butit's been it's been awesome, so I'm
excited about it. We talked tohim, that guy they're talking about moving

(31:52):
from slot to the outside. Youknow how good we've been in the slot.
Is that a difficult move for youguys just coaches to know how good
a got is in one spot,but know that maybe for his long term
future and the the no. Iwouldn't say it's anything on his future,
because he's capable of doing whatever youwant to get done. But I'd say

(32:12):
that it says more about the room. I think it's it's the growth of
you know, Brandon and the growthgrow of Bryson. That's really you know,
allowing my mind to say, heyMech, be prepared. You're gonna
move around a lot. You're gonnacome out of that slot, You're gonna
be outside. We're gonna create mismatchesout there. I mean, his ability
to move around is critical. ButI would say between Mech and between Carnell

(32:34):
Takes's ability to move around a lot, it's going to provide a lot of
flexibility for our room and uh andthose top you know, six seven guys
that are really doing a good jobright now. Progress looks like this spring
for Aleca because there's no conn It'sone of those things, I'm true,
where you guys balance how much workdoes a need versus yeah, heavy heavy
emphasis on what work he needs,you know, versus anything else. Uh,

(32:58):
I rely on him. We havegreat doubt back and forth. It's
a two way. It's a twoway conversation. And frankly, there's gonna
be times we're like, hey,mech what do you wanna do today?
You wanna go outside? You andgo inside? And I don't care.
So we're not there yet. Wewill be there, but it's just more
about, you know, when theroom is ready to start mixing things up,

(33:30):
I would say there's got I mean, I make sure I'm bring in
guys that are able to do all, but I have not asked them to
yet. So the only guys thatin our room currently I have asked to
do that has been Mecca and Carnell. And those are probably the two guys
that I would, you know,think heavily on doing moving around a lot.
I'm not putting that on anybody elseright now, not saying they can't,

(33:51):
but at this point, having twoguys been able to swing, you
probably don't need much more than that. I need guys being experts at what
they're good at, so it ithelps the Offenset'll be great at everything and
be an expert at something and wecan use that to our to our advantage.
This year is different, like maybeyou guys more situational. The room's
always different, frankly, I meanfrom twenty eighteen and then nineteen and through

(34:16):
COVID and and those guys, andand then the depth of those guys and
then where Mec and Marvin and thoseguys were as freshmen compared to you know,
It's just it's always different. Anduh, I expect this one to
be different again, not sure atwhat level yet. Last question, relationship
between the TV room and your Westernroom, especially afterwards. I'm curious DVD

(34:38):
as a leader just like you,you know, played at Ohio SPS experience.
I'm curious about how you've seen Timkind of build a different matter backer
in especially on the recree I meanamount specially guys and maybe kind of the
effective your recruit How that's kind ofbeen cancers. Yeah, he would probably
know more for that question than Iwould, but I would say that Yeah,

(34:59):
we obviously feel right at the work. Hello everybody, Darius Robinson,
University of Missouri. I just wantto thank you, mister Bill Wilmant to
your coach Gannon for this amazing opportunity. I'm glad to be here with Marvin
Harrison right next to me, soI feel great. I'm really excited and
I'm excited for this journey. Seefifteen here in town. Marvin, when

(35:37):
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 the phonecall from the Arizona Cardinals. Marvin Richard
signs Fox then, welcome to thevalley. I know kind of tweeted to
you, tweeted out to you onceyou got drafted. What was it like

(36:00):
to get a message from the franchisequarterback and what kind of thoughts have you
had about teaming up with this guyin the near future. Yes, sir,
it's been great. You always wantto support and love from your quarterback
and the case a great player.Too 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

(36:23):
in one school for a long time. And you did it for five years.
I mean even Marvin did it forthree. Like, what what went
behind that? And why was itmeaningful for you to stay at one school?
Yes, at Missouri, you know, we had some tough seasons,
but we were really built with anedge energy, details, good in emotional
consistency. And I just find myselfjust trying to grow and get better each

(36:45):
year and also as a team,you know, win more games each year.
And that was my that was myhome, I was my family.
I was blessed to you know,get two degrees as well off the field,
and I just love missou two degrees. Wow. See Marvin, Bob
Mcbob McMahon at Arizona Republic, congratulations, Thank you to both of you.

(37:06):
You're known as all business, andI want to know how that's going to
serve you well in this league.From personal standpoint, your brand, everything
you do or a daily preparation,there's a lot that goes into being all
business. Tell me what that isto you. Yeah, I mean it's
just being a pro. It's kindof raised and grew up to do and

(37:27):
keep the same mindset, same attitudethat I've had throughout my whole career.
Once I get here, continue towork hard, be consistent and discipline,
you know, and all that Ido. So I'm looking forward to put
in the work. Hey Marvin,Josh Wayne ESPN. What were the best
pieces of advice your dad gave youabout being an NFL player? I mean,
yeah, it takes a lot ofwork, a lot of preparation.
You know, from Monday to Saturday, it's all work, and then Sunday

(37:52):
should be the easy part. Igo out there and have fun, ready
to put the work in. Soit starts with the work first and then
no, when Sunday comes benefits.Hey Darius Howard, balls are from cards
wire. I can't help but noticethat ring on your finger. Is that
a cotton bowl ring? Yes,it is the cotton bowler. You showed

(38:13):
it to Marvin very quickly. No, I I was telling Marma. You
know, he was glad he didn'tplay the whole week leading up. You
know, you see Ohio State.Everybody said, Okay, Marvin Harrison and
now is he gonna play? Togo play? He didn't play, so
you know we lucked out. Sohey, Marvin Paul KELBC Cardinals Broadcasting,
do you believe that receivers have toearn the trust of their quarterback? And

(38:37):
if so, what does that usuallyrequire? Absolutely, you got to earn
trust the quarterback. And I thinkit starts, you know, every day
in practice and being consistent. Reallyand you can't just do it one day.
Can't you do it for one week? It has to be you know,
done over and over and over again. I think that's how trust has
earned. So no matter where youget picked, when you're first receivers round

(38:58):
seven, doesn't really matter, haveto go and earn trust 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
fallowing in your footsteps? Yeah,it's awesome. I feel like I'm setting

(39:19):
the standard going forward. But bestthe name was Zoo is known as Delon
Zoo. So I'm just added tothe family. But now I feel like
I'm setting the standard for my youngerteammates that this is attainable if you work
really hard, be consistent, andreally get us your strimth coach. I
feel like every program is built outthe stremp coach and that develops all the
habits on and off the field.Darius zach ERSHMANEZI Cardinals dot Com. Right

(39:42):
over here, JJ mentioned that heloves the violence that you played 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 in my hand
placement and then I lift weight,so you know that's all connected. So

(40:04):
I'm just trying to be focused onmy technique as much as possible. Hey,
Marvin over here, David Brampt withthe Associated Press. You know a
lot of rookies come into the leagueand 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're gonnabe expected to be the guy here really
quickly. How do you deal withthat pressure? How do you go about

(40:27):
just so much being expected of youso quickly? I mean, yeah,
I have high standards for myself,but I'm just gonna go in there and
try to work, you know,the best I can. I just want
to help the team win really,so without that role I play, you
know, come September, let medo my best do that role. Now,
this one's for both of you,guys. The fans want to know
who you, guys are on theinside. I don't know how much you're

(40:50):
willing to reveal to us today.A lot would be nice. Could you
tell us what you like to doaway from football, what pisses you about
things, and you know what whatmakes you roll. I'm pretty simple.
I like, you know, bein my apartment, watch a movie.
If I go out and I goto a restaurant, get some food.

(41:12):
But other than that, I maydo too much. And then I'm pretty
easy going, guys, so Itry not to Nothing bothered me too much.
Yeah, I said the same thing. A real chill guy, just
really obsessed with football. But outsideof football. Like I said, I
got my two degrees. I gotmy undergrad hospitality management and the minor and
business, I got my masters andpositive Culture with says FLA leadership. So

(41:34):
just thinking about being well rounded.And then I do philanthropy work. I
start my own nonprofit foundation Darius RobinsonHelping Hands 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. Youhad a great response about how your process

(41:55):
and preparing for a game, justkind of wondering where your love for kind
of the grind comes from, andthen your love for that process comes from
I would say my junior year becauseI played little league ball off and on.
But I got my junior year andI was playing high school and my
whole goal is just to earn ascholarship. But during that process, I
really fell in love with the game, fell in love with working out relationships
with teammates. And now it's kindof like my advice and I can't let

(42:19):
it go and just kind of findingways to always get better, you know.
Luke Linting here with twelve Sports.Congrats both 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 dadafter your name was called and you were
able to be drafted by this organization, and how surreal is it for you
to be following your own father's footstepsbut in your own way. Yeah,

(42:39):
I mean it was very brief.Actually just in the second graduations, I
walk up to the stage and thenI had to do a bunch of interviews
afterwards. So I don't think it'shit both of us yet. I know
what's happened. I think, youknow, one of Michaels always to make
him proud, so I hope Idid that. Marvin, bo Brock,
pH and X Sports. When doyou anticipate catching your first passes from Kyler

(43:01):
Murray? I don't know. Idon't know. I guess we'll see,
hopefully as soon as possible. Darius, you mentioned philanthropy, and I know
there's been it's been talked about howyou took some of the NI nil money
to do a get back to schoolfor the kids in Colombia. Where where
did that belief in doing those thingscome from I say, my family,

(43:23):
my brother and my mom really instilledthat into me and to me at a
young age. Just give back yourblessings to others. In my fifth year
at Miszoo is the best year ofmy life, So why would I not
share my blessings with others. Sothat's what really motivated me to do that.
And now being in NFL, youknow, my goals to do three
events each year. I just giveback because you know, it's life outside

(43:43):
of football and bigger blessings out there. Marvin, you obviously played with a
number of highly drafted receivers at OhioState. What sort of feedback have you
gotten about the NFL from them?And you know about making the transition in
the league itself. Yeah, it'sa long season. I think going from
in a twelve game season you havein college to was it seventeen games now
and you got three preseason, Ifeel like just the biggest challenge the game

(44:07):
stays the thing. Obviously, we'reall skilled and very talented athletes, so
the mental part is probably the biggestthing and the biggest change from the college
to pros. Marvin, what's yourtimeline for hiring an agent right over here
on the way part right, Youhaven't hired an agent? Why is that?
Is there a timeline to hiring one? And are you gonna sign the
NFLPA licensing? I think the taalleon this team is really good too,

(44:31):
and I think that I can comein here and make a big difference,
you know, and we can wina lot of football games. You know.
So that was my That was partof my decision. Your Achilles coding
nine, How tough was that?How long do you take? Where are
you at now? I'm one hundredpercent now And it was like a walk

(44:52):
in the park. It's like aspraying ankle. You know. It was
very easy, you know, becauseI had the knee. The knee was
pretty hard, you know, andthe Achilles was I would say it's easy,
you know, just because that's justmy mentality, and it was.
It was pretty easy to be Butyou know, I've had these injuries and
it's been storm like the past twoyears, you know, having have like

(45:16):
good, great games, the nextthing, you know, hurt and then
you know, so got got theinjury prone out there, you know.
But I think the storm is overwith, you know, you know,
and I think I'm gonna gonna takeoff now, you know, and there
will be no setbacks and the injuryprone thing will be gone out of the

(45:36):
window again. Yep, I'm sorry, You're gonna be back. 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.

(45:57):
Check the injuries is bad luck?Is there anything you can attribute to
beyond just this formun Yeah, it'sjust unfortunate, you know. But God
has a plan always, you know. I don't know what the plan exactly
is, you know, I don'tknow, but whatever plan it is,
it's for me to be here.You know, I had a great rookie

(46:22):
year. I didn't I didn't reallyhave the volume as other people my rookie
year, but I still had agreat rookie year. Six yards of carry,
you know, things like that.I think it was like nine touchdowns
ten including the playoffs. And sothere's always been like, all right,
guy, lets me show my talentshine a little bit. Like even when
I had the knee. So Ihad the knee right. A lot of

(46:44):
people don't know, like I didn'tget hurt again. Whenever I got you
know, got cleaned up. SoI went down in twenty one right,
had the injury, the knee injury, and then came back later the next
year, and I played the firstfew games and it just feel there was
a lot of scars issue. SoI did get it cleaned up. I
didn't get hurt again. I couldhave played the whole year, but I

(47:05):
got it cleaned up so I canfeel like me. And so after I
got that cleaned up, the firsttwo games back from the injury, I
had over one hundred and twenty yardsrushing right, and then went on had
great, great ending of the year, you know, one hundred total yards
in the playoff game we lost,which I hate the most. Stays,
don't marry me. I don't wantto win. But then come back the

(47:25):
next year hurt again like torn achilles. So two really unfortunate injuries. But
that's just God's plan, you know. And I think that the storm is
now over, you know, AndI do think that I'll be able to
shine my light to the whole world. Are you concerned that you have that
label of you, Jay Sae.I could care less because I do.

(47:47):
I know this out there because asit should be, it should be.
I got hurt two major injuries backor not back to back years. But
you know, so I haven't beenon the field as much as I should.
That's true, that is true.But it's not like I'm having these
little little dinky injuries and sitting out. It's something I can't control literally,

(48:09):
So that's why I'm not bothered byit. Like, yeah, I am
injury poem. You could say that, you know, but I do think
that the Chargers are getting a guythat's gonna be healthy from now on.
You know, God will it,and it's gonna be great. And I
do think that it's gonna be It'sgonna be a great However, many years
here, when you've been on thefield, you've been highly adopted. Yeah,

(48:31):
five point of years are very averagefor your career. Like knowing that
when you're out there you're very adopted, how much confidence does that give you?
That really all you need is isnot you need all the confidence in
the world. You know, theway I work, I wouldn't say just
from the numbers, but just theway I work, my work ethic,
you know, and my relationship withJesus is like I have the most confidence

(48:54):
when I step out there because Ido know, like if he grants me
the health, it's is it.I don't think I would be you know.
I think it will be a greatyear or whatever, a couple of
years. However many years he graspedme great health, you know. And
I think just the work ethic,my prayer and all that stuff, that's

(49:15):
what helped me have that confidence withthe numbers will be there, and they
might be higher after this year,you know what I'm saying. And it's
crazy to think about because I hadsix or six yards per carry, you
know. So we'll see you're lookingforward to running behind this line put together?
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.I played with brand Lee, I
played with him, you know,I know the Slater, I know all

(49:36):
the I know all the guys,you know, and I'm excited. I
think it's like I said earlier,it's a talented group. You know.
We just got to put it togetherwin some games, because that's what I
came here for a year, orI wouldn't I wouldn't say part of the
recruitment, but like whenever I decidedI was going to sign, it was
great to have him in the rooms. Yeah, we're great. We're we

(49:58):
have a great relationship. That's he'slike my brother, So I think compliment
each other very well. You know, he can do a lot of stuff
too. You know, we gota lot of people think he's just power,
power, power, But I thinkhe has some other parts of his
game two which it'll be great becauseI feel like I could do everything and
when one get tired, we canroll it in. We keep rolling win

(50:21):
some games. So when you thetwo of you get going, how do
you think that's gonna look for?What would like what will be that partnership
kind of back there? I knowthat's a hard question. How do I
think I think it'll look beautiful?You know a lot of people call this
a passing league, but I thinkyou gotta run the ball to win the

(50:42):
super Bowl. You know, ifyou look at the team to win the
super Bowl, they can run theball, they can control the clock,
and so if we're both good,it'll look great, beautiful. How would
you describe the Gregor running offense?I would I would describe it as you
know, a great offense. Ithink he gives a quarter he's going to
give the quarterback a lot of options. He's going to give the running back

(51:06):
a lot of options. He's gonnagive 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 an,
you know, I was like,why are you any will built something good
rushing offenses throughout your career every whereyou've been, And you said that one
part of it is just you gota call place, You got a call
run of place. As a runningback. You know, how much confidence,

(51:29):
how much second does it give youwhen you know you haven't played call
or that's gonna stick with it andallow you and the offensive line to get
it. Gives me a lot ofexcitement. You know. It's gonna be
Like I said, it's fun toplay at 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

(51:49):
identity. You You want an offensethat has an identity, right, you
won't be looking everywhere else to findyour your identity you want, you want
to have it, and so Ithink 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. You'll befull go for training. Look, I

(52:12):
ain't gonna answer any of the fourif it's up to me. Yes,
Look, because I had this problemlike three two years three years ago,
I'm thinking I'm full go. Ithink I'm ready to go, and the
next thing, you know, I'mon pup, like, hey, look
some stuff above my prey pay grade. So but I don't know. Hopefully
I can start. I think I'mready to start, you know, at

(52:35):
the beginning training camp. But that'snot up to me. As I've learned,
I tell you, I wouldn't saythat. I think I've been I've
been in some great organizations, andI think this this organization is a great
organization, and the training staff isgreat, and so they just want what's
best for me, you know,and they're they're taking care of me,

(52:59):
which that's what you want an organization. And so that's where that comes from,
which I appreciate it, Like Ireally appreciate that, you know,
because I'm the type of guy like, I work really hard, so maybe
sometime I'm blind to you know,the danger of something. You know,
so I appreciate it. But likeI said, if it's up to me,
yeah, I'm out there. Butnever know what any frustration for you

(53:21):
during the heading into free agency,you know, dealing with with rehab and
not you know, having on afull season, the tape or production to
go out there. There any partof that where you're like, God,
you know, had hit the openmarket with a different situation. You know,
Nah, I like it. Ilike, how would I say this?

(53:43):
I like it the hard way,but not you know, I like
it the hard way. I likeit. I like trial and true relations.
So I mean the dice that Iwas given the role was I was
coming off of our Achilles and thatwas that was the Lord's plan. So

(54:06):
it was beauty in that, LikeI was comfortable. I was caught like
there was multiple teams, you know, I wasn't. It wasn't like I
didn't have any other team. ButI was comfortable and sitting back and just
that we wouldn't have had initially atthis time of the year, you know
last year, you know, thosethose tougher conversations, those ones where we
might disagree, where we do agree, where where he's got his two cents

(54:28):
on it, which is, youknow, always the best two cents I've
heard. But me being who Iam, you know, I'm gonna throw
my two cents in there, youknow. So that's just a it's been
awesome man. He's you know,a resource for me, just a person
that I can always bounce my thoughtsoff of. And now, you know,
just a year, you said,thirteen months. Now I feel more
comfortable just you know, bringing certainthings that you know, you never you

(54:49):
never want to come off too strong. But I'm a curious guy. I
got a lot of questions. Ilike, I like football a lot.
I like to talk and talk togames. So you know, come to
find out, he's the exact same. So we, uh we get along
well, and and uh we're gonnakeep keep building that relationship. Sometimes in
this league, playing you know,eighteen games, they trying to make it
twenty. You know, it's likeit sound like a little a little fever
dream to be honest, But butuh, if we can find a way

(55:10):
to k you know, stay upright out there and keep keep airing on
his feet you know, I'm I'mexcited for that and uh everything that comes
with it. But uh but yeah, like I said, man, that's
it's it's harder said than uh orharder done, and said, I guess
you know, it's one of thosethings. It's like that's a lot of
games, you know, all ofa sudden take a lot of hits.
They take a lot of hits wherethey're not looking, and it's just how
can we keep him healthy? Yeah? Yeah, are you when do you

(55:31):
think? I do you ever seethe room now positions you guys have made
when more Monty healthy and get everything, like, yeah, you know,
I'm excited to see it at atfull health. You know, we've i
haven't got to see all the allthe guys out there at once. And
and you know, it's one ofthose positions where every day is something might
happen to Nick up. You know, it's just a a tough position to
stay out there at all times.But I feel like we got a great

(55:52):
group and and the number one thingis how can we stay healthy? How
can we you know, I'll beout on the field, and I think
having depth like this and the groupyou have is gonna help us. Having
guys that can do different things,that can go catch ball over the middle,
all types of things that it's gonnatake some of the strain off off
all of us. You know.It's it's a good group. So I'm
excited to, uh, you know, get out there. I feel like

(56:13):
we haven't had the whole whole thingtogether, but you know, come season
time, morol, and it's gonnabe exciting. What about the gods in
your whole number? Yeah, yeah, Malka, Yeah, man, he's
uh, it was a brute man. I think it's like, you know
how to write, like when useyour right hand, you know how your
handwriting should look. It's about takingthe reps to make sure matches. I

(56:34):
guess you know, so you're takingthe reps to get back to that.
I think it's all what it does. I mean obviously, like he's one
of my biggest supporters, you know, so obviously you know he's he's he's
excited about the opportunity for me,you know, so excited about it.

(56:55):
Oh a lot. He helped mea lot, even from like the first
day, just trying to help meget used to to write tackle. He
got my feet used to write tackle, Like my first day of practice,
I'm like, dude, I stillfeel you feel a little off. I
don't feel as balanced to my stands. And he showed me the small technique
and to do with my feet,which I still do e even even though

(57:15):
I left tackle. Just kept uspart of my routine. That was part
of my process and getting to mystands. So stuff like that that he
taught me from day one, andobviously in practice was fun. Just compete
with him, you know, it'sjust to meet at the back of the
pocket and to dap each other backto every rep like that was compete,

(57:35):
you know what I mean. Sothat's my guy. And as much as
you love him, once you're theleft side, how bittersweet is in a
certain matters because it would happened tohim. Yeah, that's the thing.
That's not how I was. Definitelyhow I n in and that's how I
thought about the transition would go.You know, I thought it would be
you know, I'm home someone timing, but a cardinal his whole career,
you know, you know, evenwanna player forever, you know what I

(58:00):
mean when always talk about his plans, so you know, you you wish
transitions like one of those fairy talelike to your time now. But but
again either way, you know,we talked about it. You know,
that's that's the how it goes,you know, but obviously you know he

(58:21):
sees he's he's been one of mybiggest supporters. Again, I affect everybody
leads in their own way, youknow, not everybody's the guys coming around
like, that's not everybody, right, Like I felt for me, that's
me specifically on game day with theO line after we do one on one
like that's my like, well,Hump did like that's my like big vocal

(58:45):
time. But I feel like I'vetalked to Hump about this, you know,
just recently talking about how what Iwant to do for the room is
I want to bring that Hump energythat he brought right so last year year.
Of course, some traits been doingit for years, but the year
while I spent with him, hebrought a lot of the energy and the

(59:07):
excitement and the happiness in the roomwas just his natural energy to where I
only had to focus on me,you know, I didn't have to make
sure other other guys whore you know, feel some type of way when they
came in here because Hump brought thatbut out of Hump's not here, but
I saw what he did for theroom. I want to be that guy

(59:29):
to make sure everyone's amp to goto practice, everybody's hype weren't taken and
field team one period. You knowit's a low day or something. You
know, it's a it's a day, but like I want to make you
feel like Prepar's the tripper right now. I want to bring that because that's
what me and Hump did to eachother. People hype each other up,
dudes like dudes about to get walkedthrough there lit So I want to do
that. I want to bring thatenergy. I want to make bring more

(59:51):
guys, you know, to dothat. You know, I wanted to
do that from day one, youknow, I kind of I wanted to
do that from day one, fromjust talking to him, and obviously it's
that time. I spend the offseason before OTA started just being in myself,
just thinking about what the room needs, you know, because I know

(01:00:15):
I knew new role as one ofthe leaders you know on my offense,
is that we need a guy likethat that's gonna make sure the old line
is picked up, ready to goevery day. And it was held accountable.
Little things aren't happened to practice,people aren't saying anything. And how
I may lead maybe different than somebodyelse may lead. You know, I

(01:00:35):
like to a practice at least likethe legal positivity, you know what I
mean. So, but he theenergy yet went beyond just the hype up
the deal line and stuff too.So that's kind of how I wanna be.
Some goal of mine, literally mywhole life. I want to be
a NFL team captain, like specificallythe NFL. I wasn't a captain of
high school, wasn't a captain ofcollege. But I made a joke when

(01:01:00):
I was in high schools like,did 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
from the respect of the guys onthe team, individual award to me and

(01:01:22):
to get back to that point,yeah, I mean, I can't say
that. I mean, I guessthe biggest thing is that I felt like
it has felt like how it youused to in the past, but it
didn't take just the first day OTAs. It took training left and right once
the season ended, cause I didn'tknow what it was gonna be sure,
so it took a lot of yeahreps just to give back to feeling like

(01:01:47):
myself for day one OTAs and thenthat whole first week. But now like
today specifically just changing some small thingswith my feet that I did say talking
about a line coach about some thingsI can do with feed to get to
that to sell at the traditional anglethat I love to set on. Felt
even I thought I felt, Ithought I felt great already by mokat,

(01:02:08):
I felt even better of it.So I'm even more excited tomorrow. Now
I'm getting my feedback and how Iliked it the right side and on the
left side, So I'm excited.I mean, obviously, I feel like
in the league, whether I leftor right, you're still going against premier
guys, So obviously you have highexpectations for your left hand or right tackle.

(01:02:28):
But there's definitely uh, like thethe level of energy and like the
expectations, definitely taking the human effectcause now connected the blind side, that's
the that's de tackle role, youknow. So so yeah, I would
say in terms of communication as faras just even outside of facilities and stuff

(01:02:49):
like that, like really creating thatthe tackle quarterback bond even more off the
field, I think has been somethingthat's even been cool years. I got
a text one day as a Hey, like you play left, and I
was like, yeah, you know, yeah, I've been training both.
I've been training both. You know. I asked after the season. They're
like, honestly, you know,we'll talk to you. So play in

(01:03:10):
the season. And I just gota text him like, depending on what
happens with with the free agency then. So I was like, you know
what, I had a whole seasonright tackle. So if I get the
word, I'm going I'm standing righttackle. I don't just do what I
did before. I'm built on thatbus. I was like, I might
as wells trained the left tackle nowas if I'm gonna be left tackle,

(01:03:31):
and I'd rather do that than trainingon right tackle with the KO. Hey
you're the left tackle. I'm like, oh, I didn't switch on my
feet yet, you know what Imean. So I'm like, let me
just prepare in advance. I waslike, yeah, let's god. You
know, I think occasionally on thirddown there'd be a lot of twists.
I would just know like it's I'mautomatically coming And I think that was my
mindset for like the first half ofthe season. But like I didn't have

(01:03:53):
to go into a gaming with surpriselike oh my gosh, they did that.
I kind of figured like, okay, like this is this is the
type of rush men again, thisis how this guy usually rushes. But
I get the vibe, this ishow the end's like the rush you know,
tackles that are you know, firstyear guys who got the premiere patch
on. I already knew what itwas gonna be, already knew over every

(01:04:14):
stunt and honestly just knowing that it'skind of an advantage too, so you're
not you're not you're not old.They brought the twisted my side again,
it was never an Aaron donaldd.You know they're coming up with mine like
three plays in the world and intwo minutes I knew that it was gonna
win. It happen, you knowwhat I mean. I'm watching more than
everybody else and he rarely Eveland goesout there on occasional third downs on the
d M. I was like,already know it's gonna be he's gonna pick

(01:04:35):
me, you know what I mean. So fact fact, it's kind of
a it's also kind of an advantagein the way, but it's also exciting,
like Okay, I'm gonna get thehardest look. You know, those
are real, real reps, youknow, the bank. So really,
I know, I really didn't kindof process that. I was like,

(01:04:56):
hey, when they tell me tolet me know about I'm just gonna train
it. I was training all left, so ta's. I guess if I
didn't hear anything about ta's, Iwould have came in like so you know
what I mean, cause just likeI'm cool training both continuing. I would
have been cool training both continually.But I feel like anybody, any position
will be like, okay, likeyou wanna as soon as possible give your

(01:05:20):
feet of accountability at the time,Ustin what if uh what did you see?
The guy would be counted all week? Yeah, I mean he's quick.
You know, he can create alot of space and uh small spaces,
so uh it's quick, you know, uh savvy with his rout running,
and you know he's just he's justa hard worker. You know.
You know there's some plays where heknows he's not getting the ball and he's
still still winning ro oute. Soyou know, just to have that player,

(01:05:43):
uh A a player like that givethat much effort uh on the field
every play, it's really really goodto see you. And I think it's
you know, really uh gonna rubup on the other guys too. I'm
good, I'm bother, i'm'a getanother. What's it like wor eating with
uh some of the tay downs thatyou guys happened to earn there, I
know it or history just talked aboutthe first utility that a lot of the
guys have, especially in that prip. Yeah. I mean we have a

(01:06:03):
different uh uh a lot of youknow, different guys in the tight end
room. You know, Darnell hebrings sides to the room, Uh,
Rodney Speed, Uh Connor he hasa great awareness in the field. Pat
of course he you know, he'sa great all a round sight end.
And then uh, you know,uh crew he's a he's a back,
he's smart, he knows what he'sdoing. So, I mean just all

(01:06:25):
the guys in the room, youknow, they're smart and atensive and they
I f I feel like they're jare justice to the offense world. So
is it what's been like working withTom or on what's he been kind of
work on what you want? Yeah, I mean Toma's been great. Uh
just his a tis attention to detail, the way he comes you know,
in each and every day. Hecomes in the same guy every day and

(01:06:49):
uh to beyond side. And youknow, I don't think I've had to
coach that detailed, but as Tom, you know, he's very detailed in
terms of you know, practice,refused sending us, uh the info,
breaking down each and every play andreally just really just focused on the details.
To be honest with you, Ithink, uh, that's the thing
that sets him apart. And youknow he's he pushed us to be hard,

(01:07:11):
I mean our our indie periods oryou know, conditioning. So of
course that's good for us. ButI mean he's been great so far.
So excited to uh you know,allow that allow our relationship to grow,
and excited to work for him iswhat he's doing. Kind of compliment what
you're doing individually, you know,when you're away from the facility, working
with you know, coaches one onone and anything like that. He said,
what is he what does he do? Here that kind of compliments what

(01:07:34):
you do away from the facility whenyou're troubling. I mean, I think
he does different stuff, so Ithink, uh, that's a good thing
about it. You know some stuffthat we do here. Oh sorry,
Uh, I don't you know,usually do outside of the facility. So
it's good getting that different work in, different drill work that I can you
know, implement into my you know, off season program and stuff like that.

(01:07:55):
So it's good that I'm learned thisstuff for sure. Efficiency sources and
time. That was especially the lastyear what U what did what? What
is uh? Our smith in theoffense talk about you of trying to make
make that incorporate that into us doinga big part of this all of that.
I mean yeah, uh, Ithink we have fast guys, guys
that can get down the field withspeed, uh, guys like Quez,
Calvin, Scottie, Van, youknow, me and Rust. You know,

(01:08:19):
we've we've had a lot of deepball success and a lot of explosive
plays in the past. So youknow that's just uh, you know what,
Yeah, I guess how our offenseis built. To be honest with
you, but I mean, ourjob is to create explosives and you know,
push the ball down the field.So anytime we get those ops,
we definitely wanna capitalize on those.Are your coach's arresting any part of your
mechanics and anybody that? I mean, yeah, uh, I think there's

(01:08:41):
always room to improve, uh,mechanic wise and stuff like that. So
I think you know Matt Baker,uh, he's a or quarterback, an
sistem. He you know, usuallystays on me the most about it.
Okay, So I appreciate the factthat he does that, and I usually,
you know, make sure he doesn'tmake sure I just just stay on
top of it, you know asa whole, and you know, make
sure my mechanics are always clean.Can you talk about one particular element that

(01:09:03):
they're stressing. It's it's different areas, to be honest, I don't think
it's just one specific area, butit's it's different areas, justin in your
opinion. Was there something that youwanted to work on maybe get better at
when you got here at this pointof your career. I mean, like
like I said, there's you know, no matter who you are, you
know, there's always stuff to getbetter at, always different areas. Nobody's

(01:09:23):
perfect in one area. So Ithink you can continue to prove in all
air in my game, you knowme personally, So I'm just focused on
getting better as you ever did.So when we talked at Russ yesterday,
he said that rusted that he personallyfelt kind of revived you being in another
step in his career. Is thereany of that sense of maybe rejuvenation or
feeling with ive Obviously you haven't beenin the league for thirteen years, but

(01:09:43):
is there a new energy that youget being in a different organization, going
through mini camp in a different wayfor the first time. I think so,
you know, just being around anew team, uh uh, an
organization that's you know, just justwith this culture, you know, me
being in you know, different placesnow you just I realize that, you
know, you don't get this cultureeverywhere. I think Chicago, I think

(01:10:05):
they are, you know, kindof changing into the narrative now, But
I mean this has just been theculture here for so many years to where
I mean you can see it.It's just the way that you know,
we attack each every day and coachto you know, he stays honest about
it. So I think just havingthat and uh, you know, reiterating
that you know each and every dayThat keeps guys in the tosing guys aready

(01:10:28):
compete each and every day. Isit easy to step into an organization when
there already is such a culture that'sbeen established for a long term to kind
of know where you fit and knowwhat's expected most most definitely, I think
you know, especially as a leader, as a player on the team.
You just don't have to thank youfor checking out this content from posts at

(01:10:49):
Sports. If you watch this onYouTube, please like the video. Yeah,
I mean, I think college footballis different and uh ideologies and under
standings and have changed. And Ithink that you know, the portal is
a variable, and I would saythat not him in particular, but I

(01:11:11):
wouldn't say everyone doesn't really know howto handle it properly. You see it
currently. I mean, it's justit's a variable that's new and how to
handle it. There's not a transcripton on how to handle that variable.
So you just guys just trying todo what they think is right. That's
all they're really trying to do.And I'm not saying they're right or wrong.
But he was trying to do thesame, and you know, I
think at the end of the dayhe realized he made made the wrong decision

(01:11:34):
and we connected on it. Wetalked about it, and you know,
it was a great opportunity to towrite or wrong. And obviously we're very
glad he's here. I've always believedin him. We believe in him,
and he believes in himself. Andthat's part of the just trying to understand
what's my path right. So uh, but yeah, it's been great.
Steps have been made. He's growing, but he's nowhere near where he knows

(01:11:58):
he's capable of being, and he'sjust probably a prices in Ceremiah. I
love, uh, the way helives. I love the way he approaches
things. I love the way thequestions he asks. I love the way
he makes mistakes and then correct mistakes. It's very veteran, like, I
mean, there's so much ball hehas to learn. Like he literally does

(01:12:20):
things that are good. I'm like, do you know what that worked?
He goes coach, I have nofreaking idea, So like I'm trying to
teach him all of that why itworked. So then you know, the
consistency at which it works just goesto the roof and so but I'm very
you know, excited and proud ofthe conversations we're currently having, and I'm
exciting it for them to keep going. Bryan, what play power for you?

(01:12:42):
Working with I love working with ChipChip Is. I love talking Ball,
I love the viewpoints, I loveI love the veteran that he has,
you know, and I love Noah, Like I love all of it.
I think that you know, earlyon the biggest impact, you know,

(01:13:06):
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

(01:13:29):
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 have that viewpoint, I'm

(01:13:54):
just trying to absorb as much asI can, but then also highlight some
things that we've really done a goodjob of and make sure those You know,
nothing's really changing, We're just tryingto enhance. We're not changing,
we're enhancing. So where the thingsfit is perfect. You know, I
think, uh, you know therest of the dynamics and search Chip can
talk about. But it's been it'sbeen awesome, so I'm excited about it.

(01:14:17):
We talked to a mecca. You'retalking about moving from slot to the
house side. You know how goodwe've been in the slot. Is that
a difficult move for you guys ascoaches to know how good a guy is
in on 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

(01:14:40):
about the room. I think it'sit'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 come out of that slot, you're gonna be outside. We're going
create mismatches out there. I mean, his ability to move around is critical.
But I would say between me inbetween Carnell TAS's ability to move around

(01:15:01):
a lot. It's gonna provide alot of flexibility for our room. And
uh and those top you know,six seven guys that are really doing a
good job right now, progress likethis spring for like a because there's no
time to think some one of thosethings. I'm sure when U has balanced
how much work is a need versustoo much? Yeah, heavy, heavy
emphasis on what work he needs,you know, versus anything else. Uh.

(01:15:25):
I rely on him. We havegreat dialogue back and forth. It's
a two way to It's a twoway conversation. And frankly, there's gonna
be times we're like, hey,Mex, what do you wanna do today?
You wanna go outside? You don'tgo inside? And I don't care.
So, Uh, we're not thereyet. We will be there,
but it's just more about, youknow, when the room is ready to
start mixing things up. Yeah,I would say, there's God. I

(01:15:59):
mean, I make sure I'm bringingguys that are able to do all but
I have not asked them to yet. So the only guys that in our
room currently I have asked to dothat has been Mecca and Carnell, and
those are probably the two guys thatwould, you know, think heavily on
doing moving around a lot. I'mnot putting that on anybody else right now.
I'm not saying they can't, butat this point, having two guys

(01:16:19):
be 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
offense still be great at everything andbe an expert at something and we can
use that to our to our advantage. This year is different, like maybe
guys who were more situational. Theroom's always different, frankly, I mean

(01:16:40):
from twenty eighteen and then nineteen andthrough COVID and and those guys, and
and then the depth of those guysand then where Mech and Marvin and those
guys were as freshmen compared to youknow, It's just it's always different.
And uh, I expect this oneto be different again, I'm not sure
at what level yet. Last question, hip between the TV room in your

(01:17:01):
room, especially you know, thebackwards. I'm curious Yea d as a
leader just like you you know playedOhio hasn't how experience I'm curious about how
you've seen him kind of build backroom, especially on the recreepecially kind of
the effective your recruit. That's kindof a chance he would probably know more

(01:17:23):
for that coroving all the way throughten years in this league. So excited
to see what he's got. Howold did you know Sores and when he
was assistant here? And I've gottento know him a lot that it's a
relationship. Maybe right now I knowhim pretty well. He was always just
a good dude around the facility.He did our ball meetings, so he's

(01:17:44):
good in front of a group.He's a good leader. He knows the
scheme really well, which is good. I was happy to see him promoted.
Uh he called me in the offseason. We talked. I just congratulated
him, and I think he's goingto bring something similar to what we had
with the Miko be good. Doyou know Brandon Stanley well at all?

(01:18:06):
I mean, obviously Joey Platform,I don't know too much about him.
I've obviously heard from my brother,but I don't even think i've said high
yet. I haven't ran into himyet, but I'm sure i'll get to
know him. When you say itlooks similar to the Miko of the Energy
or the system, maybe a littledifferent energy, but I think just knowing

(01:18:28):
the system from the front to theback, I think he knows how it
ties in, and he's been aroundwith some really good coaches, so I
think it'll be pretty pretty seamless,and I think we'll be firing on all
cylinders. You're three months removed fromthe Super Bowl now, so just how
have you? I guess digested it, and I guess physically everything good to

(01:18:53):
go. Yeah, I feel reallygood. I think it's been one of
my better off seasons of just kindof it was a long year, so
I took it nice and slow toget back into it. Not as young
as I once was, so I'mtaking a little, uh, a little
slower, but everything's great. I'mfeeling as good as I felt. I'm

(01:19:15):
excited to actually get some practice in. Last year was kind of tough,
getting thrown in Week one after Iwalked through, so that was another reason
I'm excited to be here, isjust to get practicing a little bit in
season. Practice is one thing,but actually being able to work your stuff
and not have a game coming upis good. With the super Bowl unfortunately,

(01:19:40):
I know how to bounce back fromtough losses, so it was rough
for a little bit, but notjust annoying when people bring it up.
Since the last season, we've seena Rock on TV commercials and on the
stage with Kluke Koombs and throwing outthe first pitch in the Giants game.
But he seems like I got it'stotally unaffected by celebrity, which he has

(01:20:01):
now. But what have you noticedin his leadership style and the way he
carries himself any difference at all.I think he's definitely getting a little more
vocal within the building. And uhyeah, I mean I don't think he's
ever gonna change. I don't thinkhe's somebody that's going to change even when
he gets paid next year. Sohe's he's a man of faith and he

(01:20:26):
kind of reminds me of Scotti Scheffler, but except for just super humble and
really good kid. And yeah,he's definitely famous. I don't just from

(01:20:46):
watching Armstead get released obviously meant somuch to the defensive line into the team.
I mean, Colin John were prettyopen that they were willing to talk
about trading Deebo or are you asyou does that? Just another what's that
feel like in the locker room?When those sort of jowls happen. I

(01:21:08):
didn't even know that happened and Iwasn't here, But you're talking about this
offseason armsta in alarm Er released,so that's certainly one thing. Yeah,
it's a tough business, for sure. You have to have thick skin and
I haven't gone through that, butI think you just have to understand that

(01:21:33):
it is a business and the team'sgoing to try and get as good as
it possibly can with or without you, and you have to look out for
yourself. That's why you go throughholdouts and do certain things that seem selfish
in the moment, but it iswhat it is, and when everything's settled,
we're gonna come together as a teamand try and go get one.

(01:21:55):
What's the overall feeling around the groupright now, Like, how much does
it feel like the excitement of theramp up to the season, And even
though it's early, it feels good. It's been a couple of days for
me, so I like all thenew guys. I'm getting to know everybody,
but I think the past is inthe past and we're ready to go.
Do you talk to me? Youtalked to beat all about handling the

(01:22:15):
business part of this, he's goingthrough something similar. We chat a little
bit, but not too much aboutthe details. I just told him to
keep his head up and trying tostay positive through it all. First impressions
when you heard about your schedule wouldbe in that Aaron Rodgers' first up,
It'll be fun. Yeah, it'sgonna be gonna be given. Excuse me

(01:22:41):
kind of alluded to this for thefact that last year you had to have
that holdout save that affected you somewhatearly in the season. If you hadn't
had that experience, would you behere right now? I mean, was
that part of the motivation for beinghere early, just to have the opposite
when last year might be No,I don't think that's one of the reasons.

(01:23:02):
But I just talked to Kyle andhe kind of asked me. He
kind of stated how he felt aboutwhy it would be good for me to
be here and asked if I agreed. And I agree. So it's not
like I'm missing too much. Ithink I'm out here. It's a little

(01:23:23):
less workload than I'm doing back home, so it's kind of a good active
recovery thing for me, and I'mgetting football stuff, football working specifically,
So that's good. I'm not it'snot compromising my training at all, and
I get to meet all the guys. It's positive. Let Oh no,

(01:23:48):
he's he's there. He's got anew regime over there. First, I
actually thought I was coming next weekuntil recently, so I was going to
have one more week at home.But we're both in California. Share about
reasons that you agreed with. Itsent from the top and it doesn't get

(01:24:15):
mixed up as it's moving down theladder. It's boom. This is how
we're doing things, and everybody's followingthat, and I think it's impressive the
details that everybody have been on,has has been on, the effort and
just the competitiveness that that's been goingon over the last few weeks. Yeah,

(01:24:36):
it's it's it's been great. Howmuch do you appreciate that the stopping
just described the way Jim, weshouldn't eat in the messaging doesn't eat mixed
up. I appreciate that much.I mean, it's I guess it's easy
to appreciate when you kind of seeit working and you see guys improving,

(01:24:59):
getting better. I just think thedetails are really important. You can pretend
that leaving your shoes a mess oryour locker a mess isn't a big deal,
and what matters is playing football.But I think all those tiny details
and things kind of add up andleak into the important stuff, like what

(01:25:19):
you're doing on the field. Soif you can have your toe behind the
line, or have your locker andorder and all these things, they kind
of stack up into performing well andand playing well when things count. So
you know, I appreciate that it'sIt also hasn't been a fight with the
guys in the locker room. Theybuy in, and you know, it's

(01:25:42):
a lot of young guys, andI 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, youhave your shoes, if you could,
if you could spend the time onthese small things when nobody's watching. I
think, like I was saying,it seems like it might not out up
too much, but I think inthe long term it does, and it

(01:26:05):
leaks into other things, whether you'redoing your right assignment on the field,
being late to meetings or all thesethings. If you hold a standard and
you stay to that standard. Ithink it benefits you long term. It's
been like working Ben Herbert, whohas there been anything in his training program

(01:26:27):
or working with you that you feelwill benefit you later. Yeah, Yeah,
definitely, he's been great. He'sa no nonsense kind of guy,
but he's not an old school inthe sense that he's bringing his way of
doing things and that's the only wayto do things. He understands that guys
have been in the business for along time, Khalil me and we have

(01:26:47):
a way of doing things, andall he wants to do is add to
that and help you get better andperform the best you can. He stresses
it all the time that he's atool for us, and you know,
he's been he's been great. Theguys love him. The energy brings is
awesome, and I think the stuffthat we're doing in the weight room is
great, a great addition to stuffthat I may may do on the side

(01:27:12):
or whatever that is. Yeah,I think we I mean, we had
a presentation today with all the certainmeasurables that are changing, and if you
guys are in the meeting, youdefinitely see how beneficial he's been to the
team so far. So obviously stayinghealthy is is a huge factor to anybody's
success. I'd say it's plagued usa little bit for a while. So

(01:27:34):
yeah, I think he's he's definitelyincredibly beneficial. Are you fully cover at
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,

(01:27:58):
it was. Unfortunately the year wasn'tgoing great and it just was unnecessary
risk for I mean, my footcould have had 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's feeling great, toes good,
hamstrings good. I mean, therewas a list of things last year,
my hand, so all those thingsare good. Gut surgery on my

(01:28:23):
finger, so that's feeling good.Yeah, it's it's nice to be feeling
better going into year nine than youhave since maybe five six years ago,
which I've said, I've said I'vebeen feeling great last couple of years.
I'm telling you it's a real dealthis time. But obviously anything can happen.
But I just feel it's fun,feeling really confident in your body and

(01:28:46):
being able to perform, so Icould just go out during practice and you
know, go balls to the walland do everything that I feel like I
need to to be able to prepare. It's fun. Brother, and whoever
I trained with my trainer Todd backhome, I think they'd be really proud
of how I've been working this offseasonand it's just exciting. The pointing was

(01:29:14):
the injuries. I remember that theGreen Bay game, you kind of yeah,
it was a bit of a buildup, a little bit of an
overreaction, but you know, it'sjust tough. It comes sometimes like that,
and I just felt felt really defeatedcoming back. Had a broken hand.
I'm like, oh, yeah,I get to play Boom first Series
foot pops. Thought I'd have toget surgery, and all these thoughts flooded

(01:29:39):
through my head. Broke down abit, and yeah, it just hurts.
You know, you're losing, you'regetting injured. You've felt like you
prepared really well in the off season, and then the year before you had
growing surgery, so you know alot of things build up. Yeah,
you don't get a break if you'reinjured. Everybody wants to go on fans

(01:30:00):
are very nice. But no,I just I'm grateful that I feel this
way. I'm still still nicey Ripetwenty eight, so not too old yet.
But yeah, I'm just excited.I can't remember what the original question
was at this point, you getsomething about my body, how close you

(01:30:27):
and Gift were, How frustrated wasit that you couldn't you know soon for
one of those last three games.It was frustrating, but I mean Gift
was had my back the whole way, I think for Gift, for any
but for the whole team, justto show what it means to me.
It would have been important for meto be out there, but I literally

(01:30:49):
couldn't. I tried to practice,injured my footworset the very first play I
was and in practice, So nochance that was happening unless I wanted to
throw my next season away as well. But no, I'm just I'm proud
of him for what he did withthe team, how he handled it,
and I need to call him back. Actually sorry, I give Yeah,

(01:31:13):
I'm happy he gets to stay closeby with the with the Rams, and
uh, just proud of all weaccomplished here together over the years, and
and we'll be close for the restof our lives. Was the footage.
It was the guys foot sprang.Yeah, I sprained one area of my
foot. Then when I tried toreturn and I sprained another area. Was
able to avoid getting surgery, whichis kind of the main goal. But

(01:31:39):
yeah, it was. It wastough when it comes to the addition of
but Dupree, where he felt likehe's kind of brought to the to the
room and could bring on the field. Yeah, it's when I heard we
got my brother something. I don'tknow, maybe my brother told me.
I'm like, really, we justgot Bud Like, that's no, that's
no small pickup. He's a seriouslyelite pass rusher. Has had some trouble

(01:32:04):
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 and Tuley and tobe able to rotate like that and not

(01:32:25):
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 see 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,

(01:32:45):
playbook wise, always doing his job, working hard, just refining his
technique and pass rush. I mean, we don't have the pads on right
now, so the real work willwill begin, you know, and six
weeks now. So but yeah,I love Tulie. I've loved him since
the first day he's walked into thefacility, and I know he's just gonna

(01:33:08):
continue to get better. Do youthink of the addition of Joe Old?
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna needto beat him up a little bit in
camp. So he's so he's ready, But no, I think anything to
protect our number ten is a good, good investment. So he seems like
a real solid dude. Haven't talkedto him too much. Great build,

(01:33:30):
seems like he has good hands,good feet, strong, We'll see.
We'll see in a few weeks whenI lay a helmet in his chin,
how he holds up. But it'llI'll take it easy on him. No,
Rashawn's a beast. Did you knowcoach Harbond before he came here?
And if you did, just whatwere those first couple of conversations like that?

(01:33:55):
Yeah, probably have crossed passed withhim. Maybe maybe not. Actually
I think what was it his firstyear when I was a junior? So
he kicked his ass as usual atOhio State. No, No, they
just want a championship, so I'dsay they probably have the bragging rights right

(01:34:15):
now. I'm like the guy talkingabout his old high school. Oh,
I remember we used to kickers?No, but no, yeah, no,
the rivalry is dead. I wasjust saying this morning, you know,
nine years and kind of forget aboutthat. I'm not a great alumni.
Sorry, sorry coached, But no, it's great. That's what's great

(01:34:38):
about the NFL is you just haveguys from all backgrounds. You could hate
their guts one year, and thenyou come on the same team and your
brothers and you're all working towards onegoal together. So our first talk together
was great. I just sat downwith them, went up into his office
and chopped it up about life mainlyand his opportunity here and how much it

(01:34:59):
means to him. Uh. Yeah, I think he's a special guy.
I think he's the way he conductshimself. He's an interesting cat for sure,
and I'm still still feeling him out. But one thing you can't denies
that he loves football and his maingoal is to win football games. And
that's what we need. When yousee him working out with you guys and
and pushing his lives and doing allthis stuff, just how interesting is that

(01:35:24):
in Yeah, I mean he wasa he was a 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's part of the guys.
You know, he's not this guyoutside looking in. He he really,
I mean he voiced that to me, is that his favorite part of
all of it is being with theguys and and the connections he makes.

(01:35:47):
So Yeah, to to see aguy like that come in and embrace it
all and kind of be part ofit himself is important. Your initial impressions
of Coachman during the defenses, Yeah, it's funny to go from old gift,
old gift to this little young guywho's my age. I wouldn't want

(01:36:08):
to get thrown into a room withme and Khalil if I was his age.
But no, he's been great.I love messing with him a little
bit. We little sarcasm back andforth. But no, he's great.
He's uh, he's very talks veryfast, and I don't as you know,
so sometimes I gotta be like,slow down, coach, come on.

(01:36:31):
But no, he's great. I'mexcited, you know, to get
closer as the years, as theyear goes on, and I think he
has he has a lot of passionfor the position and all he wants to
do is learn and and help usto improve. So I'm excited about him,
And I mean I do miss Gift. Obviously, it was a long

(01:36:53):
time with him, but I amexcited to have a new face and kind
of have that challenge for me withJesse's dad since I know he coached Linebergers
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,

(01:37:15):
sorry, I thought I thought Iwas. I thought you mentioned coach
Ronie. No, no, coachMentor has been great as well. Yeah,
they've both been great. Sorry,run that back. No, he's
been good. Uh yeah, veryknowledgeable guy, same thing. I'm excited
to get to know him more asthe year goes on. Have you worked

(01:37:39):
Have you worked much during the JesseD Yeah, Uh no, I have
not. I don't know if I'vesaid one word to him, but more
words to come down the road.Like you said, you've been in year
since twenty sixteen. Just what aresome of this stuff? You just one

(01:38:03):
ramble about the wrong guy for fifteenminutes in what Yeah, what the heck's
like? Actually that's literally not theperson. Yeah, yeah, I figured
out. What's something that you youworked unduring the off season? Something to

(01:38:25):
improve your game or is there somethingthat you can Usually my answer is pretty
consistent that I just continue to tryto prepare myself physically, whether that's my
sprint work or agility work and mylifting, but yeah, just to get
everything feeling great. I dealt withthose injuries, so I had to kind

(01:38:46):
of ramp it up with my fingerand foot and all those things. But
now I'm I'm full full speed outthere, and I'm just going to continue
to do what I know will prepareme for the season. And uh,
I know I'm gonna get plenty oftechnique work and position work when I'm out
here, So for now, I'mgonna spend these five weeks really getting uh

(01:39:12):
preparing my body's workouts. Competitive again, another year of competitive and all that
stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it'susually too hot out there for much competition.
We're just trying to survive. Sobut yeah, it's always it's a
it's a silent competition between between eachother. Be like Peeking's like what was

(01:39:32):
his time? Was his time?But no, yeah, it's always.
You can never have an off daywhen when you're out there and he's he's
warming up like a beat, likea freaking robot every day out there,
so there's there's no off days.Have you got you and him talked at
all about I mean, I meanjust when you were having a contract,

(01:39:53):
dame, do you have guys getto talk about on anybody? Yeah,
I mean it's it's a conversation,not really a serious conversation, but something
that's come up before. But yeah, I mean it would be cool,
it would be cool at some point. I Uh, I always thought of

(01:40:14):
myself being somebody that will play hereand retire here, which I think not
many people do on one team,and I think would be a cool thing
to accomplish. But you never know. I'm gonna worry about this year.
First's kind of we're going a foodstory. But so you guys have like
the lowest or second lowest food cacharea in the NFLPA servely last year and

(01:40:35):
better moved to the facility. Likehave you talked a lot about food and
how he did some time? Isit fine? Did you have you looking
forward to the food upgrades at all? Have you thought about it at all?
Yeah? No, it's Wolfgang Puckor whatever is the is the word?
Yeah, that's great. I've beenworking with my chef for seven years

(01:40:56):
now, so she's been great,So I've never really had to worry about
that too much. So yeah,my weight's good. I've been eating a
lot this off season, so that'sgood. But yeah, I'm excited to
maybe be able to Sorry Christina,but maybe I won't need a cheft next
year. I'll have I'll have mygoing on see how to see the best

(01:41:19):
fit Christian Chris. Here we go. Yeah, Drea, and welcome to
Seattle. Were you looking for infree agency flight? That's a loaded question
for real for real, Uh,you know, in terms of no pay

(01:41:40):
system, teammates, environment, city, all those kind of just like play
into it. Besides just the moneything. I know, financials always play
a big role, and I kindof steered you into the direction you want
to go. But everything kind ofplays into it. And how much did
you reach out to Shelby Drew knowingsome of the guys you knew that played
here last year to get the sensefor what Seattle might offer you. I

(01:42:02):
mean, not much right now,I'll talk to I'll talk to the showby
a little bit about it. Mainlyno one, Drew. Uh, just
congratulate me, Bob. Did youcome together pretty quickly? I know you
kind of came to your agreement onthat first Monday, and everything with Seattle

(01:42:23):
that all kind of come together reallyfaster. Now, it was a long
day. Seattle came in almost outof nowhere. We had like a good
set of teams that we were talkingto, just trying to finalize what was
going on, what was the termis going to be? You know,
and Seattle came in hot. Theyshowed a lot of interest and uh,
they kind of just motivating me tocome here more and more and how similar

(01:42:44):
will your role be, you know, in terms of playing what you did
in Denver. I don't know thatyet. I got of just mentioned previously.
I don't know my role. Idon't know the ins and out yet.
Once we'll get NO through the protocolsand nfl p A, we'll we'll
talk about no, the schemes andeverything. Right. Uh, so welcome.
When you were in Denver in thethree four, where did you find

(01:43:06):
yourself most comfortable and most effective?And I played a lot of different positions
in uh Denver, I mean earlierin my year, I played zero,
I played three two one. Imean, I'm definitely more comfortable in a
shaded position, mainly being a threetechnique and five technique. That's why I
found myself to be more comfortable whetherI'm standing up or I'm not, whether

(01:43:26):
it's runner or pass. Uh,those seem to be my best my best
fits. And what is your impressionof Pete Carroll's defense and whole environment in
set? Uh? From afar itseems like he uh, he holds in
on defense a lot. Uh.I can't really say too much about that.
Yeah, I don't. I knowPete Carroll very little. So uh
I'm just trying to figure out moreand I'll give you a better answer later.

(01:43:48):
What's the reputation around the league outof the Seahawks, Uh, you
know hard nos Hard had type ofteam definitely on a little more lack side
as opposed to being a stuck upor military style, and which is definitely
good because then this program is oneof a lot of football games have been
super successful for many years, aslong as I've been alive, as long

(01:44:10):
as I've been watching football, anddefinitely this has been a good program.
And Pete Carroll has been a hellof a coach for as long as I
remember, even back in his collegedays. So I'm looking forward to experiencing
that. John Boyle, Yeah,I know you said you don't know yet.
You know what your role is goingto be, which is what what
kind of players who haven't watched timeof Denver? What kind of player?

(01:44:30):
This definitely a high motor definitely nota one trick on any type of player.
I like to attack, you know, whether it's a first or first
through fourth down, I like toattack. I'm always trying to apply pressure.
I'm definitely just a high mortar guyin my opinion. Brady either Brady

(01:44:53):
Henderson from n nice to meet toothat. Yeah, this is not a
team that really makes big splash signingsin free and see. Did you think
going into it that Seattle would bein play. Uh No, not at
all. Uh. You just it'skind of like being a cure at the
County Store. You know, I'vegot a whole bunch of different options coming
at you. Uh here in awhole bunch of different crazy things, and
uh, you know, you onlyget to choose one. And this is

(01:45:15):
the place that that we both choseeach other. And I mean, I'm
loving Seattle so far. You know, I like these colors for real,
for real. What what did yougot to do with Seattle to see since
you've been here? Not much?Uh, just kind of just drive around
the city exploring. Uh, getdown to the market a little bit.
I want to get on of theFerris will do some more like touristy type
of things. You know, I'mnew to the city and I got a

(01:45:35):
lot to learn about the city.All right. Yeah, there's been a
lot of comparisons with you to MichaelBennett. I was wondering if you know
Michael Bennett at all, and youthink those are accurate. I know Michael
Berger then it like nothing. Iknow nothing about it but besides his style
of play, but I'm honored tobe considered in the same conversation as him

(01:45:56):
and uh style of play. Youknow, He's a Hall of Fame type
of deep linean that I've known sinceI was a kid. I mean,
last time he played here, Iwas in high school. So you know,
it's cool to it kind of camefull circle a little bit watching him
on TV and now I'm being kindof compared to him in the way,
you know. I mean, I'mnot touching the surface of Michael Bennett.
You know, he's a Hall ofFamer and I'm not there yet, So
you know, I just got tokeep doing my due diligence to be a

(01:46:18):
better player. Car Hey, Dreamont, welcome to Seattle. I know you
get to play several seasons for VICFangio and three four style defense and Seattle's
playing a similar system now dating backto last year. As a defensive lineman,
what do you think is most importantto be successful in that system?

(01:46:39):
Maybe fundamentals or just playing style tobe successful. From what I learned,
being gap sound and being patient hasalways been the biggest thing, and that's
how we've been successful when I wasin Denver, just kind of like relying
on each other. I know thatsounds kind of cliche, but like there's
kind of like the the realm ofbeing in the three four defense. You
gotta really really rely on the guysbehind you and the guys on side of

(01:47:00):
you to really make their to dotheir job to make your job easier.
Bob, Yeah, we uh youryourhouse state plaoffs that you didn't start playing
football till you were junior in highschool and largely played basketball t then that's
what made you, I guess decidedto go go play football. Then?
Was that artist away from basketball?No, no, No, I've always

(01:47:24):
loved football first. Uh, itwas just kind of just playing it out.
You know. I love the who, but you know, football was
definitely about calling. Given I wastwo hundred and sixty five pounds power forward
and I was like sixty threes andchanged. So you know, I kind
of told use the route that Godgave me. No, I'm not six
eight LSDA. Yeah, We'll cometo Seattle and you can't quoted, and

(01:47:48):
you're looking at a couple of articlesthat you listen job player, and can
you just talk a little bit aboutthat that role that I think some of
the ruicides might always elaborate more thanthat, just from a standpoint, like
I always get like over overshadowed,overlooked, whether it's in something, you

(01:48:09):
know what I'm saying, Like,I feel like I do a lot more
than what can be sitting by theeyes of the inexperienced, you know,
Scout and I do a lot ofdifferent dynamic things that help make plays for
others. You know, I'm definitelyan active player. I'm always doing something,
whether in the runner pass game,so you know, I think that
goes on others sometimes and I'm lookingforward to putting people on notice. Thanks

(01:48:32):
Brady. What uh, what doyou like to do outside of football?
Uh? Big gamer? I'm definitelyI've been getting to a lot of chess
lately, so just to expand mybrain. Uh. I try to get
into reading, but if it's notsportulated, I'm really not interested in reading
that book. What do you thinksome of that I'll be able to bring

(01:48:54):
out of your games? You keeptrying to, you know, just being
more explosive, probably more yards forcatch with the space that he's putting us
into the more yards. More yardsI have to catch, more supposed to
pick, more exposed to play forfor not just only me, but she
and Ak and taste them. SoI'm excited to be able to be in

(01:49:15):
the system. I assume you thinkyou guys can be a lot more exposive
than you in the last couple ofyears. Oh yeah, of course.
It brings a lot of different things, you know what I'm saying, the
playbook, but just accountability. Ifeel like that's gonna lead us to the
success this said, the language isa little a little shorter. Have you
found that the language that you guysuse. Is it about the same or

(01:49:35):
is it it's kind of the same. Really, it's a long, long
place, but it's more understanding forsure. I feel like you can get
to that more understanding plays and Ifeel like that's that's the difference. Peter
was saying the other day, justkind of like coming into this offense after
like twenty years of breeze and justkind of how it was just kind of
built on top of each other andon top of each other. It's like

(01:49:56):
kind of a lot to kind oftake in. Do you do you find
that way kind of turn it downonto something new, starting to like zero
with everybody. It's just a littlebit easier to kind of get everybody on
the stadd. Yeah, I feellike it's way easier. Like you said,
it was kind of more of aDrew Brees style, uh the last
playbook, so uh all credit tothem, though they built that around him,
around his players. But uh,like I said, it's it's more.

(01:50:17):
Uh, this playbook is more uhfor uh matchups, and uh,
I feel like it's gonna be betterfor us. How do you think it's
gonna really take advantage of just skillsets? Uh? Just building around the
strengths that I have. You knowwhat I'm saying, things that I can
do and things that she can do, uh, things that our players can
do. Is kind of focus onwhat we can do and and building on

(01:50:40):
that. Uh. I feel likeit's playing to the player strengths. So
I feel like it's gonna help usa lot around the way this offense will
have a lot more speed. Andhow has that transition event so far?
I mean, like I said,it's building around the players strengths. So
of course we got speed uh uhwith me or uh she and ati receiver?
So uh just building around that.Like I said, playing to our
strengths and be able to capitalize offthat. Feel like it's gonna help us

(01:51:03):
a lot most of like the uptempo asterist and you know, getting a
lot of plays in unless time.Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
definitely gonna play a big difference.Like I said, coming from the West
Coast, Uh, they bringing thatstand for an offense here, So I'm
excited to be able to be apart of that. Do you personally,
what's what's the next level look likefor you? What do you what are
you trying to accomplish this year?Just staying consistent, man, a couple

(01:51:26):
of upside downs last year, justbuilding off that. Uh, it's always
always gonna work on the physical part, but being able to bounce back after
a bad game. The mental mentalaspect, Uh, just learning learning that
last year and be able to buildon that this year is a huge part.
You know with Mike Gon, doyou take it upon yourself to kind
of be that voice in the roomor to take a step forward even further

(01:51:48):
as Uh, I mean it's notreally. I mean everybody kind of grown
in the NFL, so it's juston you to be able to have that
stand. Like I said, Ijust try to do that lead by example.
I'm not really outspoken, but justlead by example, working hard,

(01:52:08):
trying to dominate every rep and hopefullythey follow after that. Yards after the
touch? Is that you feel likethat's the strength of yours that maybe wasn't
utilize. I don't know if utilizesthe right word, but you could show
more. Yeah, it's an offensethat is built around that. Uh,
just catching the ball in space,catching the ball over the middle or even

(01:52:29):
on the outside, uh with withspace and separation. Feel like it's built
around having yards after catch. SoI'm definitely proud to be in the system,
like I said, and I'm excited. But is that is that a
mindset too? Like being good atyards after the catch? Like? Oh
yeah, I mean of course.I mean you don't want to get tackled
by the first person. And mymindset is trying to take every take everything
to the house, you know,every touch. So I definitely got to

(01:52:53):
do that more and definitely try towork on that in practice. Keeps uh
great, dude, man, Uhsome some that I definitely needed something that
he relates to me. Uh,just from backgrounds and uh, He's a
great coach, great leader, Uh, motivational and uh, like I said,
I'm I'm excited to have him around, and uh for him to push

(01:53:15):
me is everything that I need.So you're talking about like mentally bouncing back,
you know, from from tough performancesor whatever, Like, did you
like try to find your resources gonnahelp you figure out how to do that?
Oh? Yeah, I mean it'solder guys. Uh uh tell me,
Uh that's natural. Just have badgames. But uh, just having
the standard that I have for myselfand the expectations I have for myself,

(01:53:38):
Uh gets hard sometimes, so uhjust be able to, uh be hard
on yourself, but at the sametime, uh just let it go and
just bounce back for the next game. It's something that I learned last year.
You one of those guys that feelslike you should always have a certain
love production or are you okay withthose certain games where the defense is so
focused on you that other guys havebig games and where you're just, yeah,

(01:54:01):
I'd definitely be one dimensional. Infootball, you need to be able
to throw the ball as much asrun the ball. You know. It's
funny some people think I'm an areaguy. Some people think I'm a wing
tea guy. Some people think Iwant to run the ball every down.
You know, we're gonna We're gonnado what's best for a house state,
and that's that's kind of what ourgame plan is right now. Austin were
a podcast. When you think aboutyour first evaluations of the quarterbacks and going

(01:54:25):
through these fifteen practices at how doyou want to structure that? I know
that you and Ryan have probably talkedabout that a good amount, Like what's
the right way to set up aspring position battle? How many reps does
everybody need? What's sort of yourplan? Just from a general perspective,
I guess yeah, you know,we're really detailed in what practice looks like
and how that's going to operate.But I also think you need to let

(01:54:46):
the players go, you know,So I don't think you need to to
put shackles on them, so tospeak, and just keep them constrained.
I think you got to let themgo and you got to let them operate.
And we were rotating I think everybodyon every two snaps today just and
that was just what we're gonna doon day one. You we'll reassess it
after we got through it, geta chance to count up all the reps
of how many plays, how manyplays each guy got, and did they
get more in seven on than theydid in eleven on? You know,

(01:55:08):
and we'll go through that whole thingand that'll be a constant flow in terms
of how we're doing it. ButI think the best way people learn is
they learn by doing. You know. So they've been great in the meeting
rooms, they're sharp when you getthem on the board, they're really good
when they're watching film. But yougot to go out and you got to
play the game. And so themore we can put them in those situations
to play the game, the betterwe'll have an opportunity to evaluate them.

(01:55:30):
Uh. Thinking all of these thingsgo back. So for with Ryan Day,
you mentioned since you've done it sincehe was a kid, what were
your first impressions back then? Andthen you come full circle to now,
like, how do you do youfeel about that? It's still the same
way, you know, even sincehe was playing little league, he was

(01:55:50):
the ultimate competitor, you know,and he was always trying to find a
way to win. He was greatat a lot of sports, baseball,
basketball, football, you know.I got an opportunity to recruit him,
you know. So I coached himwhen I was at New Hampshire. I
recruited him out of high school.We all, and we grew up really
close to each other, so thesame elementary school, the same high school,
same junior high, same college,you know. So I've known him

(01:56:12):
since for for a really long time. But that competitive fire burns deep with
him, and that's the one thingthat I've always admired with him. And
he's got an amazing athletic brain interms of how to process things and how
to how to put people in positionto make place. He's always been that
prototypical coach on the field, nomatter what sport he was playing. So
I knew he was destined to bea coach, you know. And I
was fortunate in my career as ahead coach to have him on my staff

(01:56:34):
in a couple of places, soI got a chance to see him work
firsthand, you know. I gotto see him work firsthand as a player
and then as a coach. Sothe success he had is not is not
surprising to me that there is therewhere you seeing Ryan the successes had.
Yeah, I think we all dothat. I think we come from a
unique place in a really small hometownin New Hampshire where we all take a

(01:56:56):
lot of pride to where we're from, and when anybody's successful coming out of
there, you kind of take alittle pride that that's it's the upbringing that
we all had, you know,in the U sports program that we grew
up in in in every aspect,whether it was football, baseball, basketball,
those coaches we had an amazing impacton us and that's why we are
where we are right now. Ryansaid, he doesn't think of it as

(01:57:18):
you working under him, that's workingwith him. Fact is he's the head
coach. He makes me call himsir though he just said can you do
that? Day one and I waslike, all right, right now.
But I mean he ultimately is thedecision maker. You've been a head coach,

(01:57:39):
How do you think that's going towork. Do you think there'll be
any as close as you are,any kind of awkward moments the right term.
But when he's the ultimate decider andyou are working for him, Yeah,
I certainly understand my role. I'mnot Alhaic Like I'm not I'm not
in charge here. Yeah, somepeople get that reference. Other people don't

(01:57:59):
get that red, but I'd certainlyunderstand that, and and I actually kind
of relish it because I really lovethe scheming part. I love the individual
part. I love being in themeeting room of the quarterbacks and trying to
game plan. But everything we dohere is collaborative. You know. The
one thing that that really struck mewhen I walked in this place is there's
an amazing coaching staff here. Youknow, and if you get a chance
to talk to Larry Johnson just aboutfootball, or Tim Walton or Jim Knowles

(01:58:23):
or Brian Hartline or any of theseguys that are on the staff here,
it's it's a very collaborative effort.I think everybody's on the same page.
You know, it's not our offenseand their defense and it's Ohio State,
you know, it's it's Ohio Stateversus the twelve opponents that we're going to
play during the regular season and thenbeyond. So it's it's really collaborative.
And that's the thing I like,just in the short time that I've been

(01:58:45):
here, is how collaborative everybody's been. You know, we're all trying to
make each other better, and we'reall trying to develop this team. You've
touched on this when you said youknow, you'd like to do what you
want to do and not My senseis you, in your perfect world,
you'd like this plays on a napkinand not deal with boosters, do deal
with all the stuff that coaches headcoaches have to deal with. Now,

(01:59:06):
how much of a factor was thatin this decision? You can just do
football now that that's not it?I mean, I enjoy I mean we've
had some amazing I've had an opportunityand everywhere I've been to meet some amazing
people that are associated with the program. And there's people that from my time
at New Hampshire or my time atOregon. I was just with Phil Night
two weeks ago, you know,I got an opportunity to spend some time

(01:59:27):
with him and his wife, Penny, who are dear friends of mine that
have been great mentors to me inmy career. And there's a bunch of
people that at UCLA, Terry Donahueand Andrea Donna who were awesome to me.
Angela Mazzoni is a great friend,Casey Wassman, Troy Aikman. There
was a bunch of people at UCLAthat I really enjoyed, you know,
being around and talking with So Ithink sometimes everybody wants to make a narrative
of it's either this or that.It's it's it's never that. It's never

(01:59:49):
just all ball, it's never justall recruiting, it's never just all boosters.
It's it's a mixture of everything.But I think the one thing that
as this position as a head coachkept moving on is that if you look
at a lot of them, theyall become more CEOs. You know.
I can't tell you how many coachesthat have called me since I made this
decision that said I'm two years behindyou, brother, you know that are

(02:00:10):
thinking the same exact way. AndI think it's all part of what we
have to do. I think weall need to protect this game and promote
this game, and I think thereare some rules that we need to get
straightened out so that people understand wherewhat it's about, because the game is
still about the players, and Ihope that never gets discounted. You know.
It's it's always been about the players, and I think if we can
keep that at the forefront the peoplethat are making decisions on this, and

(02:00:31):
I think Jean Smith is one ofthe best influences in in the NCAAA is
to make sure we keep that themain thing, the main thing it needs
to be the student athletes. Youknow, you're coming in at a time
where you've been through some places wherethe expectations are high. I understand it's
also coming into a juncture where,you know, the three losses to Michigan,

(02:00:55):
the not making the playoff last year, the urgency is pretty high here.
I guess it's sort of I thinkperspective. Do you have the kind
of the stakes that there are forRyan this year and the decision that then
he makes to bring you in tokind of help solve that. Yeah,
I think the expectations can be nohigher than they are in your own brain,
you know. And I think ifyou try to worry about what other

(02:01:15):
people are thinking in their brains,you're going to get screwed up a little
bit. So, you know,I talked earlier the one thing about Ryan
that I know about him and hasalways been he's the ultimate competitor. So
he's got There's nowhere that has higherexpectations of Ohio State than Ryan does,
nor the rest of us that joinedhim in our part of this and that
are working with him, so youknow, I don't think I think sometimes
you can spend too much time thinkingabout those things. You know, what

(02:01:36):
you really have to do is justas there's a big sign as you walk
into this place, it says whenthe moment, you know, I think
that's a real thing that we haveto do as coaches, is to make
sure that our players aren't worried aboutwhat's going on in the future, or
or aren't worried about what's going onin the past, or worry about can
they get a little bit better today, you know, and can we make
improvement? And I think the onething that I've seen here and I've only
been here for three weeks, butthere's a consistency to the players approach when

(02:01:59):
they walk in this build every day, which is it's unique. It's not
like that everywhere else. And it'sone of the things that I remarked to
Mick when I you know, hesaid, hey, what do you think,
And I was like, it's impressive. It's impressive the culture of the
players that are in this program rightnow. But I think it speaks a
lot to the leadership. There's there'sa lot of older players on this team,
and they've set the tone for theyounger players, and I think the
younger players have done a great jobof followship and getting right in line with

(02:02:19):
that. He's never hit it overa play calling to someone before. What
does it mean to you? Iguess he technically did it to Bill when
he was here for a couple ofweeks. But what does that mean to
you to kind of be getting thatresponsibility from him and he's calling essentially the
offense that you gave it? Iguess in some way. Yeah, I
still think the play calling part willbe a collaborative effort. And by that

(02:02:41):
I mean that if it's a goodplay, I called it, and if
it's a bad play, he calledit. Because the great part is an
assistant coach, you can just pointthe finger a little bit and say,
hey, you know, I wantedto do this, but he trumped me.
So we haven't actually discussed game dayyet. You know, we'll see
how that operates. But everywhere I'vebeen as been a collaborative effort, and
all of a sudden, someone that'scalling the plays isn't isn't like pulls one

(02:03:04):
out of left field that you hadn'tpracticed and hadn't been part of your offense
and said, hey, let's dothis. You know, we're not running
the annexation of Puerto Rico. Youknow, we're not coming up with something
special you know in the middle ofthe fourth quarter that we haven't done.
But I think it's the key toreally being successful on offense is is how
you game plan, how you putit all together, and then how you
practice and train for that so thatyou get a chance to execute. Because

(02:03:27):
the player's confidence comes from their demonstratedability that they've done this so many times
in practice that when they get outon the field that this is like that
to them, you know. Andit's not that they do it so they
do it right, it's they practiceit 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 the key tobeing a really good game planning team.
Second right, Doug Lane reef KingNorth Chip. When you had that feeling

(02:03:51):
when you were coaching the quarterbacks duringBowl, 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 an opportunity thatI think I can that fit,

(02:04:13):
you know, And I think that'sthe you know, it's no different than
when you're talking to a recruit aboutthem make a decision on where they're going
to go to school. I thinkthat where they should go to school is
where the best fit is for them. So you know, I just entertained
some opportunities and I always felt Ifelt like this was the best fit.
But I never thought about quitting ornot coaching. I'm gonna coach. I'm
gonna coach, and then I'm gonnadie. But I mean, that's how

(02:04:33):
I think I think about things.Is I can't picture that. I know
someone I was on the Nike tripand they like, how much longer are
you gonna go? When I saidI have to go another fifteen twenty years.
I don't think about I don't thinkabout retirement. I don't think about
any of those things. That's justnot kind of my mindset that you know.
I love football and in the aslong as I can be part of
this game, then I'll be partof this game. Just the way things

(02:04:57):
worked out with your departure from UCLAis or anything that you wish you had
done differently, or anything you regret, or just that the circumstances that presented
themselves. Do you think that youhandled that departure the best that you could
have? Yeah, I mean Igot an opportunity to tell my players personally.
You know, I think in thisday and age of the Internet where
they read it somewhere else and youhave to text message him, you know,
that was always important to me thatI wanted to make sure I talk

(02:05:18):
to my players and explain the reasonsof what I was doing. I wasn't
leaving to take a head coaching jobsomewhere else. I wasn't thinking that the
grass is greener at another university.Was just in my personal situation, this
is what I wanted to do.I wanted to take an opportunity to go
be a position coach and coordinator,and that's how it fit. You know.
What I was happy is that Ialways thought to Sean Foster, I

(02:05:39):
think the world of them, andI think he's a special you know,
and the fact that that they werethey gave him the opportunity to take over.
There was you know, it workedout. I didn't have any say
in that decision, you know,I was gone. But I always thought
that the Shawn would be a greathead coach, and I'm really proud of
him and happy that he got theopportunity to take that job right behind him.

(02:06:00):
Your reputation is innovator? Was partof the appeal of this is that
you get to get in the weedsa little bit, uh maybe not mad
scientists, maybe too too strong ofa word, because you're working within the
system. But was there an appealof I get to get my hands dirty
here again and innovate and get backto that side of things. It was,

(02:06:21):
But it was really more important ofwho I get to work with,
you know, and so knowing youknow, I've got I know a lot
of guys on the staff besides Ryanalso, so you know, when I
know what their mindset is and whattheir values are and how they do things,
and so I want to be apart of that. But but there's
a part of that, Yeah,yeah, how much of a teacher you

(02:06:41):
get labeled with an innovator? Theteachings are part of this. How much
is it is how a teacher areyou and how patient are you. Yeah,
I think we're all teachers. Imean, education is the transportation of
knowledge, you know, So itreally doesn't matter what the coach knows,
it matters what the players understand,you know. So you have to be
able to make sure that while you'reimplementing things is what resonates with them and

(02:07:02):
how does that come back to them. So, you know, a lot
of our teaching styles that we've learnedis more the socratic method of there's a
lot of questions, you know,and a lot of check for understandings,
just to kind of find out wherethe players are coming from, because it's
what they know that that's ultimately gonnawin games, not what we know.
You know that we're not playing thegames. We're not stepping across those white
lines, you know. And yourjob as a coach is to create an

(02:07:23):
environment where they have an opportunity tobe successful and then get out of their
way and let them go do it. So I think the teaching aspect is
huge, and we continue to research, you know, some of the latest
trends in teaching to make sure thatwe are transporting that knowledge to our players.
The second roll left Steve Hellwagen twentyfour seven sports. Yeah, coach,
just curious. You got five scholarshipquarterbacks with differing levels of experience,

(02:07:47):
age and everything else. Not toannoy him, but just want to ask
specifically about Will Howard coming in afterstarting part of two years at Kansas State.
He just seems to promote this ideathat he's a football player, you
know above all else. Just howimpressed are you with his makeup, his

(02:08:07):
experience, what he's bringing to thetable walking in here right now? Yeah?
Really impressed. You know, youdon't have to talk to Will for
more than five minutes to kind ofknow where he's coming from. He's really
focused. You know, he knowshe's got a short window left in his
college career and it really wants tocapitalize on what that is. There's a
maturity to Will, you know.I really I've had experience, My experience

(02:08:30):
in this thing since the transfer portalopened in college football is some of the
best players I've had an opportunity tocoach Ard transfers. Sometimes when you're a
true freshman and it's five years out, you know, it's like, hey,
I got a ton of time,you know, And sometimes when you're
a transfer, is that I've gotnine months, you know, so there's
a sense of urgency I think whenyou're dealing with with transfers, and I
think Will has exuded that since he'sbeen here. But the other thing that

(02:08:52):
I just in the short time thatWill has been here is how quickly he's
fit in with the entire team,you know, and how much the rest
of the players respect to you know. He was uh one of the Gold
Award winners for his work in theweight room in this offseason, so that
says a lot for him coming inhere as a in a short time,
being able to to win a weightroom award, you know, to start
off. Do you guys hope tohave the number one internally externally at the

(02:09:16):
end of spring or I guess justlet it play out, how do you
I? I think it always everytime I've been involved in these, I
think when they're organic is when it'sthe best. I I don't think you
can anoint somebody or force the issuebecause the players know. The players would
understand. They see it every singleday, you know, and there's a
team chemistry part of this thing too, So we're not gonna force the issue

(02:09:37):
a but I've always seen it playitself out so I've been fortunate that there's
always gonna be some quarterback battles atat some point in time. At every
school there's a quarterback battle, youknow, and then and really you gotta
let him play it out on thefield, and that's where it has to
that that's where it has to bedecided. Just a couple Hey, welcomes
than we were excited to have youhere. I'm kind of to talk about

(02:09:58):
the innovation of part Ryan said thatthat's something that he's always loved but working
with you and now he wants youto bring that here and how to fit
with Ohio State. Do you haveany idea what that's going to look like
yet or is just way too orI have no idea, you know.
I think part of it is isyou're trying to put the players in position
to make plays. So a lotof that comes from getting to understand the

(02:10:20):
players and what their skill sets areand how we feature what their skill sets
are, you know, And theone thing after day one, I can
tell you that there's a lot ofskill set out there, you know.
So that's that's what gets you excited, you know, That's that's what you
jump out of bed in the morning, and you're excited to go to work
because of the talent that you getto work with. But the one thing
that's the most impressive is the workethic that goes along with that talent.

(02:10:41):
You know, it's not just emptytalent. It's you got some kids who
want to I mean all of themsince I've been here, want to work.
So that's what gets you excited.But I think assessing what the skill
set is you know that we haveavailable to us on the offensive side of
the ball is vitally important. Andthen our job is to put those guys
in position to make place lots ofpressure. I mean, you've experienced what

(02:11:03):
it's like to coach national championship callover teams this program right now and moving
into a situation where you got towin quick and now. So does that
feel like pressure here for you oris it a little bit of excitement or
books? Well, I've always subscribedto as pressure is what you feel when
you don't know what you're doing.So if you don't want to feel pressure,
then you should know what you're doing, so, you know, I

(02:11:24):
think it's it's part of that,and I think part of our job with
our players in terms of the educationprocess. Is getting them to understand that
too, is that you know,it's it's about your preparation, It's about
you and your development. It's notabout that you can't be governed by what
other people say. It's it's what'smy mindset and how am I intrinsically motivated?
And then how do I really competeagainst myself on a daily basis to

(02:11:45):
get a little bit better. Youknow, we got a little bit better
today because we get out on thefield today and got a chance to do
some football. And then the challengeis when we get back on the field
on Thursday, can we be alittle bit better than we were on Tuesday.
And if we're doing that, thenwe keep stacking good days on top
of good days, and I thinkwe'll be in good spot and welcome,
Thank you. I'm gonna ask aboutthe pros and cons of coaching from the

(02:12:05):
box and coaching from the field.It's interesting to talk to some off some
coordinators. Tom Herman talking about it. 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 so Ican look at my guys in the eye.
Where are you at as a asa coordinator, honestly, And I've
thought of this a lot. Ithought of it a lot during COVID because
we had the empty stands, youknow, so I had thought about just

(02:12:28):
walking up into the stands for alittle bit because I had a better advantage.
I've always believed you can see thegame better from up above, but
I believe you can feel the gamebetter from the field. So if there
was any way we could get azip wire where you could do both,
you know, coach called from thereand then zip out of the field get
a chance to talk to him,because it's a different deal when you're talking
to the quarterbacks on a phone,you know, than being able to look
in their eye and kind of seewhere they are with it, and part

(02:12:52):
of it is the field part ofit. I remember when I coached Ryan
once we were playing Ukon and hegot hit hard going out of bounce and
he just walked by me, andI was a play caller, and he
was like, run the next play, and I just kind of looked at
him. I saw the look inhis eyes because I don't think he could
have thrown it. You know,he was still trying to get his win
back. But you wouldn't know thatif you're up in the booth, you
know, and you call a passplay from up in the booth and you're

(02:13:13):
like, how come we can't completethat? Well, he just took a
shot going out of bound. Soit's that fine line that I don't have
an answer, you know. Ithink I think it's feel on the ground
and it's see from up above.Maybe in this day a technology, they'll
figure it out. But we'll seehow that that that operates, and whatever
Ryan feels is the best for theteam is what we're gonna do. So

(02:13:35):
your teams at the Oregon were obviouslyyou know, we're playing at this assid
pace and running a bunch of playsfor a minute, and yep, maybe
not by past pretty fast. Whatrole do you see tempo and having an
offense and in the state in collegefootball and has maybe changed? I think
the game is always evolving, youknow. I think when I left in

(02:13:56):
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, everybodyhad shiny helmets and everybody was playing fast.
So I think the game is alwaysgoing to go up and down,
and there's going to be different cyclesthat it goes through. I think tempo
is part of an offense, butI don't think it's an offense in itself.

(02:14:18):
I think it's more of like ifyou go to dinner, it's a
side order. You know, it'snot the main course, but it's it's
always good to have it. SoI think there's times when you'll use it,
but you're you're not going to useit extensively the entire game, just
like you're not going to throw theball every single snap in the game.
You're not going to run the ballevery single snap in the game. You
know, there's there's not a gameof absolutes anymore. I think the ability

(02:14:39):
to be diverse and have it asa tool in your two box, so
to speak, is really how wewould look at using it. Here are
now more familiar with it than Ithink, So, you know, I
think when you first started going Temple, there were people in the NCAA they
want to outlaw it, They wantto make an NCAA role that you had,
you couldn't do it, you know, and I'll I'll give coach shape
and credit. I mean, Ithink obviously Nick was the first one to

(02:15:01):
do it. He wanted it outloud, and then all of a sudden
he adapted it and said, allright, we like this, you know,
so we'll keep it in. Butit's I think people have it doesn't
matter what you do. There's there'scycles to this game, and then once
people catch on to that cycle,then it moves. You know. It's
no different than for three defenses andthree four defenses. You know what is
the rage when the when the Giantswon the Super Bowl, they were there

(02:15:24):
were three four defense and everybody,everybody says, we have to do that.
What people didn't understand is they hadCarl Banks and Lawrence Taylor. It
didn't matter what defense they were running. I know, Gym's back there and
Jim played against the you know itwas they could have been a four down
defense and those guys would have beengreat players. But it's not the scheme.
I think that the coaches that doit the best way is they insert
their players and put them in thebest position to make plays and now now

(02:15:46):
will Temple be part of it.It'll be part of it, but it's
certainly not gonna be the main course. Last question, Tim, Oh,
thank you very much. Jerry.Uh remember one of There was a great
moment there when yall were warming up, when you were you were talking with
Tim Wall, when Caleb Downs comesup and conversing and as you're in this
kind of a two part question,but number one, what was just your

(02:16:07):
take on the talent you saw onthat field today on both sides of the
ball. Where would you rank it? Yeah, I'll rank it. I'll
be very transparent. As I wastelling Tim and Caleb what a great offensive
player I thought Caleb would be,could be and should be. But I'm
not the head coach, so Ialways turned stretch as a as an offensive

(02:16:31):
coordinator, I'm always looking at thedefensive players like I could use him.
Oh what could I do if Ihad him? What could I do if
I have him? But I don't. I don't get to choose him anymore
because I'm I'm not. I don'thave the pick. But I was just
talking to him about he's He's agreat young man. And if you watch
if you want to watch a highlighttape watch his home You know, I
understand I came up a rough season, but I don't think it's a step

(02:16:52):
down of where I can play.You know, I think when I was
at the top of my game,I'm still a top five player in my
position. And you know, Iplayed a run in the past and I
bring leadership and you know that's notanything I discover. Can you you plan
to be here for many camp?I'm a storage train the camp. Yeah.
How difficult has it been the lasttwo weeks to not be here?

(02:17:15):
I mean you said in your podcaststhe first time you've never not been at
OTA. Yeah, it w Itwas difficult, But like you know,
the thing I got very frustrated withwas just and people questioned my communication with
the team. You know, Iuh was communicating with guys left and right,
and you know, front office,coaches, teammates, And all I

(02:17:35):
care about is how I am withmy teammates. I don't want them to
ever think I don't care about themor how I'm not in it. And
you know, you can say whateveryou want about me, but besides that,
but I'll always dedicate anything I can'tand I don't want that to every
question. Isaiah said that it feltlike sometimes you were holed up somewhere watching

(02:17:56):
film. You texted hy you missedthis, or you wanna tweek that.
Well, like the first day,he was batting all up Russ's passes,
so I had to let him know. You know, Uh, you gotta
take advantage of that. You gottamake sure guys are you know, uh
know that you you still care andyou still want to be a part of
this. Uh, you know,just watching practice, there's a couple of

(02:18:16):
things we're doing different, whether I'mcommunicating with dumbbar or other people. You
know, so you're that you're alsotalking with him and you you've given him
a pointers during the off season,just constant communication. How do you see
him girl as a person? Youknow, as far as how he's approaching
things and how he's getting ready forthis season from his rookie year. Uh,
you know, I think the thingwith Keanu is he's more comfortable.

(02:18:39):
You know, you know it sincehis first time around the track. You
know, it's actually like he canyou know, uh catch his feet under
him. You know. I alwaysthink when you're in your rookie season,
you're going from bowl game, Idon't even know Wisconsin played in a bowl
game. Sorry Wisconsin, I don'teven know. But you know, personally,
I just think when you go frombowl game to training for the Combine,

(02:19:01):
to you know, rookie minicamps,OTAs, the you know mini camp,
I mean the training camp the regularseason, you really don't get the
time to really catch yourself. Youknow, he understands the playbook now,
he can be more vocal, youknow, And I think when my absence,
the other guys absence, you know, you need guys like that to
step up and be ready for thoseopportunities you had. You had during the

(02:19:26):
season was a more thorough What wasjust tightening down everything, you know on
my left side because I was overcompensatinga little bit, but you know it
was it wasn't anything that lingers.You know, I'll say this, A
growing is not like an a cL. It's not like anything's that we're
going to get afected again. Andyou know, you know, feeling good,

(02:19:48):
able to do everything squat and heavywith power and speed, so you
know, it feels good to getafter again. What do you think of
what the team was able to accomplish? Your shot usually terms of bring guys
like rushing things ended. You know, I think they're all good acquisitions.
But you know, you never wantto be known as a paper champion,
so you can't win the off season. I think the work gets done out

(02:20:11):
here on the field, gets donein the classroom, it gets done training,
uh, you know, and thenyou see where you're at in training
camp, and then you build onthat. You know, I think we
got the right guys in the building. It's just about putting a complete name
on the field camp. How tempercoll is it to separate the business part
of the game in the actual footballplayer. Uh, you know, you

(02:20:35):
always wanna you always have to treatit like a business because you know one
day it's gonna end. Uh.And that's been the job. Uh.
It's not like in college where youknow you got four years guaranteed. I
don't know, well now you don'tknow whether n I don't know. It's
crap, but the transfer portal portal. But you know you have to you

(02:20:58):
know, I still have love forthis game, and I still work my
tail off and I still put everythinginto it, and that's not gonna change.
But you have to know what youbring to the team and what your
what your value is. Can youwanted to feel to be out there with
your teammates today? Emotionally great?You know we got a new uh,

(02:21:18):
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. Uh, going
through the same drills I've been doingby myself. Uh. I actually like
having more people around, cause likekind of go stir crazy crazy when it's
just you and another guy, You'relike, damn, I gotta go back

(02:21:39):
up for another rep already. Andso you know, it's nice to be
up here and get a chance toyou know, be with my guys.
Cam. Were you confident and deal? Will get done with your emotionally,
Oh, I'm gonna we'll try toremain pretty neutral because you know, I
don't wanna, you know, betoo either way. All I know is

(02:22:03):
I wanna be here, but we'llsee what happens. Is my last year
here, I I I I've hada great career here, but uh,
we'll look forward to play next year. Can you with that second surgery,
you said that this time was onthe left side. It was the first
time around on the right side,right side during the season, left side,
and that was just tightening down mycorner, my cormosaw. It wasn't

(02:22:26):
the same as my ad doctor.You know, you can ask doctor Bradley,
uh, doctor doctor zucker Bron whouh did the surgery as well.
You know, I if anything's gonnahelp me and it'll make me a lot
stronger for here on up and yousaid you were training with another guy.
Who have you come been? Tyson? Oh? I've been training with him
for the last eight years. We'vealways trained together. We got a trainer

(02:22:50):
up north, uh shadowt Cole Haley. He's my guy, traded trained trained,
uh Heath Miller, Brett Keesel,multitude of the guys that all respect
and we've just been getting after Kimis very true. Guys historically thirty five
that get paid big contracts that youthink that's held against you. I think

(02:23:11):
there's not a lot of history behindit. But you know, for me,
I I look at as I'm notlooking to be like anybody else.
You know, my game is differentfrom everybody else in this league. You
know, I like to think,you know, I can play the run
in the past and then that's whereI'm different. You know. I remember
last year Mike t just brought tomy attention. You know, the thing

(02:23:33):
that's really cool is you watch powerlifters, and you know, my game's built
on powering technique, and those guysgo into their forties and so you know,
that's what kind of research I'm doingbehind the scenes. But you know,
I I we'll see what happens.There's there's not a lot of history,
but I'm here to make history andI'm here to you know, win

(02:23:56):
another super Bowl here and you know, have a great season. You have
a set goal for yourself on howmany years do you wanna play in the
NFL or do you just take thingshere by the year? You know it?
It was it was tough answering thatquestion right after the season. I
will say this, guys, II can't keep answering that question right after
the season. That is not fairto the season, that's not fair to

(02:24:16):
my family. Uh you know,but in my mind, I got three
years and I wanna maximize them.I wanna play at a high level and
I wanna go deep in the playoffs. And you know, we got a
good team and I'm gonna do mypart to be ready for all those situations
here. If you plan on practicewhen you report to the trob or,
it's your possibility that you might pulledin and enforce the newituations. I I

(02:24:39):
have not even thought that far.I've taken a day by day. Uh
you know, uh uh I toldmy agent and we talked about it.
I mean we were cool coming outhere. You know. I'll be here
for many you know, and thenI'll be there for training parent you know,
I don't know what the work entails, but kay, when we get

(02:25:00):
there, we'll we'll cross that bridgeor remain a stealer for those three years.
You know. There was a conversationbetween me Omar and Mike t And
there's certain guys that are one helmetguys, you know, and I wanna
be one of those one helmet guys. And you know, there's a there's

(02:25:22):
a hunger and desire there. Butthat doesn't mean just hanging it up and
calling a career to me, Ithink, you know, I got more
bullets to fire, and uh,you know, I'm excited to do that.
What's the meaning last one? You? And what did your impression of
him? What? What does hedo well that you're like Okay, yeah,
this is this is the program Iwant to take work any closer to
you born you be foe torn here. You you committed right after your visit.

(02:25:45):
I mean when you came down here, was there a thought process that
you could commit. Did you comedown with an open mind or did you
kind of have a feeling that thiswas gonna be the weekend of you had?
Uh? I came down with openone. I didn't know how you
made real that and then I gothere I felt the uh family, your
player. What was that moment likefor you talking to coaches, telling you
compard, telling your family? Justwhat was that like for you? But

(02:26:09):
it was great I have my mom, my dad, or my husband in
the room or what was that reaction? Well, everybody already really like coming
with ten funds? So what wascoach a lot for? That was the
time when you think of like justto comment or the yeah, just an
Ohio state back, you know,whether it's physicality, like what are the

(02:26:30):
first things that come to mind whenyou think of They don't high state or
any back speed of power? Yeson and tell you about it? Yeah?
Is that something that I mean youfeel like you have to you know,
working or is that something that you'relike, Yeah, that's the kind
of back I am. I'm justgonna be next to mine in lives.
I think that's come back I am. But you go a yeah, well,
what are kind of a few ofthose things that you're like, Yeah,
I need to work on like goover the course of the next few

(02:26:50):
months, or I'm just everything makesure I keep all the details of Boston
per year. Yah. What acoach I'll tell you that he likes about
your game? Is it work betweenthe tackles, your speed or what is
he like? He said he likedTomorrow Fuckers backfield man and he liked that.
I'm not what's kind of your mainI mean obviously as an instinate kid
committed to this class, what's yourpitch now to other recruits and being like

(02:27:13):
this is why you should join OhioState twenty. It's a real family.
I'm experience. Yeah, everybody getsthem on, everybody talking to everybody doing
each other. What'd you say onceyou get any backs bringing Well, I've
always looked up to blow Jack andwatching this film, you, uh,

(02:27:37):
that's funny. Do you think thatyour boy style? Kamra his fiscal perspected
in just the way that he reallyTostall Field. Now I'm saying that what
you want to go into it?I mean I think I can. I
think it speed in a card.Yeah, I think. Who are the
main guys that you're you're talking toright now to join this month? I'm

(02:27:58):
really talking to everybody the lit roomand that all the commits, any guys
that you want to join the class, to anybody at the top of your
list. Not I'm sorry if youalready got asked this, but coming up
here as a as a recruit oras a commit, I'm sorry. What
What did you want to show today? What did you want to get out
of this experience? It wasn't nothingto show nothing. I just wanted to
just some working with Goose Love.How did you feel like that went?

(02:28:22):
Obviously he's still relatively new here,but he seems to bring up a little
bit of a different energy than thansome of these camps in the path.
I feel like it went good.Yeah, do you sense that energy?
I mean when you're out with him, it's intense interview. He's different than
other guys though, right, Imean kind of how would you explain his
coaching than some of the other runningback coach you've made up work with in
the paths intense tense like don't gogo? Did did you talk to coach

(02:28:46):
talk on when you was at awagon? I did? Okay? So
when when didn't he didn't work?And getting market like Rufford around like half
of the season like not too far? Just okay? I mean is it
was? He kind of the sameguy that he is now, so just
just in a new uniform. Basic. Yeah, And you guys obviously added

(02:29:07):
Isaiah to the class, and there'sno secret they would like to add another
one. What are your thoughts onbeing in a class with three different running
backs like that? I have noproblem being in a class through another.
What do you like about Isaiah?I don't. Don't you've never met him,
but just damn not the first whenyou committed? Who were some of
the guys that we started you fromme? You sailarly about after they come

(02:29:30):
back. I'm not really a coupleof linebackers take me on rest, So
that's flaky. Appreciate. I mean, obviously you got a couple year before

(02:29:50):
you ignore it. I'm curious abouthow you pick the higher state thing.
How do you do? I mean, it's pretty you started pretty good.
But I mean in terms of theguys, don't you want to join you
you're using You're not missing a boxfor lunch, just thing into camper,
pick your box, lunch, hip, your pimp shirt, have a break

(02:30:15):
right us? What do you wantme out of a quarterback like a white
you're missing a test? Test?Got guns card, Gray Rochester, thank

(02:30:58):
you brothers as coach, really verymuch, very person didn't thank you once
again. You're talking to Kelly aboutthat joking like that I'm talking about girls.

(02:31:20):
It's the first time I met him. You know, we just find
it really well and yeah, whatdo you think you can't bring to the
you know talking? Yeah, well, so like the lots, it's over
him against what's been like when you'rejust moving out to California, being out
of the convent. This little obviouslylike help help me just yeah, like

(02:31:50):
a different thing, hoes they hereversus when you were just a Yeah,
it's definitely different. So it's whyyou're rest of the year. So a
new generation of recruits where I don'tthink anybody outside looking you in your own
question is the strength of your commitment? Like you're locked into the last eight
you send it over and over,but you're making visits around the country,

(02:32:11):
You've seen other schools. It's it'salmost a totally different mindset. In nineteen
that was like the first year wewere making a transition, and then you
know, COVID hit and then youknow, every year it just seems like
there's something else. And I couldcome to the conclusion that every year is
going to be different and we haveto adapt. But there's certain things that
we're not going to change. There'scertain values we're not going to change.

(02:32:31):
It just you know, you know, principles that have you know, stood
the test of time. And Ishared this with with a group before when
I started doing some some research.As we were doing some some of our
recruiting you know, introductions and someof our you know talks about you know,
the traditions of Ohio State. Wetalked about how Ohio Stadium was built,

(02:32:52):
you know, and when you whenyou when you do your research on
that one hundred years ago, youknow, folks have the idea of build
a stadium over sixty thousand people,and that's because of what Chick Harley was
doing. And you know, theyhad a wooden bleachers over here and all
these people started coming in and theidea of bringing in a stadium that of
our sixty thousand people at the timewas like, this is crazy. What

(02:33:13):
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 night,
Fast forward one hundred years and theconversation still might be like, what is
college football doing right? And inthis situation then il we had to turn
to the community for help, andBucky Nation showed up again in a big

(02:33:35):
way. So although the landscape ischanging, 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 differentyou know, set of issues that we're
working through. But I think it'sexciting. I think there's a lot of
positives to it. I do.I think that we're taking the next step

(02:33:56):
with the revenue sharing to try toinstitutionalize some of it, which would be
big for US minutes. Yeah,every years got questions. It seems like
this year's team has fewer questions offthe line address specifically, if you look
ahead to really level more in amonth. What are the real questions that

(02:34:20):
you have in your mind about positionbattles and who's I would say on offense,
you know, we got to squareaway the quarterback as you know,
I feel like, you know,the offensive line on the right side,
we've got to solidify that. Ifeel like we got to build, you
know, enough depth at receiver thatwe feel like we can put in five

(02:34:43):
or six in the game and feelgood about it. On defense, I
think we're still looking to figure out, you know, who are going to
be the guys inside, you know, the third, the fourth, the
fifth, defensive interier linement that we'regoing to put in the game. And
then same thing just just I wouldsay depth, a little bit of safety,

(02:35:03):
just to kind of see who thosenext guys are. They're going to
step up, and so we knowit's going to be a long year.
We're going to need everybody, andand so in a lot of those areas,
its depth, uh, special teamswise, you know, punter is
going to be you know that thatis significant. You know, we just
brought in Nick and you know,so there'll be a battle there. So

(02:35:24):
I'd say those are probably the areaswe're focused on the most Ryan just to
fall on the offensive line. Therewas I think a school applogy. You
guys might be looked for a transferin that post spring window. Did you
guys do that? Did you guysnot find the guy or were you just
confident the guys you have, justlike you know in January, if if

(02:35:45):
if we're going to bring somebody in, it is to fill a hole.
We're not just going to bring somebodyin to bring somebody in. Like in
all positions, we'll always look tosee what's out there. We get evaluate
some of the guys that were outthere, and you know, you know,
we felt like coming out of itas we evaluated it, you know,
there was a couple of guys thatyou know, we checked on,
but but ultimately like based on wherewe were and some of the young guys

(02:36:07):
that are coming up, you know, we felt like we saw some progress
in the offensive line in the spring. So you know, it wasn't there
wasn't as many folks in the portal, you know, in after the spring.
So we looked at it, weidentified it, We did our due
diligence, but you know, we'regonna go through what we have now second
round bills, right, you're better. It was interesting that you have two

(02:36:28):
of maybe the top five ors ofguys in sport and then a bunch of
guys who haven't plenty uh, maybesomeone that I don't my question, but
did you consider trying to add there? Understanding that probably the difficult sell.
We have such talent, how tobring somebody of these experiences? Like what
were those conversations like? And howdid you sett al on being comfortable with
you know, Trey and well,like you said, you know, I

(02:36:50):
think we're we would get some experiencethere with those two guys, and then
you know, we felt like comingout of the spring that James and Sam
both did a nice job and youknow, we're gonna have to play them
and they're gonna have to you know, take on a little bit of that.
You know, we have you know, started having conversations with Caleb Downs.
I was part of the recruiting processof possibly you know, doing a

(02:37:11):
little bit of running back as well. It's something that he wanted to do.
So we've been having him in someof the meetings and some of the
individual drills as a possibility there ifyou know, needed so down the road
to continue to build depth at thatposition. But you know, I think,
you know, we feel like,you know, if you have you
know, four strong running backs goinginto it, then you know that's gonna

(02:37:33):
be that's gonna be enough to carrythe season. I do think that the
quarterbacks will run the ball more thisseason, so that should take some carries
away from them. But to yourpoint, you know, James and Sam
are gonna have to step up tothe guys that we can count on.
Save that for another day. Yeah, just fallow up on it. Is

(02:37:54):
he capable of stepping in and beingrunning back? Obviously? Well, videos
a lot. We'll see, We'llsee. We talked about in the recruiting
process, you know, the firsttime around and more specifically in the second
time around, and so he's youknow, he's been around a little bit
just to get a feel for it. We did very little in the spring.

(02:38:15):
We did I think we pitched theman option or something like that in
the spring just to kind of getthem going. But you know, we'll
see, we'll see where that goes. We don't have a specific plan right
now, but we do want tointroduce him to that just the same thing
like Lorenzo styles. It's played yoursee where he did that Notre Dame.
You know, he's out there alittle bit, just kind of learning.
It's healthy. You know, you'reseeing it from the other side of the

(02:38:35):
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. You know, we're trying to put
some contigency plans in place because itcould be a long season. Yeah,
this is my forty first year coveringof house Stay. I don't remember ever
expectations like this in the summer.There were some of them were almost as
big. Sure do you send thattoo? And what's that pressure like as

(02:38:56):
you're working through a summer. Yeah, people have asked me that, and
I go back to the expectations everyyear are the same. I mean,
it's just the truth. When openingpress conference, I said you got to
beat the team up north, andwhen every game after that, that's just
the expectations. And when you comeup short, you know, you got
to figure out a way to getthose things fixed. I think we have
done that. But the expectations arethe same every year. Pressure is the

(02:39:16):
same every year. I just likethe pressure when you've got a really good
team behind you. So that's whatwe got right now. And you know,
we know it's going to be along season. We know what we're
working towards. But I will saythis about this team, Well, we've
been talented. That's there's been timesin the past we've been talented. I
don't know since I've been here,if we've been this talented and this experience
together with guys that have played alot of football, fourth and fifth year

(02:39:39):
guys, and that doesn't matter,we'll go next door step. Maybe maybe
this is just talk because it's summers, obviously you can just have conversations.
Maybe we're making a big, longterm situations. But we've seen it around
college football in league guys playing bothsides of the ball and doing it quite
well. Travis is doing it Coloradoand Caleb Dallas has been apartment Church,

(02:40:03):
so we see what he could dowith the ball. But there's also the
standa aspect of that. I justget into a sixteen game season, so
I'm not saying it's senty forty snapsor something like that, But what about
his athleticism, what he brings tothe table, And let you know that
if you wanted to explore it areal game. He could last and still
be an effective See. Yeah,yeah, we'd have to see all that
he did it in high school.But we got some really good running backs

(02:40:26):
in a room. So it's notsomething that we're planning on doing, but
uh, well, we are gonna, you know, work on a little
bit Caleb. Caleb enjoys that partof it. We did agree that that
was something that we were going tolook into. Where it goes, I
don't I don't really know right now, but I know that he has the
capability to do it. He hasthe athleticism and do it, and you
know, we'll kind of see whereit goes, see see how he does,
and you know, maybe hand theball Tom a little bit the preseason

(02:40:48):
because again it's going to be along season. We have to make sure
we have continuency plans in place.But I know it's something that he enjoys
having the ball in his hand.So even during their first time around the
recruiting as, we've't talked about himcoming in as a as an offensive player.
Ultimately we think a ceiling is higheston defense. But you know,

(02:41:09):
but I also agree I think thathaving you know, guys go on the
other side of the ball and justsee it, listen to meetings is really
healthy for their development. So we'regonna do that regardless. Your defensive recruiting
right now is maybe further along,and it's been in the years past,
and I think we've asked numerous questionsabout it in the past, But is
this a product of seeing it overthe last couple of years and now it's

(02:41:31):
not just telling guys, hey,this what might look like this, they're
seeing it in real time. Yeah. You know, we talked about it
when Jim first came in, andI think Tim walls an unbelievable job as
well in the back end, andyou know, Matt stepped right in and
James and Larry. I think they'reall doing a great job. But like
you said, you know, it'sone thing to talk about it. That's
theory testimony is this, look atthis is this is what we're doing.

(02:41:52):
And then I think you're seeing alot of guys just excited about playing in
this defense and they see the capabilitiesand the flexibility too. You know,
right now, the way we play, excuse me, the way we play
right now is based on you know, we have four really talented defensive linemen
that are really good, and wegot a lot of that to those positions.
But there's also flexibility with some ofthe things Gym's done in the past

(02:42:13):
that you know, we're definitely lookingat and some of the recruits that we're
looking at who brings some versatility passrusher, you know, we have that
jack position and those type of things. So that's exciting as well. And
I think you're seeing a lot ofthe recruits, you know, really get
fired up when they get here.People. Yeah, coach, your first
couple years, your identity was verybigger from an atal standpoint and air it

(02:42:35):
out type team. Look at thekeep best talent and the playmakers you have
there. Has your identity changed?I guess what do you think the identity
is of this twenty point fourth Well, we'll see as we go, but
you know, we know what weneed to do to play in the big
games. That's never changed. Andwe have to be able to stop the
run, run the football, takecare of the ball, and there'll be
opportunities to throw the ball that'll that'llhappen, but you know we're gonna have

(02:43:00):
to, you know, do thosethings to win close games and play situational
football. But I think, youknow, you won't really get a feel
for what the identity of the teamis until we get into probably the beginning
of October, you know, andI think we all have ideas of what
it could go. But you know, now that we're playing in a playoff
format, just like a lot ofthose NFL teams sometimes, you know,

(02:43:20):
they don't really quite understand their identityuntil they get about halfway through the season.
I don't think it'll take that long. But you know, we're able
to play some games and kind ofwork through some things. And I don't
think our defense is going to changea bunch in terms of what we did
last year. I mean, it'sa lot of the same guys back.
Could look a little different on offense. Have you got time for two more?
Go to dougly Maries? Okay?Right? You lose an important pretty

(02:43:43):
staffer to promotion at Michigan just somuch this offseason. How do you react
to something like that? Is somethingthat someone like that would take information that
that could all Michigan stages reaction?Yeah, all good questions, And you

(02:44:05):
know, I just I want totalk about the guys that are here.
You know, the staff members thatare here, the coaches that are here,
the players that are here, theones that are Buckeyes, Joe jug
With the scheduling change that was announcedyesterday, they come together. Didn't have
anything to do with the expanded theplayoff. Maybe a little different. Yeah,

(02:44:28):
you know, I don't know allthat came in came with it.
I know it got presented to mea while back, and you know I
was on board with it. Soyeah, I mean, I think,
you know, we do have tolook a little bit different at our scheduling
as we move forward, based onthe way the format is at the end
of the season. That's quickly aboutthe linebackers got in here a little bit
late. How do you feel aboutyour linebackers? Cody seems like he always

(02:44:50):
ees the betrims, like he's lackingas a starter. CJ. When do
you see his role being Sonny?When you see his role being gay and
all this guy? Yeah, goodversatility, all those guys, rvel Reese,
Like you said, c J,Gabe, Sonny, Cody, I'm
missing a couple, I'm sure,but like that was that y R.
Bell? Yeah, I mean theseguys are really versatile guys. You can

(02:45:13):
see the length on them, andyou know, they do a good job
in terms of like fitting the runs. They can know how to ship runs
right now, so they know howthings should operate. And I gotta spend
time making sure those other guys getready and get caught up to speed in
a timely fashion. It's great,he's taking a great step forward. Like
I said, he's the next guyup man. I mean he's been extremely

(02:45:39):
you know, important on the growthof our secondary because now you know we're
working him inside some Uh he's playedoutside at both corner spots. You know,
he got that it factor, youknow what I mean. So so
we look what he brings the energyto competitiveness. We got to build off
the last year uh and expand therole for him, and it makes sure

(02:46:00):
he's uh, he's ready to go. But he's been doing great. What
is uh, we're just authentic,really not giving a lot of recruiting talk.
It is what it is. Wetry to shoot straight, honest communication,

(02:46:22):
honest assessment, the character, thevalue, the work at it,
and the main things the competition.You gotta compete. If you don't want
to compete, it's not gonna bethe place for you because that's the that's
the thing that will get us wherewe need to go is competition in the
room, and those guys here loveto compete. We sell that we're looking

(02:46:45):
for guys who embrace that, whochairs being in those spots. And you
can take time to grow, youknow, uh, you don't have to
have the uh, the pig mentalityof problem of instant gratification. You know,
you can develop and grow so andsometime you may be behind a guy
that's a really good player. Thereis nothing wrong with developing and growing and

(02:47:05):
playing when your time is right,and if the time is right right now
as a freshman like well, Jermaine, did you play early? You know,
so we try to also sell that, you know, we care about
them as people and try to prepareyou for life after football. So it's
bigger than just football. We're goingto prepare you for life, whether it's
the NFL or on with a regularcareer in the workforce. We want you

(02:47:26):
to prepare you as a young man, and we try to sell that and
preach that to the parents to remainhaving that. In fact that you mentioned
rolling all these different spots, doyou anticipate you know, there wasn't a
lot of rotation among the cornerbacks lastyear when everyone was healthy. Do you
anticipate maybe rolling him through the restguys here with the long first season,
potentially? Yeah, we play itby here, you know what I mean.

(02:47:46):
We see how it goes by thetime we get into the camp.
But you know, obviously he's earningthe stripes, so you know what I
mean, when you earn your stripes, you know, odd job to create
opportunities for you, you know whatI mean. We have to see how
it goes with all that other stuff, you know, once we get closer
to the season and we're getting thegame plan stuff. But he's doing a
great job, and he's he andhe's taking a great step forward. The
way that you can build or theway you establish now is like it's like

(02:48:09):
the centerpieces of kind of relationships andkind of killd their minds. And I'm
curious, is that something that youcame in with the like a couple of
years ago with the intention of fanor is it something that you're like has
kind of been cool to be togo over the course of your time as
a position here. No, it'sbeen there for a while. I've been
doing that for a long time.It's all about relationship. If you develop
real relationship and your authentic and yourcommunication and you have honest feedback and you

(02:48:31):
have the you know, direct teaching. The guys that have value and character
and they appreciate that stuff, theyembrace that. So but they have to
know your care and you have toknow that it's real, and they have
to know that you you're really concernedabout their way of being as a young
man. And when you get closeto him and spend a lot of time
with them off the field, youcould coach them hard and you can.
You can and you can. Youcan say truthful things to them and then

(02:48:54):
they'll embrace it and you have realconversation because you know the only goal is
to help them get better as ayoung man. As you see a couple
years ago, the receiver room isso far ahead of the more room,
getting kind of skewed that evaluation sometimes, how's that dynamic changed in these two
years after group's gotten older and youcan even more talent. Yeah, it's
done balanceduff a little bit. Now. That goes with great competition. We

(02:49:16):
have the uh we go against thebest receivers in college football, so that
helps escalate your growth process because ifyou don't figure it out real fast,
you'll get embarrassed. So that competition. But what happened with that, eye
guys start competing, eye guys startgrowing. Eye guys got better and now
is even up a little bit.So will you get really good work at
practice to day? You know whatI mean? So it's competitive, it's

(02:49:37):
fun. Those guys both on bothsides of the ball care about each other,
so it's great competition. And they'reall real, real close, so
you know what I mean. It'sthat stuff that gets us better. Uh,
that will prepare us for Saturday.That same idea said my first day
of practice, actually receivers kind ofgot them because I didn't kind of a
good wake up call. May Ohno, it's just it's it's gonna competitive.

(02:49:58):
Man. They got the best groupin the country that you're going against
every day, so you have tobring it every day, you know what
I mean. So they we gota great quarterback room, We've got a
great receiver room. The running backsare really good, so when you out
there going against them, it's deep, so you have to be ready for
it. And obviously, man,we're seeing a lot of good stuff with
with with Stay and coach Kelly doingover there, and so it prepares you

(02:50:22):
a lot and it helps us grow. Is the recruiting or wide receiver room
kind of in it like a partof your regreeas like these are the guys
you get to play, Yeah,always because you know that's where you get
better iron shoppings iron So you knowyou get to see that every day at
practice. That helps you grow.It's no better, uh thing to go

(02:50:43):
against every day than to see thaton a daily basis. Oh, we
just moving a lot of guys around. You watch that practice. We have
a lot of guys in there rightnow. You know, we probably have
three or four different guys in there. Obviously Little Lorenzo's in there, Jermaine
is in there, ko uh mouse, we have we have about four or
five guys moving around right now.We just try things out in spring ball,

(02:51:05):
see where the fit, you know, see what things work together.
So there's going probably some more guysin there. You know. We move
it around to try to just getthe right fit throughout the end and see
how it goes by the time weget ready to start the season. He
can run and he's strong, youknow what I mean he's fast, Uh,
very serious about his business. Uh. He's big, he's two hundred
pounds, he can run, he'sstrong, he's conscientious, you know.

(02:51:26):
I mean, he's starting to growand he's starting to get get better with
it, you know. I mean, so we looked for big things for
him the spring. What do youwant to see this spring? Keep competing,
you know what I mean. Nowhe's made the transition. Competing today,
you know what I mean, startgoing in that transition is all just
like him Jermaine last year. Youthrow them in the fire. You let
him go, You compete, yougo. By the time we get out

(02:51:46):
of the end of training camp,it'll be them figure it out. You
have all that, but now youjust throw it all at them. Compete,
continue to grow, continue to learn. He has the skill set,
he has the length. Now youjust got to put it all together.
And it takes time to do that, and hopefully you see that by the
time we get in the training camp. Seems like Midwich your springing kind of
clicked for Jermain last year and hestarted to see him. I mean,

(02:52:07):
it could not be more hacker tobe here, super hacked to be here
at the roh two as well orright at the work. Hello everybody.
Daris Robinson, University of Missouri.I just want to thank mister Bill Wilmont
to your coach Gannon for this amazingopportunity. I'm glad to be here with
Marvin Harrison right next to me,so peel great. I'm really excited and

(02:52:30):
I'm excited for this journey. Seefifteen here in town. Marvin, when
did you know the Cardinals were gonnaselect you? Did you know before they

(02:52:54):
called or was there an agreement inplace before? No, I did not
know until I got the phone callfrom the Arizona Cardinals. Marvin Richard signs
Fox then welcome to the valley.I know kind of tweeted to you,
tweeted out to you once you gotdrafted. What was it like to get
a message from the franchise quarterback andwhat kind of thoughts have you had about

(02:53:16):
teaming up with this guy in thenear future. Yes, sir and great.
You always wants to support and lovefrom your quarterback and to cause a
great player. I'm so excited toplay with him, and it's gonna be
my job to make his job easier. Darius Darren Urban from Azycardinals dot Com.
I know that a lot of playersthese days aren't sticking in one school

(02:53:37):
for a long time, and youdid it for five years. I mean
even Marvin did it for three.Like what went behind that and why was
it meaningful for you to stay atone school? Yes, at Missouri,
you know, we had some toughseasons, but we were really built with
an edge energy, details, goodin emotional consistency. And I just find
myself just trying to grow and getbetter each year and also as a team,

(02:53:58):
you know when games each year,and that was my that was my
home, that was my family.I was blessed to, you know,
get two degrees as well off thefield, and I just love MISSOI two
degrees. Wow, Marvin, BobMcbob McMahon at Arizona Republic, congratulations,
Thank you to both of you.You're known as all business, and I

(02:54:20):
want to know how that's going toserve you well in this league. From
personal standpoint, your brand, everythingyou do or a daily preparation, there's
a lot that goes into being allbusiness. Tell me what that is to
you. Yeah, I mean it'sjust being a pro. It's kind of
raised and grew up to do andkeep the same mindset, same attitude that

(02:54:41):
I've had throughout my whole career.Once I get here, continue to work
hard, be consistent and disciplined,you know, and all that I do.
So I'm looking forward to putting 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. No,from Monday to Saturday, it's all

(02:55:03):
work. And then you know,Sunday should be the easy part. I
go out there and have fun,ready to put the work in. So
it starts with the work first,and then when Sunday comes, it's Rieka
benefits. Hey Darius Howard, ballsare from cards wire. I can't help
but notice that ring on your finger. Is that a cotton bowl ring?
Yes, it is the cotton bowler. You showed it to Marrovin very quickly.

(02:55:26):
No, I I was telling Marma. You know, he was glad
he didn't play the whole week leadingup. You know, you see Ohio
State, everybody said, okay,Marvin Harrison, and now he's is he
gonna play? To go play?He didn't play, so you know we
left out. So, hey,Marvin Paul KELBC Cardinals Broadcasting, do you
believe that receivers have to earn thetrust for their quarterback? And it's so

(02:55:50):
what does that usually require? Absolutely, you got to earn the trust to
the quarterback and think it starts,you know, every day in practice and
being consistent. Really, you can'tjust do it one day. Can't you
do it for one week? Hasto be done over and over and over
again. I think that's how trusthas earned. So no matter where you
get picked, when you're first receiver, it's round seven, doesn't really matter,

(02:56:11):
have to go and earn trust tothe quarterback, your coaches, your
teammates. So it all starts inpractice. What's going on, guys?
Good to see again, Tyler Drake, there's no sports systems for Darius.
What's the feeling of just being ableto represent your school as that first round
pick and what kind of impact canthat have for those guys fallowing in your
footsteps? Yeah, it's awesome.I feel like I'm setting the standard going

(02:56:33):
forward. But best the name wasZoo 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 teammates that thisis attainable if you work really hard,
be consistent, and really good trustyour strimp coach. I feel like every
program is built out the strimp coachand develops all the habits on and off
the field. Darius zach Ersmanezi Cardinalsdot Com right over here, JJ mentioned

(02:56:56):
that he loves the violence that youplay with. You mentioned the different tendencies
that you picked up. The emotionalconsistency is the great. How do you
balance that the violence with discipline onthe field. Honestly, just through preparation
and practice. I'm a big guy. I'm a big believer in inside hands,
so that's why I'm always working myhand placement and then I lift weight,
so you know that's all connected.So I'm just trying to be focused

(02:57:18):
on my technique as much as possible. Hey, Marvin over here, David
Brown with the Associated Press. Youknow, a lot of rookies come into
the league and they get a littlebit of leeway. It's like, oh,
he's young, he needs to growand stuff like that. But obviously
you're gonna be expected to be theguy here really quickly. How do you
deal with that pressure? How doyou go about just so much being expected

(02:57:41):
of you so quickly? I mean, yeah, I've high standards for myself,
but I'm just gonna go in thereand try to work, you know,
the best I can. I justwant to help the team win really,
so without that role I play,you know, come September, let
me just do my best. Nodo that role now. This one's for
both of you, guys. Thefans want to know who you guys are
on the inside. I don't knowhow much you're willing to reveal to us

(02:58:03):
today. A lot would be nice. Can you tell us what you like
to do away from football? Whatpisses you off about things, and you
know, what makes you roll.I'm pretty simple. I like to,
you know, be in my apartment, watch some movies. If I go
out and I go to a restaurant, get some food. But other than

(02:58:26):
that, they do too much andthen I'm pretty easygoing, guys, so
I try not to nothing bother metoo much. Yeah, I said the
same thing, A real chill guy, just really obsessed with football. But
outside of football, like I said, I got my two degrees. I
got my undergrad hospitality management and theminor and business. I got my masters
and positive culture with FLA leadership,So just thinking about being well rounded,

(02:58:48):
and then I do philanthropy work.I start my own nonprofit foundation Darius Robinson
Helping Hands Foundation, but really justfootball and then everything else. Honestly,
congratulation, guys, Welcome to theValley. I'm Robbie Baker with Fox ten.
Darius, this is for you.After the draft last night, you
had a great response about how yourprocess and preparing for a game. Just

(02:59:11):
kind of wondering where your love forkind of the grind comes from and your
love for that process comes from.I would say my junior year because I
played little league ball off and on. But I got my junior year and
I was playing high school and mywhole goal is just to earn a scholarship.
But during that process, I reallyfell in love with the game,
fell in love with working out relationshipswith teammates, and now it's kind of
like my vice and I can't letit go and just kind of finding ways

(02:59:33):
to always get better, you know. Luke Linting here with twelve Sports,
congrats both of you. Welcome tothe Valley. This one's for you.
Marvin I'm curious your thoughts or whatwas that conversation like with your dad after
your name was called and you wereable to be drafted by this organization,
and how surreal is it for youto be following your own father's footsteps but
in your own way. Yeah,I mean it was very brief, actually

(02:59:54):
just in the second graduation as Iwalk up to the stage and then I
had to do a bunch of interviewsat the works. So I don't think
it's hit both of us yet.I don't know what's happened. I think,
you know, one of my goalsalways make him proud, So I
hope I did that. Marvin boBrock, pH and X Sports. When
do you anticipate catching your first passesfrom Kyler Murray? I don't know.

(03:00:16):
I don't know. I guess we'llsee and hopefully as soon as possible.
Darius, you mentioned philanthropy, andI know there's been it's been talked about
how you took some of the NInil money to do a get back to
school for the kids in Colombia.Where where did that belief in doing those
things come from? I say myfamily, my brother and my mom really

(03:00:37):
instilled that into me. And tome at a young age, just give
back your blessings to others. Inmy fifthyear at Missou is the best year
of my life, So why wouldI not share my blessings with others.
So that's what really motivated me todo that. And now being in NFL,
you know, my goals to dothree events each year and just give
back because you know, his lifeoutside of football and bigger blessings out there.

(03:00:58):
Marvin, and you obviously played witha number of highly drafted receivers at
Ohio State. What sort of feedbackhave you gotten about the NFL from them?
An you know, about making thetransition in the league itself. Yeah,
it's a long season, I thinkgoing from in a twelve game record
season you have in college to wasit seventeen games now and you got three
preseason? Actually, just the biggestchallenge the game stays the thing obviously the

(03:01:20):
we're all skilled and very talented athletes, so the mental part is probably the
biggest thing and the biggest change fromthe college to pros. Marvin, what's
your timeline for hiring an agent?Right over here on the way part right,
you haven't hired an agent? Whyis that? Is there a timeline
to hiring one, and are yougoing to sign the NFLPA licensing agreement.

(03:01:41):
I'll continue to talking to my team. We do what's best for me moving
forward. We just take it oneday at a time. I just got
drafted, so I'm trying to enjoythe moment and be happy while I can
at the moment. Hey, Marvin, I'll say, Romaro, Arizona Republic,
Welcome. Then can you just kindof share a little bit about You've
touched on it briefly here, butjust a little bit more about growing up
with with your dad and you know, the experiences you had in Indianapolis and

(03:02:05):
games and so on and so forth. Yeah, I mean, there's no
better role model, coach, mentorreadship. All the way through college,
we were captains together Ohio State,so we shared a lot of we shared
a lot of time there together.And then before pro day he came up
and we threw that night before Proday, and we've i mean, we've
stayed in touch. I feel likepretty well, he's just an awesome human

(03:02:28):
and even a better teammates. IfI could ask you quickly, what did
you make of what he was ableto do after you saw him and you
played with him the year before,and he came on and did what he
did his rookie year. What didyou make of what he was able to
do in his rookie season. Man, I just to be honest with you,
it was no surprise to me oranybody in that Ohio State facility.

(03:02:50):
It's just we knew how to doa special and when he got the chance,
got with the right people and theright coaching staff. The dudes unbelievable.
Brian Bearfield, Hey, Kay,welcome to Houston. Brian Bearfield,
big sarch media. Everybody just calledme sarage as you could tell about the
hats. So, Kate, Idon't want to take you back down memory

(03:03:13):
lane for just one second. Ijust looked up some of your stats.
So you were in high school.You were running back one thousand and four
into seventy seven yards your senior year, seventeen touchdowns, linebacker, one hundred
and sixty three tackles, four intercessions. You broke your high school scoring record
in basketball overall athlete. Even whenyou got to Ohio State, you didn't

(03:03:35):
really you were like a hybrid.They didn't really know where to put you
until you ended up at tight end. So I say all that to ask
you what the Houston Texans are gettingan athlete who's willing to play anywhere and
everywhere they need them. Correct?One hundred percent. Yeah, that's one
hundred percent correct, no doubt aboutit. I'll do whatever we got to
do here to win ball games.And I mean they got awesome players,

(03:03:56):
awesome coaching staff, so just supersuper blessed here. How much did that?
How much does that background help youor help you to get through you
know, college and now I'll getyou to where you are today. I
think every day I've been thrown ina million different directions, pool in a
million different directions, And to behonest with you, I mean nothing's ever

(03:04:16):
gone like how it's supposed to onpin the paper in my life and my
coaching career, so I mean myplaying career, excuse me. And it's
just I think I'm just I feellike I'm battle tested and i feel like
I'm ready to go. Thank you? Yeah cool, cool, You're un

(03:04:39):
mute any better? Katie got me? Yeah, I got you now.
Cole Thompson USA Today Texans Wire,Congratulations are getting drafted. I just heard
you kind of mentioned a little bitabout coaching. You're talking about your coaching
career, not your playing career.Do you want to get into coaching afterwards
when you're done playing football? No, no, no, I got It's

(03:05:03):
a lot of emotions going through mybody right now. So regardless, No,
I'm not playing on getting coaching.I'm playing on just playing as long
as I can. Just a quickfollow up, and you look at a
guy like Tamika Ryans, who isa former player that is very close to
the league, only has been outfor about seven years. What does it
mean to be playing for somebody who'stranslated over to this new side of things

(03:05:26):
but also understands what a player goesthrough on the daily basis. I think
that makes the biggest difference in theworld. And I think you can tell
by the way the players respect himand just how and the job he's done
in the short time he's been there. I mean, the Dud's unbelievable.
He seems like an unbelievable person.I'm just really really excited to be able
to plan er Nathan Cody heyk CodyDavis from Sports Illustrated. You and I

(03:05:50):
met at the NFL COMBA. Bythe way, Yeah, I would like
to know, man, what arewhat type of tid end are the Houston
Texans getting? And you, man, I'll tell you what they're getting.
Just a complete utility player. Basically, I'm gonna do whatever you asked me
to do at one hundred percent hone hundred everything I got every single time,

(03:06:11):
and just I'm going to be theexact glue in the locker room.
I'm going to be a dude peoplecan come to when things go wrong.
And I'm so excited to help histeam anyway I can. Kim. Hey,
Kate, It's Kim Davis with ChalkTalk. Congratulations on getting drafted by
the Texans. Right, kind offollowing up on what Cody just ask you

(03:06:33):
from your compation with CJ. Iknow he's spoken of how you have the
staff, but what do you knowabout this just from what you've seen this
offense? And although you're your utilityplayer, what excites you most about it
other than obviously playing with CJ?Now, I just think one. I
think Dalton Schultz is a great player. I've watched a lot of his film
growing up and just even the lastcouple of years, study a lot of

(03:06:56):
what he does, especially on thecowboys and now just to be all learn
from a guy like that and takenotes and tips how he handles life and
everything. It's gonna be awesome forright now, in long term down the
road. And one QUI follow up, what do you know about the city
of Houston? Have you spending timehere? No? No, I trained
in Brisco, Dallas for a littlebit for a couple of months, and

(03:07:18):
then that was really about it.Other than that, I've never really been
to Houston, But I mean,I'm really excited to come. All right,
thank you the recording media, youtoo, Aaron, Hey Kate.
When it comes to blocking, sometight ends embrace it. Some do it
because it's part of the job.What's your mentality for blocking? And I

(03:07:41):
have a follow up? Man,I love blocking. I do. I'm
gonna throw my face in the firechance I can get. I might always
be pretty, but I promise you'regonna get every ounce of power I got.
And the draft process as a provenguy, did you go on a
lot of visits? Did you workout privately? We're someones that you remember,

(03:08:03):
and what kind of level of activitydid you have with Texan's Combine meetings,
et cetera. Yeah, Thank you. Yeah, we had. We
had a formal at the combine.Uh And I've always, like I said,
always talked to CJ closely. UhSo, just having that and then
just throughout the prots we had acouple of zoom calls here and there,
and other than that, I meanI trained at the host state coach Mick

(03:08:26):
and coach at the train coaches upthere with training a group of me,
Tommy Iickenberg, and Steel Chambers,my roommates that we lived with in the
afternoon, and that was really aboutit. We just trained and play ball
at that point and the other teams. Did you go on trips things like
that? We took one local visitto the Bengals. That was it.
We have time for a couple more. Go ahead, sarge, Oh Kate,

(03:08:50):
I know that. You know,we asked you a lot of questions
about playing with CJ. But you'vebeen scouted as a tight end, but
could also be linked out to thereceive a position. Being at Ohio State
for as long as you were,what did you pick up from a lot
of those great Ohio state wide receiversthey came through the time you were there.
You just watched, I mean youwatch those guys go about how they

(03:09:11):
handle releases, how they handle theirfeet, a top thing, their routes
and everything Like I mean, forme, I've never played it in my
life. So starting you literally startedfrom square one, absolute square one.
So learning slowly with them, andthen this is a business and you have
to do what's best for his careerand his future as well. So you
know, obviously has familiarity with JoeBrady. He had one of his best

(03:09:35):
season with them, so you know, I think he's gonna be a big
part of their offense and continue togrow as a receiver. You know,
it's a lost for our room becausehe's a dynamic playmaker. He can play
inside and out and just his energy. Man, I think he really became
one of the favorite teammates on theteam because he kept things light. But
he also was a really hard workerand made plays when we need him to.

(03:09:56):
So on a personal standpoint, I'mdefinitely gonna, you know, miss
him having him in the building,and he's kind of like the guy you
I get to talk to and he'slike my best friend. But on the
other hand, I get to seehim, you know, continue to take
steps in his career. Uh,he's still very young, so he has
a lot of good football ahead ofhim, literally king offense and how things

(03:10:20):
may be different for the offense andyeah, yeah, we haven't honestly even
started an install yet, so Ihaven't even got a lay of the land
quite yet. I'll probably take alook at just got our I pass within
the last few days, so I'lltry to take a sneak peek at what
we have looking for. But youknow, I know with him talking to
zach Ertz, he does a greatjob of trying to get his playmakers involved,

(03:10:41):
which I think we have a reallygood group of guys from the running
backs to receivers and some solid tightends as well. So I'm just looking
forward to see where I fit intothat. And you know, I think
with him, his biggest things ismaking sure the playmakers are making plays and
trying to fit the scheme around that, which is always good to hear,

(03:11:03):
good to see. Two, thisis what your offense. Yeah, yeah,
it's definitely, you know, anadjustment obviously when you're learning a new
offense. And it's kind of thesame mentality I take into last year in
years past where you kind of justwant to take a day one approach kind

(03:11:24):
of erase what you've learned in thepast. But at the end of the
day, I think, uh,you know, schemes in the NFL are
relatively similar. Is just the namesand the formations that may be a little
different. So just getting used tothe terminology and Cliff's offense is just going
to be something that's an adjustment forall of us. But the good thing
about it is I got some goodtime on my hands to really put some

(03:11:46):
work in studying when I leave thisplace, so I could come in here
when we have walkthroughs and when westart to put our helmets on, we
can really hit the ground running.So so far it's we haven't learned anything
yet. But my approach is thesaying, try to take good notes in
there, ask good questions, andthen study on my own at night.
I know you like to the seasons. Yeah, mm, yeah, I

(03:12:15):
think I got some really good workdown in Florida. Is just working on
my footwork, just betting better atthe top of my routes, sharper on
my speed cuts, dig routes outroutes, and just being cleaner with my
footwork at the top of the routes. I think you know, with a
little bit of zone covers that we'veseen in the past, with some teams
kind of running more too hot show, you're gonna get a little bit more

(03:12:35):
of catch technique where guys are kindof sitting at the top of your route.
So I want to be better atbeing efficient to getting out of those
routes when a guy's kind of sittingat my depth, whether it's a fifteen
yard comeback or a twelve yard curlroute, you know, being able to
get out efficiently so I can keepcreate and keep the separation within my route.

(03:12:56):
So obviously I'm always still working onmy ball skills and making sure I'm
just catching a lot of footballs inthe off season, but just really being
better at the top of the routesand you know, sharper out of my
cuts is something that I think Ican improve on. Good to see you
too. You know, you're obviouslyone of the leaders of this team and
team captain, and with so manynew faces, new players locker room,

(03:13:20):
what is the challenge you're going tohave and the other leaders in that locker
room blend everything together because there's somany new and different personalities. Now,
yeah, I think I think that'sreally started with coach Quinn in the way
he's really integrated everybody over the firsttwo days. I think we haven't even
gotten into x's and oo's quite yet. We've just really begin to know one
another, getting out there with Chadand the strength coaches and getting some good

(03:13:43):
workouts in just kind of creating afoster in an environment where everybody's the same
and continuing to have a competitive environment. I think that brings out the best
in one another. And obviously,you know, you have guys like Zach
Ertz who's played a lot of footballand won a championship. I'm Arcus Marriota,
obviously, Bobby Wagner, who's afuture Hall of Famer. So you've

(03:14:03):
got some guys who have been broughtin here who know what it's supposed to
look like at this level. Andfor myself, I just want to continue
to add uh my value and beeven more vocal this year than I have
in the past, especially with possiblya new quarterback coming in. I think
that can really help our offense.Have you know, some more unity with
the guys who know what it lookslike, helping bringing those guys, the

(03:14:24):
younger guys along I don't know ifyou had a chance to watch d conference,
he didn't want to use the wordrebuild. Yeah, changes going on
with this franchise, all the newchanges and new coaching staff, all the
new players. Is there a certainword you use everything? Honestly, I

(03:14:46):
just think of it as a asa new year. Just talking to Sam
Cosmy, Uh, we've been herefor a few years, so it's a
lot of new faces. I think, you know, this is probably the
most I would say turnover we've hadin the last few years. So there's
guys come 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 opportunity
to compete, take another step intheir careers, and prove that they're one

(03:15:11):
of the best players at the position. And I think coach Quinn has emphasized
that we're gonna have the opportunity toprove ourselves. Whether you're a ten year
vet or a second year player.You know, this is a clean slate
for everybody. So I think it'sjust about getting on the same page,
enjoying coming in here and working together, and also just pushing each other in
these workouts and then when we startgetting on the field, uh, really

(03:15:35):
get that competition going. Try tosimulate as we go along in this off
season process of how the games aregoing to be. Hey, how are
you doing? Good to see youtoo about those Yeah, I think Coach

(03:16:01):
Quinn has really assemble assembled a veryunique group of coaches. There's multiple head
coaches, there's multiple quarter uh coordinatorsthat have come from different places, and
so you have guys who have alot of football experience, some have played,
some have coached in big games.And then you bring in, you
know, the talent that we havedefensively and offensively, and I just think

(03:16:24):
you can feel the unity and thesameness and the message that he's trying to
preach to our team, and it'swe're gonna be tough and we're going to
be competitive, but we're also goingto have fun. And he, like
I think he said in Your Guys'interview, he said he likes to do
you know, hardship with good people. So I think that's fun. You
know, a guy like me likesto put my nose down and grind and

(03:16:48):
work. So I know him andI are going to continue to hit it
off, and you know, it'sjust my job to help bring other guys
along with me. Thank you more, look like to take your next step
as a vocal leader. Yeah,I think for me, I've grown a

(03:17:09):
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
kind of your message is drowned out. And so it's kind of continue to

(03:17:31):
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 also
try to encourage the guys who haven'ttaken those steps in their career to do

(03:17:52):
that as well. So I thinkfor me it's just really starting in my
position group, I think we havestill a very young group, kind of
inexperience for the most part, butI think we have a lot of talent
in there, and it's just myjob, in Bobby's job, and to
continue to bring that group along aswe go throughout this season. What is

(03:18:18):
I guess, Yeah, approach.Yeah. I hit it really hard this
offseason, so I kind of startedtraining a little bit after the Super Bowl,
so I got a good six toeight weeks into where I feel football
ready right now, which is greatfor me because you know, obviously we're

(03:18:41):
probably having a mini camp at theend of this month, so that'll be
I'm already in football shape, Sothat's that's exciting to know that I'm ready
to be able to run routes andget going with our quarterbacks and get going
with our system. So you know, as this off season goes on,
I just trust the plan that Chadand and the guys have here. I
want to be here for all theworkouts and things like that and be part
of the team building and just continueto learn the playbook as we start to

(03:19:03):
install things, and uh be ata point where I could go out there
and be confident in my game.What I've worked on this offseason and and
put that into how that fits intothis offense. So I always try to
pride myself on knowing multiple positions,just to have be flexible for the team
and be flexible for myself, soI'll be ready for whatever they wherever they
put me. I'm surprised you're goingto have a new quarterback this year?

(03:19:31):
Yeah, yeah, you never,well, I don't say never, but
it's it's always tough seeing like someoneyou build a really good relationship with go
on and move on in their career, and especially your quarterback, because as
a receiver, you want to continueto try to build that chemistry, you
know what I mean. That wasonly our first year playing with one another,

(03:19:52):
and I feel like him and Ihad our uh we made some great
plays and we had some you know, room for growth, and I think
that comes with any new quarterback receiverrelationship and so but to see him go
in a situation where we have achance to compete and play under a really
good quarterback in Geno, you know, I think he'll he'll really like playing

(03:20:13):
with the receivers like uh, well, throwing the receivers like Locket and Jason
Smith and Jig. But in DK, you know, what I mean,
So I think he's going in asituation where I think different. It's more
mentally they any thing though, Likeless ide was always my best side back
in cars, but since I gotto always been playing right. But you
know, it's a it's a goodchallenge for me and I can show people

(03:20:35):
I can as you play right handleft, So it's a versatility then,
so I'm happy about it. There. You moved around a lot throughout your
career where there's jumbo side tackle Iguess in the sense and playing book and
left on the right side. Doyou think you kind of benefit from focusing
a little bit more on the rightside. Yeah, a little bit.
But you know, there's a newsystem that we have, Like I play
my mindset most of the right,but also have my mind side and left

(03:20:58):
too, just in case something doeshappening to like you know what I mean,
like Coatland or you know Pete ofcourse. But I'm always gonna be
ready for life no matter what.How quickly have you felt like you picked
up this new system that you're workingin now? Oh it's a we actually
pay up picked up pretty well causeit's the same system that I'm used to
back in the hot see cause we'remore like spread kind of how I say,

(03:21:18):
so, you know it's pretty good. It's it's one of these like
the draft process off seasons. Alot of people outside the buildings are the
readers get the right tack? Myeah, A lot of yeah really alright
now, A lot of people inthe buildings were like, we have a
right time at the people get motivatedby that. You follow it like a
you pet that you're doing it,though I don't. I read into it
a little bit, but also atthe same time, like they not here

(03:21:41):
words, but I don't really carewhat they say. Oh I know what
I can do, and the teamknow I what I can do, so
they trusted me right now and I'mnot gonna live in right now. How
hard or how easy is that tocompartmentalize that and use that as fuels going
forward rather than the kind of marinatingit. Uh I J I just keep
receipts and everybody know is that oneperson. I don't really care for him
at all. So that's all go. But it's all love. I love

(03:22:05):
uh outside of this, but youkeep doing it, keep it better,
keep on these knights, do whatI can do there. You've been a
outspoken about your supporter Zamir, andobviously it's just his chance now to beat
the dog. Wait, what isit about him that you bought in so
early? The reason why I boughtso earliest cause us I was at a
house state. They always taught usto actually, I go giving and asking

(03:22:28):
I got here. I'm'a always wannago get and I gotta picked late.
And I always wanna prove people wrong. You know, I think prove people
wrong all my life. I don'twanna keep doing that. That's all I
do, which I guess more justlike you, we don't put itthing like
the set you know the community thisyear, that nine day difference, nine
day difference from my first year,in my second year to now, like

(03:22:50):
now, my guy, I knowI can play. I know I can
go against one of the best SpecialKnights, anybody else that we be gonna
play this year, and I knowwhat I can do. So all I
gotta do now is actual meet mypotential and should do it and help everybody
else out on the team as well. You've practiced a lot against Malcolm and
he's really come into his own.What is it about Malcolm that's helped him
make that next step there, man, Malcolm. He's quiet, He doesn't

(03:23:13):
really say too much. He comesto the work every day, do what
he does, and he works hard. He doesn't flick twice at anything.
Yeah, he'll get mad over aco rex bouse. At the same time
that like he has an entality ofadult like he's he don't really care what
y'all think or anybody else thinks forreal, So it's just like, alright,
just keep going. That's how everybodyis on the team about Tyrais too.

(03:23:35):
You got that same mindset. Hedoes have the same mindset. A
little nervous, but uh nah,he nah. He has definitely grow up
a lot from his like first yearhere until now, like he has,
but he's he's growing up a lotmentally too. Until you guys are reimagining
the offensive line a little bit withyou out there right side. Yeah,

(03:23:58):
uh farm there next to y'all onthe outside too, and they drafting the
guys a little line here. Howlong exciting is that to be part of
something that's that's kind of being youknow, having that trust but also being
reinvented a little bit. That's veryyou know, but me and doing those
like they gonna keep replacing us,of course, but all the same time,
we gotta keep going. You know, you can't stre and think about

(03:24:18):
what they did. All we gottado is staying about what what can we
do with people are in fourteen twelve? Sorry, don't put a lot on
these. Bop side a little bitmore. How how long were you gonta
working together? Working pretty well?You know, you say, for us,
we had like a a little rookingmoment a little bit, but you
know, yeah, you know,those those tougher conversations, those ones where

(03:24:39):
we might disagree, where we doagree, where where he's got his two
cents on it, which is,you know, always the best two cents
I've heard. But me being whoI am, you know, I'm I'm
I'm gonna throw my two cents inthere, you know. So that's just
uh, it's been awesome, man. We He's he's a you know,
a resource for me, just aperson that I can always bounce my thoughts
off of. And now, youknow, just a year you said,
thirteen months. Now I feel morecomfortable just you know, bringing certain things

(03:25:01):
that you know, you never younever wanna come off too, Stan,
But I'm a curious guy, Igot a lot of questions. I like,
I like football a lot. Ilike to talk talk the games.
So you know, come to findout he's the exact same. So we
uh, you know, we getalong well and and uh we're gonna keep
keep building that relationship. Sometimes inthis league, playing you know, eighteen
games, they tryna make it twenty. You know, it's like it sound

(03:25:22):
like a little a little fever dreamto be honest, But but uh,
if we can find a way tok you know, stay up right out
there and keep keep Aaron on hisfeet, you know, I'm I'm excited
for that and uh everything that comeswith it. But uh but yeah,
like I said, man, that'sit's it's harder said than uh or harder
done. And said, I guessyou know, it's one of those things.
It's like that's a lot of games, you know, all of a
sudden, take a lot of hits. They take a lot of hits where

(03:25:43):
they're not looking, and it's justhow can we keep him healthy? Yeah?
Yeah, are you when do youthink? I do you have a
receiver a room now? Conditions youguys have made one more money healthy and
everything like, yeah, you know, I'm excited to see it at at
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 position is where every day issomething might happen to Nick up. You
know, it's just a tough positionto stay out there at all times.

(03:26:05):
But I feel like we got agreat group and the number one thing is
how can we stay healthy? Howcan we you know, I'll be out
on the field, and I thinkhaving depth like this and the group we
have is going to help us.Having guys that can do different things,
that can go catch the ball overthe middle, all types of things that
it's gonna take some of the strainoff off all of us. You know,
it's it's a good group. SoI'm excited to, uh, you
know, get out there. Ifeel like we haven't had the whole whole

(03:26:28):
thing together. But you know,come season time, role and it's gonna
be exciting. Your old number yeahyeah, like a yeah, man,
he's uh, it was a bruteand once he catches that ball, I
mean he's got great instinct of wherethe defense is. I think the talle
on this team is really good too, and I think that I can come
in here and make a big difference, you know, when we can win

(03:26:50):
a lot of football games. Youknow. So that was my That was
part of my decision. Your SOFwas that how long back now I'm one
hundred percent now and it was likea walk in the park. It's like
a sprained ankle. You know.It was very easy, you know,

(03:27:13):
because I had the knee. Theknee was pretty hard, you know,
and the Achilles was I would sayit's easy, you know, just because
that's just my mentality, and itwas. It was pretty easy to be
But you know, I've had theseinjuries and it's been storm like the past
two years, you know, havinghave like good, great games. The
next thing you heard and then youknow, so got got the injury prone

(03:27:37):
out there, you know. ButI think the storm is over it,
you know, you know, andI think I'm I'm gonna gonna take off
now, you know, and therewill be no setbacks and the injury prone
thing will be gone out of thewindow again. Killed Yep, I'm sorry
you need that. I am.I am excited. You know. He

(03:28:01):
does a lot of great things,and he's a great person, and we
have a great relationship. It's gonnabe it'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 herewaiting. The interest you've had, is
that just bad luck? Is thereanything you've been attributed to beyond just misfortunately?
Yeah, it's just unfortunate, youknow, But God has a plan

(03:28:22):
always, you know, I don'tknow what the plan exactly is, you
know, I don't know, Butwhatever plan it is, it's for me
to be here. You know,I had a great rookie year. Uh
I didn't. I didn't really havethe volume as other people my rookie year,
but I still had a great rookieyear. Six yards of carry,

(03:28:43):
you know, things like that.I think it was like nine touchdowns ten
including the playoffs. And so there'salways been like, all right, guy,
let me show my talent shine alittle bit. Like even when I
had the knee. So I hadthe knee right, A lot of people
don't know, like I didn't gethurt again. Whenever I got you know,
got cleaned up. So I wentdown in twenty one, right,

(03:29:05):
had the injury, the knee injury, and then came back later the next
year and I and I played thefirst few games and it just feel there
was a lot of scars issue inthere. So I did get it cleaned
up. I didn't get hurt again. I could have played the whole year,
but I got it cleaned up soI can feel like me. And
so after I got that cleaned up, the first two games back from the

(03:29:26):
injury, I had over one hundredand twenty yards rushing right and then went
on had great, great ending ofthe year, you know, one hundred
total yards in the playoff game welost, which I hate the most.
Stays, don't marry me. Idon't want to win. But then come
back the next year hurt again liketorn achilles. So two really unfortunate injuries.
But that's just God's plan, youknow. And I think that the

(03:29:50):
storm is now over, you know, And I do think that I'll be
able to shine my light to thewhole world. Are you concerned that you
have that label of your games standthree? I could care less because I
do. I do. I knowthis out there because as as it should
be, it should be. Igot hurt two major injuries back or not
back to back years. But youknow, so I haven't been on the

(03:30:13):
field as much as I should.That's true, that is true, But
it's not like I'm having these littlelittle dinky injuries and sitting out. It's
something I can't control literally, Sothat's why I'm not bothered by it.
Like, yeah, I am injurypolling, you could say that, you
know, but I do think thatthe Chargers are getting a guy that's gonna

(03:30:33):
be healthy from now on. Youknow, God will it, and it's
gonna be great. And I dothink that it's gonna be It's gonna be
a great. However, many yearshere, when you've been on the field,
you've been highly adopted five point ofyears for very average for your career.
Like knowing that when you're out thereor you're very adopted, how much
confidence does that give you that reallyall you need is is not what you

(03:30:54):
need all the confidence in the world, you know, the way I work,
I wouldn't say just from the numbers, but just the way I work
my work ethic, you know,and my relationship with Jesus is like I
have the most confidence when I stepout there because I do know, like
if he grants me the health,it's over with. I don't think I

(03:31:16):
would be you know, I thinkit will be a great year or whatever,
a couple of years. However,many years he grants me great health,
you know, and I think justthe work ethic, my prayer and
all that stuff, that's what helpedme have that confidence with the numbers will
be there and they might be higherafter this year, you know what I'm
saying. And it's crazy to thinkabout because I had six six yards per

(03:31:37):
carry, you know. So we'llsee you're looking forward to the running behind
this line put together? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I played with
Brandley. I played with him,you know, I know the Slater,
I know all the I know allthe guys, you know, and I'm
excited. I think it's like Isaid earlier, it's a talented group.
You know, we just got toput together win some games, because that's

(03:31:58):
what I came here for. Discussit all part of a year, or
I wouldn't I wouldn't say part ofthe recruitming. But like whenever I decided
I was gonna sign, it wasgreat to have him in the room.
What's your relationship, Yeah, we'regreat. We're we have a great relationship.
That's He's like my brother. SoI think a company each compliment each

(03:32:20):
other very well. You know,he can do a lot of stuff too.
You know, we got like alot of people think he's just power
power power, but I think hehas some other party of his game two
which it. It'll be great causeI feel like I could do everything and
when one get tired, we wecan roll it in. We keep rolling
win some games. So when youthe two of you get going, well,
how do you think that's gonna lookfor? What? What would like?

(03:32:43):
What will be that partnership kind ofback there? I know that's a
hard question. How do I thinkit? I think it'll look beautiful.
You know a lot of people callthis a passing league, but I think
you gotta run the ball to winthe super Bowl. You know, if
you look at the the them towin the super Bowl, they can run
the ball, they can control theclock. And so if we're both good,

(03:33:03):
it'll look great, beautiful. Howwould you describe the record running offense?
I would I would describe it as, you know, a great offense.
I think he gives a quarter he'sgonna give the quarterback a lot of
options. He's gonna give the runningback a lot of options. He's gonna
give the receiver a lot of options, you know, and I think it'll

(03:33:24):
be I think it's gonna be great. His offense is gonna be amazing.
When we talked to him, youknow, I was like, why have
you been able to build something goodrushing offenses throughout your career? You know
everywhere you've been, And you saidthat one part of it is just you
got a call place, You gota call a lout of place as a
running back. You know, howmuch confidence, how much second does it

(03:33:45):
give you when you know you haveto play caller that's gonna stick with it
and allow you and the offensive lineto give you a resident gives me a
lot of excitement. You know.It's gonna be. Like I said,
it's fun to play at his offense, you know. And I think he
does have some good things in thepast game too, But like you said,
he sticks with the run and that'sthat's the identity you You want an

(03:34:05):
offense that has an identity, right, You won't be looking everywhere else to
find your your identity. You wantto have it. And so I think
his offense has that and the guyshe builds and puts in there. It
complements that identity. So I thinkit's gonna be great, full go for
training him. That's look, Iain't gonna answer any of the four if

(03:34:28):
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, and thenext thing, you know, I'm on
pup like, hey, look somestory above my prey pay grade. So
but I don't know, hopefully Ican start. I think I'm ready to

(03:34:48):
start, you know, at thebeginning of training camp. But that's not
up to me. As I've learned, I tell you how you're feeling,
I wouldn't say that. I thinkI've been I've been in some great organizations,
and I think this this organization isa great organization, and the training
staff is great, and so theyjust want what's best for me, you

(03:35:11):
know, and they're they're taking careof me, which that's what you want
in an organization. And so that'swhere that comes from, which I appreciate
it, Like I really appreciate that, you know, because I'm the type
of guy like I work really hard. So maybe sometime I'm blind to you
know, the danger of something,you know, So I appreciate it.
But like I said, if it'sup to me, yeah, I'm out

(03:35:31):
there. But never know what anI frustration for you during the heading into
free agency, you know, dealingwith with rehab and I'm you know,
having won a full season of tapeor production to go out there. Is
there any part of that where you'relike, God, you know, have
hit the open market with a differentsituation. You know, Nah, I
like it. I like, howwould I say this? I like it

(03:35:58):
the hard way, but not,you know, I like it the hard
way. I like it. Ilike trial and trib relations. So I
mean the dice that I was givingthe role was I was coming off of
Achilles, and that was that wasthe lowest plan. So it was beauty

(03:36:22):
in that, like I was comfortable. I was caught like there was multiple
teams, you know, I wasn't. It wasn't like I didn't have any
other team. But I was comfortableand sitting back and just enjoying the process,
letting myself get fully healed. Sowhenever that team, whoever I would
sign with, who now is theChargers, is going to get the best
me, you know, And Ithink people all around the league though that

(03:36:46):
like, okay, this guy,Okay, it's a high risk, high
reward type thing, right, noteven a high risk, hilar Rice,
because you it's a business, right. So I got her last year,
so not as much money needs tobe throwing there. But I think everyone
around the league knows that whenever Iam on the field, the numbers don't
why and so they know that,and a lot of teams were like,

(03:37:07):
all right, here, you cangive you this, but we want you
to be healthy. So when I'mhealthy, it's gonna be great. This
is the chance that I've been givinghere. I'm so grateful and I know
that's gonna be. They won't bethey won't regret it. Are you the
type of person that likes the opportunityfor me? You know? So I'm

(03:37:28):
excited about it. Oh a lot. He helped me a lot, even
feel like the first day, justtrying to help me get used to to
write tackle. He got my feetused to write tackle like my first dad
practice. I'm like, dude,I still feel we feel a little off.
I don't feels balanced to my stands. And he showed me the small

(03:37:48):
technique and to do with my feet, which I still do even even though
left tackle, just because it's partof my routine. That was part of
my process and getting in my stands. So stuff like that that he taught
me from day one and obviously inpractice was fun. Just compete with him,
you know, it's just to meetat the back of the pocket and
to dap each other back to everyrep like that was competing, you know

(03:38:11):
what I mean. So that's myguy. As much as you love him
on your the westside, how bittersweetis in a certain matters because of what
happened to him. Yeah, that'sthe thing. That's not how. It's
definitely how I And that's how Ithought about the transition will go. You
know, I thought it would beyou know, homesoone timing at a cardinal
his whole career. You know,you know, you want to play here

(03:38:35):
forever, you know what I mean. While we talking about his plans,
so you know, you you wishtransitions like one of those fairy tale like
to your time. But but again, either way, you know, we
talked about it. You know thatthat's that's the how it goes, you
know. But obviously you know hesees he's he's been one of my biggest

(03:39:00):
supporters. Again, I affect thateverybody leads in their own way, you
know, not everybody's the guys comingaround scuse like that's not everybody right like
effect for me, that's me specificallyon game day with the O line after
we do one on one like that'smy like, well Hump did like that's
my like big vocal time. ButI feel like I've talked to Hump about

(03:39:24):
this, you know, just recentlytalking about how what I want to do
for the room is I want tobring that Hump energy that he brought right
so last year. Of course sometraits been doing it for years, but
the year I spent with him,he brought a lot of the energy and
excitement and the happiness in the roomwas just his natural energy to where I

(03:39:48):
only had to focus on me,you know, I didn't have to make
sure other other guys are you know, feel some type of way when they
came in here because Hump brought that. But out of Hump sny here.
But I saw what he did forthe room. I want to be that
guy to make sure everyone's amp togo to practice, everybody's hype. Weren't
taking the field team one period?You know it's a low day or something.

(03:40:11):
You know, it's a it's athing, but like I wanna make
it feel like your parents a tripperright now. I want to bring that
cause that's what we helped to eachother. People hype each other other,
dude dudes about to people walked throughthere lit So I wanna do that.
I want to bring that energy.I wanna make bring more guys, you
know, to do that. Youknow, I wanted to do that from
day one, you know, Ikind of I wanted to do that from

(03:40:35):
day one, from just talking tohim, and obviously it's that time.
I spend the off season before OTAstarted, just being in myself, just
thinking about what the room needs,you know, because I know I knew
a new role as one of theleaders, you know on the offense,

(03:40:56):
is that we need a guy likethat. It's gonna make sure the old
line is picked up ready to go. Every day I was held accountable.
Little things don't happened to practice.People aren't saying anything. And how I
may lead maybe different than somebody elsemay lead. You know, I like
to a practice at least like toleave with positivity, you know what I
mean? So, but he theenergy yet went beyond just the hype up,

(03:41:20):
the deal, lie and stuff too. So that's kind of how I
wanna be. S goal of mine, literally my whole life. I wanna
be a NFL team captain, likespecifically the NFL. I wasn't a captain
of high school, wasn't a captainof 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 tilI get to the NFL. Yeah,

(03:41:43):
but that would be awesome, youknow, but you know, if it
happens, i'd be great. Butnot either way. I wanna assume a
role as a captain from the respectof the guys on the team visual words
me and to get back to thatway. Yeah, I mean, I
can't say that. I mean,I guess the biggest thing is that I

(03:42:03):
felt like it has felt like howit 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, causeI didn't know what it was gonna be
sure, So it took a lotof yeah reps just to give back to
feeling like myself for day one OTAsand then that whole first week, but

(03:42:28):
now like today specifically just changing somesmall things with my feet. I did
say talking about a line coach aboutsome things I can do with my fee
to get to that to sell atthe traditional angle that I love to set
on. Felt even I thought Ifelt, I thought I felt great already
by mokat, I felt even backup it. So I'm even more excited
tomorrow. Now I'm getting my feedbackto how I liked it the right side

(03:42:50):
and on the left side, soI'm excited to teach. I mean,
obviously, I feel like in theleague, whether I left or right,
you're still going against premier guy.So obviously you have high expectations for your
left and your right tackle. Butthere's definitely uh like the the level of
energy and like the expectations definitely takingthe human spect cause now conned the blind

(03:43:13):
side, that's the that's a detackle role, you know. So so
yeah, I would say in termsof communication as far as just even outside
the facility and just stuff like that, like really creating that the tackle quarterback
bond even more off the field,I think has been something that's even been
cool. I got a text oneday and It's like, hey, like

(03:43:35):
you play left, and I waslike, yeah, you know, yeah,
I've been training both. I've beentraining both. You know. I
I aksed after the season, They'relike, honestly, you know, we'll
talk to you still play in theseason, and I just got a text
me like depending on what happens.But with the free agency then, so
I was like, you know what, I had a whole season right tackle,

(03:43:56):
So if I get the word,I'm going I'm standing right tackle.
I don't need to do what Idid before. I'm built on that bus.
I was like, I might asalost trained the left tackle now as
if I'm gonna be a left tackle, And I'd rather do that than training
on the right time and get theko Hey you're the left tackle. I'm
like, oh, I didn't wantto switch my feet yet, you know
what I mean. So I'm like, let me just prepare in advance.
I was like, yeah, thisguy, you know, I think occasionally

(03:44:20):
i'm third down, there would bea lot of twists. I would just
know like it's I'm gonnamatically coming.And I think that was my mindset for
like the first half of the season. But like I didn't have to go
into a game and was surprise like, oh my gosh, they did that.
I kind of figured like, okay, like this is this is the
type of rush I mean to get, Like this is how this guy usually
rushes. But I get the vibethis is how the ends like the rush,

(03:44:41):
you know, tackles that are youknow, first year guys who got
the premier patch on. I alreadyknew what it was gonna be, already
knew of every stunt and honestly justknowing that it's kind of an advantage too.
So you're not you're not you're notold. They brought the twist of
my side again. It was neveran Aaron Donal like you know, they're
coming out of minds, like threeplayers in the world in two minutes I
do that was winning, you knowwhat I mean. I'm watching more than

(03:45:05):
everybody else, and he rarely goesout there on occasional third downs on the
m He's gonna pick me, youknow what I mean. So in fact
fact, it's kind of it's alsokind of advantage in the way, but
it's also exciting, like okay,here with the two guys, this talent
and this this background at the topof that group, how much of your
discussions with Ryan. I guess theinterview process were about how you might approach

(03:45:28):
this, and and and what doyou think is mean the key element.
You're getting the most out of thosebecause you got two guys. This ain't
my first rodeo, No. Iknow a lot of people look at say,
well, this guy only been onthe field for three years Western Tucky
and Oregon. Just because I didn'thave the title of a running back coach

(03:45:50):
where I was at the Memphis Inever carried myself that way. I was
carrying myself as a running back coach. I approach every day that way.
So at Memphis we had their Henderson, Patrick Taylor, Tony Pollard, Kenny
Game, Weell, Tonio Gibson.I've seen talented backs, and I've seen
them be able to function with oneanother. So I hear that all the
time about well, I this ain'tmy first rodeo. Same thing out there

(03:46:13):
in Oregon we Buckerevern Norwich and GeorgeJames. You go look at their numbers.
They all functioned well together. Welearned how to play as one.
So this ain't my first rodeo.So and plus I know those two kids
cause I recruited them when they wasin high school, so I'm up for
the challenge and the responsibility of it. Got right behind it. Dan Hopeless,

(03:46:33):
Just what is your kind of coachingphilosophy? How do you get the
best out of your running backs?I get the best out them because I
love the young men. My mainfocus is to change the hearts and minds
of them, and they'll play forme. I had just got through reading
Coach Trestle's Winners Manual, and it'ssomethday that I took from that book.
You have your purpose and you haveyour goals, all right. My purpose

(03:46:56):
is to serve and pour into theyoung men. Now, my goals is
a football coach. All of themare take care of themselves. So that's
one of the ways. I'm justreal relationship based in a very detailed at
this position. I know y'all heardme say before, and I'm gonna keep
saying. This is the worst coachposition in football. It's terrible guys hire
anybody to coach his position and recruiters. CARLS Locker is not a recruiter.

(03:47:18):
I'm an elite relationship builder, butI coached this position. I'm a ball
coach. So that's who I am. So I'm gonna pourtant to these kids.
I think they kind of seeing itnow. And I jumped in day
one I'm ready to coach. Andthe phrase, you know, soft fat
cookies, Where did that phrase comefrom? Kind of what was pass boy?
Let me tell you about that boy. I've been called everything but the
name the child of God by thepeople at the other places I left,

(03:47:43):
So that I been getting. Pillsburyneeds to give me a deal because I've
been getting I've been getting some DMand texts. Some of them have been
so funny. The saftbatch could getthe thing came from just having a frame
of mind, a mental toughness.It had nothing to do with guys getting
in the portal and anything. Nowmost people say I'm a salt beasted cookie

(03:48:05):
for leaving there, but actually I'mnot because it takes great strength to make
a decision to leave a place.No, a weak minded person wouldn't be
able to make the decision that Imake, So it took great strength to
do that. So I'm telling you, if I literally in my DMS,
it's some it's some great comedians outhere that have been sending me like tons
of cookies and out like it's funnyright behind him, Tony Urban, how

(03:48:28):
have you going about being an assessmentof the talent in the room? Uh?
Over the past week or two?How much is that unfield off field?
Like, what's the process of gettingto know who you have as players?
Well? I broke down well mebeing a guy that loves the running
back position. And I already brokethose kids down cause I recruit them out
of high school. You know,Cue is from where I'm from, and

(03:48:50):
Montgomery. I was one of thefirst guys to offer him just watching him
great contact, balance, creative runner, great hands and trey. I recruited
him out of Virginia exceptional short air, your burst and quickness and things that
i'm'a help him get better on.And then I recruited James Peeples out of
t out of San Antonio, Texas. I knew what he was gonna what

(03:49:11):
he was gonna be TC and Samthose two kids I'm getting to know and
I'm gonna help them improve the game. But we got different runners in there.
I like to call myself, Uh, I'm in love with this position.
So I get to break down runnersand help their game. So talented,
talented room, very talented. Uhfar back uh Jerremy Birmingham podcast couch,

(03:49:35):
how do you swear that that thesoft past cookies are actually the best
cookies to Philip Britton mas or thosewere way better than the country chips and
white things social territory. I mean, do you do you have to first
find a balance there or somewhere.Well, for me, I'm actually not
eating any cookies. Nah, I'mjust saying I'm not eating any cookies this
year. I gave it up fora fast or no sweets for me for

(03:49:58):
the whole year. That something Igave up. So they the term the
south bast cookie term. Look,guys, I actually took that from I
represent the high school coaches of Myths, Tennessee. I actually took that from
a guy named coach Slocum. Heused to always say that South bast cookie.
I actually stole that from him.I give him credit for it,
and I tell him all the timehe said, you I should have branded

(03:50:20):
that, cause you done took itand ran away with it. But that's
just where that comes from. Sothat that now was standing as you get
to Ohio Stadium and start to lookaround the country, I mean, Oregon's
a big place. That's a that'sa major job. Really, How how
do you think that where your oppositelogo under Jack Brandon blocko, when you
get out out of the little pieand trail, how does that change the

(03:50:41):
way that you feel you're either receivedor or does it add a different level
to to just feeling like I couldgo anywhere and get anybody in the comty
and does the changest thing for me. This is a great place. Oregon
is a great place too. Butguess what, whatever I put on,
I know when I'm going to representfor me. I n I N I

(03:51:03):
know who who put me here?Uh? I know I represented something higher,
you know. Like I told you, I know what my purpose is.
My purpose is to poorting the people. So whatever logo I have on,
I'm still gonna be doing the samething. So this is a great
logo, great logo, but Iwear another logo every day. It's across
I see around my neck. Iknow what I represent. So that's the

(03:51:24):
greatest logo I could ever wear.So it don't matter what other logo I
have on. I got that oneon. I'm going to any house and
be a recruit. Uh, uhdeep rite to camera tiqu Robinson. The
athletic from which you you mentioned thetime in Memphis and themis for NFL ring
back you mentioned there who you learnedfrom that time that we continue to take

(03:51:46):
over to manage you to grow upand kids? What did I learned from
them? I just building a justteaching the kids. We live in such
a selfish world now, and Ican tell kids all the times it's gotta
be much more to football. Theball gonna go flat one day. As
I always say, what being inthat room there at Memphis is, it
wasn't four five? Teaching them howto be abbout being one? I tell

(03:52:11):
you them in all time, itdoesn't cost you anything to celebrate another man's
success. So teaching them how tobe one, and then once they learned
to be one, they function andthey feed off one another. So that's
what I learned from being there atMemphis and from let him in road Crosstard
of your career in law enforcement kindof influence you as a coach and kind
of shake where you are. Ahwell, I just got through talking to

(03:52:35):
somebody about that today. When Ifirst got in this profession and I got
my own room at Western Tech.I was aksed. No, how was
I was gonna be able to handle'em? M my room? I said,
Man, I had a part withfifty 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 domestic no vioence,

(03:52:58):
cause it's simple easy. No,people won'ta know what you care. Also
know, you gotta have a certaindemeaning about yourself. So when I walk
into a room, it's the reasonwhy I go train every morning. This
is when it's same thing when Iwas a police officer. You look a
certain way kind of deter people fromdoing certain things. So reason why I

(03:53:18):
go train every morning. I'm gonnalook just as good as my boys look.
So uh it helped out a lot. In other words, Uh from
Rol Right Austin Wore the podcast CarlsWelcome to Columbus. H What would it
mean to I don't know, revolutionizethe way running backs are coach? What
does that take? I ain't know. I'm not gonna say revolutionized. Just

(03:53:41):
some good. It's some good runningback coaches out here. Everybody's different.
It's some great coaches out here.I just want to head guys who say
that on these jobs to not justhire guys. Just know all coaches on
your staffs should be great recruiters,not just a running back coach. We
coach a position, We developed players. I just wanted the coaches to realize,

(03:54:01):
Hey, you know what, letme look and be thorough about this
guy that I'm hiring for the job. Is he teaching the position? Is
he development the position? Because you'renot gonna hire anybody just coach quarterbacks,
are you. Well, it shouldn'tbe like that for the running back position
either. And I'm only passionate aboutit cause I played it. I love
it, so it's the only positionI want to coach. Could I coach
the other positions? Yeah? Iplayed dB in college too, But I

(03:54:22):
love the running back position so andI just wanted to see it coach well
t May podcasts. Yeah, amillion questions. Oh that's a couple.
Number one, when you when youwhen your wife whatever? You got the
message stuff? Or are we movingagain? What was what was her reaction?
Nah? She she's just now.Guy that give us gave us a
new assignment. She It was neverlike we're moving again. Let me tell

(03:54:45):
you, guys something I grew up. My mom was in the military,
so I lived everywhere. I livedin Panama of South America. I'm used
to picking up and moving. Ilived in Fort Rodley, Kansas, Montgomery's
home if it was my second home, so I'm I'm used to moving now.
My wife was different for her,but she's a new guy that gave
us a new assignment, so it'stime to go. What did uh?
What did coach they tell you whenhe heard you that he wants out of

(03:55:07):
you? That may be different.It's not slamming somebody else, But what
did he say he wanted you tobring to the running back room? I
think he did his research on me. He said he wanted the guy to
to develop the position. And that'snot taking a shot at the coach that
was here who I'm friends with.He said, they want somebody to really

(03:55:30):
get guys that we picked up,and I'm excited to work with them.
You know much about Uh. Ithink he's super skilled, Russia, a
little good length, and he's moreathletic than I even realized. And I
think guys like him when they cometo our scheme are the best. Is

(03:55:50):
brought out of him, So I'mexcited to see what potential he has.
He's year nine, so I feelas a d lineman you can keep improving
all the way through ten years inthis league, So I'm excited to see
what he's got. How old didyou know sores So when he was assistant
here? And have you gotten toknow him a lot by it's a relationship

(03:56:11):
made you right now. I knowhim pretty well. He was always just
a good dude around the facility.He did our ball meetings, so he's
good in front of a group.He's a good leader. He knows the
scheme really well, which is good. I was happy to see him promoted.

(03:56:33):
He called me in the offseason.We talked. I just congratulated him,
and I think he's gonna bring somethingsimilar to what we had with the
Miko. It'd be good. Doyou know Brandon Stanley well at all?
I mean, obviously Joey playing forhim. I don't know too much about
him. I've obviously heard from mybrother, but I don't even think i've
said high yet. I haven't raninto him yet, but I'm sure i'll

(03:56:56):
get to know him. When yousay it looks similar to Miko or system.
Maybe a little different energy, butI think just knowing the system from
the front to the back, Ithink he knows how it ties in,
and he's been around with some reallygood coaches, so I think it'll be

(03:57:18):
pretty pretty seamless, and I thinkwe'll be firing on all cylinders. You're
three months removed from the Super Bowlnow, so just how have you?
I guess digested it, and Iguess physically everything good to go. Yeah,
I feel really good. I thinkit's been one of my better off
seasons of just kind of it wasa long year, so I took it
nice and slow to get back intoit. Not as young as I once

(03:57:43):
was, so I'm taking a littlea little slower, but everything's great.
I'm feeling as good as I felt. I'm excited to actually get some practice
in. Last year was kind oftough, getting thrown in Week one after
a walk through, so that wasanother reason I'm excited to be here,
is just to get practicing a littlebit in season. Practice is one thing,

(03:58:07):
but actually being able to work yourstuff and not have a game coming
up is good. With the SuperBowl unfortunately, I know how to bounce
back from tough losses, So itwas rough for a little bit, but
no, just annoying when people bringit up. Since the last season,

(03:58:30):
we've seen a Rock on TV commercialsand on the stage with Kluke Coombs and
throwing out the first pitch of theGiants game. But he seems like a
guy that's totally unaffected by celebrity,which he has now. But what have
you noticed in his leadership style andthe way he carries himself any difference at
all. I think he's definitely gettinga little more vocal within the building.

(03:58:50):
And uh yeah, I mean Idon't think he's ever gonna change. I
don't think he's somebody that's gonna changeeven when he gets paid next year.
So he's he's a man of faithand he kind of reminds me of Scotti
Scheffler, but except for just superhumble and really good kid. And yeah,

(03:59:18):
he's definitely famous famous sfer I don'tjust from watching Armstead get released obviously
meant so much to the defensive lineinto the team. I mean, Colin
John were pretty open that they werewilling to talk about trading deebo or are
you at draft? Does that justanother what's that feel like? In the

(03:59:41):
locker room when those sort of joelshappened. I didn't even know that happened
and I wasn't here, But you'retalking about this Oason Armstead in alarm Eric
released, So that's certainly one thing. Yeah, it's a tough business,
for sure. You have to havethick skin and I haven't gone through that,

(04:00:07):
but I think you just have tounderstand that it is a business and
the team's going to try and getas good as it possibly can with or
without you, and you have tolook out for yourself. That's why you
go through holdouts and do certain thingsthat seem selfish in the moment, but
it is what it is, andwhen everything's settled, we're gonna come together

(04:00:30):
as a team and try and goget one Nick. What's the overall feeling
around the group right now, Like, how much does it feel like the
excitement of the ramp up to theseason, Even though it's early, it
feels good. It's been a coupleof days for me, so I like
all the new guys. I'm gettingto know everybody, but I think the
past is in the past and we'reready to go. Do you talk to

(04:00:50):
me? You talked to Beat allabout handling the business part of this.
He's going through something similar. Wechat a little bit, but not too
much about the details. I justtold him to keep his head up and
try and stay positive through it all. First impressions when you heard about your
schedule would be in that Aaron Rodgers'first up, It'll be fun. Yeah,

(04:01:13):
it's gonna be gonna be a goodone. Excuse me kind of alluded
to this, But the fact thatlast year you had to have that holdout,
you said that affected you somewhat earlyin the season. If you hadn't
had that experience, would you behere right now? I mean, was
that part of the motivation for beinghere early, just to have the opposite

(04:01:37):
when last year might think? No, I don't think that's one of the
reasons. But I just talked toKyle and he kind of asked me.
He kind of stated how he feltabout why it would be good for me
to be here and asked if Iagreed, and I one did agree.
So it's not like I'm missing toomuch. I think I'm out here.

(04:02:00):
It's a little less workload than I'mdoing back home, So it's kind of
a good active recovery thing for meand I'm getting football stuff, football working
specifically, so that's good. I'mnot it's not compromising my training at all.
And I get to meet all theguys. It's positive. Oh no,

(04:02:26):
he's he's there. He's got anew regime over there. I actually
thought I was coming next week untilrecently, so I was gonna have one
more week at home. But we'reboth in California. As I've come in
and thought we were going to loseor have have a bad year, I
felt like every year when I tellyou things are feeling good and I feel

(04:02:50):
optimistic. It wasn't a lie.But yeah, I think things are are
definitely, like I said, trendingin the right direction. Everybody's on the
details. I'm sure it's a wordthat you've heard a million times, so
yeah, I think it just feelslike it feels like coach is leading the
team the way it should be led. It has a feel of being back

(04:03:15):
in college, you know, withwith coach ierber Meyer, and you know
the message is sent from the topand it doesn't get mixed up as it's
moving down the ladder. It's boom. This is how we're doing things,
and everybody's following that, and Ithink it's impressive the details that everybody have
been on, has has been on, the effort and just the competitiveness that

(04:03:39):
that's been going on over the lastfew weeks. Yeah, it's it's it's
been great. How much do youappreciate that? To stop and just described
with the way jingles we shouldn't eatin the messaging doesn't eat mixed up?
Might appreciate that so much. Imean, it's I guess it's easy to

(04:04:00):
appreciate when you kind of see itworking and you see guys improving, getting
better. I just think the detailsare really important. You can pretend that
leaving your shoes a mess or yourlocker a mess isn't a big deal,
and what matters is playing football.But I think all those tiny details and
things kind of add up and leakinto the important stuff, like what you're

(04:04:26):
doing on the field. So ifyou can have your toe behind the line,
or have your locker and order andall these things, they kind of
stack up into performing well and playingwell when things count. So you know,
I appreciate that. It also hasn'tbeen a fight with the guys in
the locker room. They buy inand you know, it's a lot of

(04:04:48):
young guys, and I think they'rehungry to learn, hungry to compete.
And when you know, it's justan example, whether it's we talked about
first day, you have your shoes, if you could, if you could
spend the time on these small thingswhen nobody's watching. I think, like
I was saying, it seems likeit might not add up too much,
but I think in the long termit does, and it leaks into other

(04:05:13):
things, whether you're doing your rightassignment on the field, being late to
meetings or all these things. Ifyou hold a standard and you stay to
that standard, I think it benefitsyou long term. It's been like working
with Ben Harbert, who has therebeen any anything in his training program or
working with you that you feel willbenefit you later. Yeah, yeah,

(04:05:37):
definitely. He's been great. He'sa no nonsense kind of guy, but
he's not an old school in thesense that he's bringing his way of doing
things and that's the only way todo things. He understands that guys have
been in the in the business fora long time. Khalil me and we
have a way of doing things,and all he wants to do is add
to that and help you get betterand perform the best you can. And

(04:06:00):
he's a he stresses it all thetime that he's a tool for us,
and you know he's been he's beengreat. The guys love him. The
energy brings is awesome, and Ithink the stuff that we're doing in the
weight room is great, great additionto stuff that I may may do on
the side or whatever that is.Yeah, I think we I mean,

(04:06:20):
we had a presentation today with allthe certain measurables that are changing, and
if you guys are in the meeting, you definitely see how beneficial he's been
to the team so far. Soobviously staying healthy is is a huge factor
to anybody's success. I'd say it'splagued us a little bit for a while.

(04:06:41):
So yeah, I think he's he'sdefinitely incredibly beneficial. When are you
fully, I know, in theend of last season, you might have
been able to Yeah, no,I was not ready to go last year.
No, tried practicing, tried comingback and uh it was it was
not good, but yeah, itwas. Unfortunately the year wasn't going great

(04:07:07):
and it just was unnecessary risk forI mean, my foot could have had
some real real issues if I cameback too early. So yeah, it's
been, it's been. It's beena great off season. My foot's feeling
great, toes good, hamstrings good. I mean, there was a list
of things last year, my hand, so all those things are good.
Finger cut surgery on my finger,so that's feeling good. Yeah, it's

(04:07:31):
it's nice to be feeling better goinginto your nine than you have since maybe
five six years ago, which I'vesaid, I've said I've been feeling great
last couple of years. I'm tellingyou it's a real deal this time.
But obviously anything can happen. ButI just feel it's fun feeling really confident
in your body and being able toperform. So I could just go out

(04:07:56):
during practice and you know, goodballs to the wall and do everything that
I feel like I need to tobe able to prepare. It's fun.
My brother and whoever I trained withmy trainer Todd back home, uh,
I think they'd be really proud ofhow I've been working this offseason, and

(04:08:16):
it's just exciting. The pointing wasthe injuries. I remember the great Big
Game, you kind of yeah,it was a bit of a build up,
a little bit of an overreaction,but you know, it's just tough.
It comes sometimes like that, andI just felt felt really defeated coming
back had a broken hand. I'mlike, oh, yeah, I get

(04:08:39):
to play Boom for a series footPops. Thought I'd have to get surgery,
and all these thoughts flooded through myhead. Broke down a bit,
and yeah, it just hurts.You know, you're losing, you're getting
injured. You've felt like you preparedreally well in the off season, and
then the year before you had groinsurgery, so you know, a lot
of things build up. Yeah,you don't get a break if you're injured.

(04:09:03):
Everybody wants to go on. Fansare very nice, but no,
I just I'm grateful that I feelthis way. I'm still still nicey Ripe
twenty eight, so not too oldyet, but yeah, I'm just excited.
I can't remember what the original questionwas. At this point, you

(04:09:26):
get something about my Bobby, howclose you and Gift were. How frustrating
was it that you couldn't you knowsoon for one of those last three games.
It was frustrating, but I meanGift was had my back the whole
way. I think for Gift,for any but for the whole team,

(04:09:50):
just to show what it means tome. It would have been important for
me to be out there, butI literally couldn't. I tried to practice,
injured my footworset the very first playI was in practice, So no
chance that was happening unless I wantedto throw my next season away as well.
But no, I'm just I'm proudof him for what he did with

(04:10:11):
the team, how he handled it, and I need to call him back.
Actually sorry, I give Yeah,I'm happy he gets to stay close
by with the with the Rams anduh, I'm just proud of all we
accomplished here together over the years andand we'll be close for the rest of
our lives. It was the footage. It was this guy does say foot

(04:10:33):
sprang. Yeah, I sprained onearea of my foot. Then when I
tried to return and I sprained anotherarea. Was able to avoid getting surgery,
which is kind of the main goal. But yeah, it was.
It was tough when it comes tothe addition of but Dupree when he felt
like he's kind of brought to theto the room and could bring on the

(04:10:54):
field. Yeah, when I heardwe got my brother some I don't know,
maybe my brother told me, I'mlike, really, we just got
budd Like, that's no, that'sno small pickup. He's a seriously elite
pass rusher. Has had some troublewith injuries as well, so I understand
how that is, but not onlyhim as a player, but as a

(04:11:16):
personality. I heard Khalil just sayinghe's he's a fun guy. He's a
funny guy, and to have thatin the room another vet is always a
great addition. But I'm just excitedto have him and Tulle and to be
able to rotate like that and notdrop off at all when we come off
the field is huge. And Mawchule'sgoing into a second year. Just what
do you what are you kind ofWhat are some of the maturity maturity areas

(04:11:39):
you said from him? You know, I'm gonna say not much, and
that's a compliment because he was alreadymature in those areas. I mean,
he's on it everything playbook wise,always doing his job, working hard,
just refining his technique and pass rush. I mean, we don't have the

(04:12:00):
pads on right now, so thereal work will begin, you know,
in six weeks now. So butyeah, I love Tulie. I've loved
him since the first day he's walkedinto the facility, and I know he's
just gonna continue to get better.You think of the addition of Joe Old.
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna needto beat him up a little bit
in camp. So he's so he'sready. But no, I think anything

(04:12:24):
to protect our number ten is agood, good investment. So he seems
like a real solid dude. Haven'ttalked to him too much. Great build,
seems like he has good hands,good feet, strong, We'll see.
We'll see in a few weeks whenI lay a helmet in his chin,
how he holds up. But it'llI'll take it easy on him for

(04:12:50):
Shawn's beast. Did you know coachHarbond before he came here? And if
he did, just what were thosefirst couple of conversations? Like, yeah,
probably have cross paths with him.Maybe maybe not? Actually I think
what was it his first year whenI was a junior, So we kicked

(04:13:11):
his ass as usual Mitt Ohio State. No, No, they just want
a championship, so I'd say theyprobably have the bragging rights right now.
I'm like the guy talking about hisold high school. Oh, I remember
we used to kicks no, butno, yeah, no, the rivalry

(04:13:31):
is dead. I was just sayingthis morning, you know, nine years
and kind of forget about that.I'm not a great alumni. Sorry,
so he coached, But no,it's great. That's what's great about the
NFL is you just have guys fromall backgrounds. You could hate their guts
one one year, and then youcome on the same team and your brothers
and you're all working towards one goaltogether. So our first talk together was

(04:13:56):
great. I just sat down withhim, went up into his office and
chopped it up a life mainly andhis opportunity here and how much it means
to him, and uh, yeah, I think he's a special guy.
I think he's the way he conductshimself. He's an interesting cat for sure,
and I'm still still feeling him out. But one thing you can't denies
that he loves football and his maingoal is to win football games. And

(04:14:20):
that's what we need. When yousee him working out with you guys and
and pushing his lives and doing allthis stuff, just how interesting is that
to see? Yeah, I meanhe was a he was a great player
himself, and I think he's alwaysbeen you know, built like that lack
of a better term, but yeah, he's uh, he's part of the

(04:14:41):
guys. You know, he's notthis guy outside looking in. He he
really, I mean he voiced thatto me. Is that his favorite part
of all of it is being withthe guys and and the connections he makes.
So yeah, to to see aguy like that come in and embrace
it all and kind of be partof it himself is important. Your initial

(04:15:03):
questions of Coachman during the defensive gaining. Yeah, it's funny to go from
old gift, old gift to thislittle young guy who's my age. I
wouldn't want to get thrown into aroom with me and khalilpos his age.
But no, he's been great.I love messing with him a little bit.
We little sarcasm back and forth.But no, he's great. He's

(04:15:26):
uh. He's very talks very fast, and I don't as you know,
so sometimes I got to be likeslow down, coach, come on.
But no, he's great. I'mexcited, you know, to get closer
as the years. As the yeargoes on, and I think he has

(04:15:46):
he has a lot of passion forthe position and all he wants to do
is learn and and help us toimprove. So I'm excited about him and
me and I do miss Gift.Obviously it was a long time with him,
but I I'm excited to have anew face and kind of have that
challenge for me. You worked muchwith with Jesse's dad, since I know

(04:16:07):
he coached linebackers in Michigan. Didyou ask about Jesse? Did you ask
about doing? Okay, you askedabout Jesse. Oh my god, I
was talking about freaking doing the wholetime. You guys are so confused.
No, sorry, I thought Ithought I was. I thought you mentioned
coach Ronie. No, No,coach Mentor has been great as well.

(04:16:30):
Yeah, they've both been great.Sorry, run that back. No,
he's been good. Uh yeah,very knowledgeable guy. Same thing. I'm
excited to get to know him moreas the year goes on. Have you
worked Have you worked much during theYeah? No, I have not.

(04:16:51):
I don't know if I've said oneword to him, but more words to
come down the road, like yousaid, been in years since twenty sixteen.
Just what are some of the stuffyou What's just one ramble about the
wrong guy for fifteen minutes walking?What? Yeah? What the Heck's like,

(04:17:18):
actually that's literally not the person.Yeah, yeah, I figured out
what's something that you you worked underingthe off season, something to improve your
game or is there something that youcan Usually my answer is pretty consistent that
I just continue to try to preparemyself physically, whether that's my sprint work

(04:17:45):
or agility work and my lifting,but yeah, just to get everything feeling
great. I dealt with those injuries, so I had to kind of ramp
it up with my finger and footand all those things. But now I'm
I'm full full speed out there,and I'm just going to continue to do
what I know will prepare me forthe season. And uh, I know

(04:18:07):
I'm gonna get plenty of technique workand position work when I'm out here.
So for now, I'm going tospend these five weeks really getting uh preparing
my body. There's workouts, competitiveagain, another year of competitives with all
that stuff. Yeah, yeah,it's usually too hot out there for much
competition. We're just trying to survive. So but yeah, it's always it's

(04:18:32):
a it's a silent competition between betweeneach other, be like peeking, He's
like what was his time? Washis time? But no, Yeah,
it's always you can never have anoff day when when you're out there and
he's he's warming up like a beat, like a freaking robot every day out
there, so there's there's no offdays. Have you you and him talked

(04:18:55):
at all about I mean, Imean, just when you were having a
contract thing you a guy who isoff about anyway. Yeah, I mean
it's it's a conversation, not anot really a serious conversation, but something
that's come up before. But yeah, I mean it would be cool.
It would be cool at some point. I I always thought of myself being

(04:19:21):
somebody that will play here and retirehere, which I think not many people
do on one team, and Ithink would be a cool thing to accomplish.
But you never know. I'm gonnaworry about this year first. Sorry,
it's kind of we're on a foodstory. But so you guys have
like the lowest or second lowest foodcceria in the NFLPA Servely last year,
and that it moved to the facility, Like, have you you talked about

(04:19:45):
about food and how you did sometimes? Is it fine? You?
Have you looking forward to the foodupgrades at all? Have you thought about
it at all. Yeah, No, it's Wolfgang Puck or whatever is the
is the word. Yeah, that'sgreat. I've been more working with my
chef for seven years now, soshe's been great, so I've never really
had to worry about that too much. But yeah, my weight's good.

(04:20:08):
I've been eating a lot this offseason, so that's good. But yeah,
I'm excited to maybe be able toSorry Christina, but maybe I won't
need a chef next year. I'llhave my I'll have my I'll have my
Wolfgang Puck food and that'll be good. So yeah, I'm excited about the

(04:20:29):
move, found a new spot,excited to kind of learn the area and
all that. Even though I won'tever leave my house were you not need
a lot of the facility just chefwas good at all. I'll eat here
sometimes. You know, it's maynot be the best setup, but they'll
prepare you food. That's that's plentygood. I'm a man airic hector shout

(04:20:52):
out. No, they work harderthan literally anybody in the entire facility,
so they may not have the bestmeans back there, but they've they freaking
worked their butts off, and tothis offense after like twenty years of breeze
and just kind of how it wasjust kind of built on top of each
other and on top of each other. It's like kind of a lot to
kind of take in. Do youdo you find that they kind of turn

(04:21:14):
it down to something new starting atlike zero with everybody, it's just a
little bit easier to kind of geteverybody on the same Yeah. I feel
like it's way easier. Like yousaid, it was kind of more of
a Drew Brees style the last playbook, So all credit to them though they
built that around him, around hisplayers. But Uh, like I said,
it's it's more. Uh, thisplaybook is more for uh matchups,

(04:21:36):
and I feel like it's gonna bebetter for us. How do you think
it's gonna really take advantage of justskill sets? Uh? Just building around
the strengths that I have. Youknow what I'm saying, things that I
can do and things that she cando, Uh, things that our players
can do. Is kind of focuson what we can do and building on
that. Uh. I feel likeit's playing to the players strengths. So

(04:21:56):
I feel like it's gonna help usa lot. Since has been around the
way, this offense will have alot more speed. And how has that
transition been so far? I mean, like I said, it's building around
the players strengths. So of coursewe got speed, uh with me or
she and ati receiver, So justbuilding around that, like I said,
playing to our strengths and be ableto capitalize off that. Feel like it's

(04:22:18):
gonna help us a lot most oflike the up tempo asterisk and getting a
lot of plays in the less time. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's definitely gonna play a big difference. Like I said, coming from the
West Coast, Uh, they bringingthat stand for an offense here. So
I'm excited to be able to bea part of that. For you personally,
what's what's the next level look likefor you? What do you What
are you trying to accomplish this year? Just staying consistent, man, a

(04:22:40):
couple of upside downs last year,just building off that. It's always always
gonna work on the physical part,but being able to bounce back after a
bad game. The mental mental aspect, Uh, just learning learning that last
year and be able to build onthat this year is a huge part.
You know, with Mike Gon,did you take it upon yourself to kind
of you that voice in the roomor to take a step forward even further

(04:23:03):
as I mean, it's not reallyI mean, everybody kind of grown in
the NFL, so it's just onyou to be able to have that standard.
Like I said, I just tryto do that, lead by example.
I'm not really outspoken, but justlead by example, working hard,
trying to dominate every rep and hopefullythey follow after that. That yards after

(04:23:26):
the catch? Is that you feellike that's the strength of yours that maybe
wasn't utilize. I don't know ifutilizes the right word, but you could
show more. Yeah, it's anoffense that is built around that. Just
catching the ball in space, catchingthe ball over the middle or even on
the outside with space and separation.Feel like it's built around having yards after

(04:23:48):
catch. So I'm definitely proud tobe in the system, like I said,
and I'm excited. But is thatis that a mindset too? Like
being good at yards after the catch? Like? Oh yeah, I mean
of course. I mean you don'twant to get tackled by the first person,
and uh, my mindset is tryingto take every take everything to the
house, you know, every touch, So uh, I definitely gotta do
that more and definitely try to workon that in practice. Keep a great

(04:24:15):
dude man, Uh some some thatI definitely needed something that he relates to
me. Uh just from backgrounds,and uh he's a great coach, great
leader, Uh, motivational and uh, like I said, I'm excited to
have him around and for him topush me is everything that I need.
Sothing you're talking about like mentally bouncingback you know, from tough performances or

(04:24:36):
whatever. Like, did you liketry to find your resources gonna help you
figure out how to do that?Oh? Yeah, I mean it's older
guys that uh tell me that's naturaljust have bad games. But uh,
just having the standard that I havefor myself and the expectations I have for
myself gets hard sometimes. So justbe able to uh be hard on yourself
but at the same time just letit go and bounced back for the next

(04:25:00):
game is something that I learned lastyear. You one of those guys that
feels like you should always have acertain level of production. Are you okay
with those certain games where the defenseis so focused on you that other guys
have big games and you're just runninggood jobs? And yeah, I definitely
was. It was like that earlyin my career, especially in college,

(04:25:21):
but I found out it's just aboutwinning really. You know, I understand
I came up a rough season,but I don't think it's a step down
of where I can play. Youknow, I think when I was at
the top of my game, I'mstill you know, top five player in
my position. And you know,I played a run in the past and
I bring leadership and that's not anythingI discover. Can you plan to be

(04:25:45):
here for Mini Camp ram the startof Dreaming Camp? How difficult has it
been the last two weeks to notbe here? I mean you said in
your podcast the first time you nevernot been at Yeah, it was difficult,
but like you know, the thing, I got very frustrated. It
was just and people questioned my communicationwith the team. You know, I
uh was communicating with guys left andright and you know, front office,

(04:26:10):
coaches, teammates, and all Icare about is how I am with my
teammates. I don't want them toever think I don't care about them or
how I'm not in it. Andyou know, you can say whatever you
want about me, but besides that, but I'll always dedicate anything I can
to them and I don't want thatto every question, and they just said

(04:26:30):
that it felt like sometimes you wereholed up somewhere watching film. You text
r Miss well, like the firstday he was batting all up Russ's passes,
so I had to let him know. You know, Uh, you
gotta take advantage of that. Yougotta make sure guys are you know,
uh know that you you still careand you still want to be a part
of this. You know, justwatching practice, there's a couple of little

(04:26:52):
things we're doing different, whether I'mcommunicating with Gunbar or other people. You
know. Yeah, so you're thatYou're also talking with him and you you've
given him a pointers during the offseason, just constant communication. How do
you see new Girl as a person? You know, as far as how
he's approaching things, how he's gettingready for this season from his rookie year.
Uh, you know, I thinkthe thing with Keanu is he's more

(04:27:15):
comfortable, you know. You knowit's not his first time around the track.
You know, it's actually like hecan you know, uh catch his
feet under him. You know.I always think when you're in your rookie
season, you're going from bowl game. I don't even know Wisconsin playing a
bowl game. Sorry Wisconsin, Idon't even know, but you know,
personally, I just think when yougo from bowl game to training for the

(04:27:38):
Combine to you know, rookie minicampto OTAs the you know mini camp,
I mean the training camp the regularseason, you really don't get a time
to really catch yourself. You know, he understands the playbook. Now he
can be more vocal, you know, And I think when my absence the
other guy's absence, you know,you need guys like that to step up

(04:27:59):
and be ready for those opportunities youhad. Saying you had during the season
was a more thorough What was justtightened down everything, you know on my
left side because I was overcompensating alittle bit, but you know it was
there wasn't anything that lingers. Youknow, I'll say this, A growing
is not like an a cl It'snot like anything's that we're going to get

(04:28:21):
affected again. And you know,you know, I'm feeling good, able
to do everything squat and heavy withpower and speed, so you know,
it feels good to get after again. What do you think of what the
team was able to accomplish? Ashof easily turned to bring guys like Russian
and things. You know, Ithink they're all good acquisitions. But you
know, you never want to beknown as a paper champion, so you

(04:28:44):
can't win the off season. Ithink the work gets done out here on
the field, gets done in theclassroom. Wow, it gets done training,
uh, you know, and thenyou see where you're at in training
camp, and then you build onthat. You know, I think we
got the right guys in the building. It's just about putting a complete team
on the field. Cam how tempercalled is it to separate the business part

(04:29:07):
of the game from the actual footballplayer. Uh, you know, you
always wanna you always have to treatit like a business because you know one
day it's gonna end. Uh.And that's any job. Uh. It's
not like in college where you knowyou got four years guaranteed. I don't
know, well now you don't evenknow what an il a scrap and the

(04:29:30):
transfer portal portal. But you knowyou have to I still have love for
this game, and I still workmy tail off and I still put everything
into it and that's not gonna change. But you have to know what you
bring to the team and what yourwhat your value is Camon. Did a
feel to be out there with yourteammates today emotionally great. You know,

(04:29:53):
we got a new uh, wegot a new training staff and still learning
the the warm up a little different, but uh, you know, I
loved it. Uh, you know, just getting after it, learning new
guys, going through the same drillsI've been doing by myself. I actually
like having more people around because likekind of go start crazy when it's just

(04:30:14):
you and another guy. You're like, damn, I gotta go back up
for another rep already. And soyou know, it's nice to be up
here and get a chance to youknow, be with my guys, can
confident and people will get done withyour emotion. Oh I'm gonna we'll try
to remain pretty neutral because you know, I don't wanna be too either way.

(04:30:38):
All I know is I want tobe here, but we'll see what
happens. This is my last yearhere. I I've had a great career
here, but I'll look forward toplay next year. Can you with that
second surgery you said it this timewas on the left side. It was
the first time around on the rightside, right side during the season,
left side, and that was justtightening down my corner. My Corma saw.

(04:31:03):
It wasn't the same as my addoctor. You know, you can
ask doctor Bradley, uh, doctordoctor zucker Bron who uh did the surgery
as well. You know, Iif anything's gonna help me and it'll make
me a lot stronger from hearing uptraining with another guy, who have you
have kind of been Tyson? Oh? I've been training with him for the
last eight years. We've always trainedtogether. We got a trainer up north.

(04:31:29):
UH shout out Cole Haley. He'smy guy, traded trained trained,
Uh, Heath Miller, Brett Hezel, the multitude of guys that I all
respect and we've just been getting after. It can be very few guys historically
thirty five they paid big contract thatyou think that's held against you. I
think there's not a lot of historybehind it. But you know, for

(04:31:52):
me, I I look at asI'm not looking to be like anybody else.
You know, my game is differentfrom everybody else in this league.
You know, I like to think, you know, I can play the
run in the past and then that'swhy I'm different, you know. I
remember last year Mike t just broughtto my attention, you know, The
thing that's really cool is you watchpowerlifters, and you know, my game's

(04:32:14):
built on powering technique, and thoseguys go into the forties and so you
know, that's what kind of researchI'm doing behind the scenes. But you
know, I we'll see what happens. There's not a lot of history,
but I'm here to make history andI'm here to you know, win another
Super Bowl year and you know,have a great season. Do you have

(04:32:37):
a set goal over yourself on howmany years you want to play in the
NFL? Or do you just takethings year by the year. You know,
it was it was tough answering thatquestion right after the season. I
will say this, guys, Ican't keep answering that question right after the
season. That is not fair tothe season. That's not fair to my
family, you know. But inmy mind, I got three years and

(04:32:59):
I want to maximize. I wannaplay at a high level, and I
wanna go deep in the playoffs.And you know, we got a good
team and I'm gonna do my partto be ready for all those situations.
Here. If you plan on practiceseeing when you report to latrob or is
your cossibility that you might pulled inand any force new issuations. I I
have not even thought that far.I've taken a day by day uh you

(04:33:21):
know uh uh. I told myagent and we talked about it. I
mean we were cool coming out here. You know. I'll be here for
many you know, and then I'llbe there for training band. You know,
I don't know what the work entails, but right when we get there,
we'll we'll cross that bridge. Whyis it a dog for you or
remain a stealer for those three years? You know? There was a conversation

(04:33:45):
between me, Omar and Mike tAnd there's certain guys that are one helmet
guys, you know, and Iwanna be one of those one helmet guys.
And you know there's a there's ahunger and desire there. But that
doesn't mean just hanging it up andcalling a career. To me, I
think, you know, I gotmore bullets to fire, and you know,

(04:34:11):
I'm excited to do that. What'sthe last one? You and Russell
Wilson are gonna be out there withWalter Man? Uh? What Walter Payton
Man of the Year, Pat So. I saw Russ's on social media.
Uh, but I haven't had achance to see it. Uh, I'll
let that surprise happens when it happens. But uh, you know, it's
it's cool to have another Walter PaytonMan the Year winner. You know,

(04:34:32):
I think, uh, it's anhonor to be there. And uh,
I one, I'll say one thing, I won't be here. I'm just
telling you guys. So it's nota big deal. I won't be here
because I have to do a WalterPayton Man the Year thing on Thursday.
So it's not like I'm skipping alright, But uh, you know, it's
it's an honor to be with uhRuss and you know, you know,

(04:34:55):
it's in honor of doing things inthe community and doing great work. And
you know, the cool thing isas much as we get quarterbacks and going
through these fifteen practices at how doyou want to structure that? I know
that you and Ryan have probably talkedabout that a good amount, Like what's
the right way to set up aspring position battle? How many reps does
everybody need? What's sort of yourplan? Just from a general perspective,

(04:35:18):
I guess yeah, you know,we're really detailed in what practice looks like
and how that's going to operate.But I also think you need to let
the players go, you know,So I don't think you need to to
put shackles on them, so tospeak, and just keep them constrained.
I think you got to let themgo and you got to let them operate.
And we were rotating I think everybodyon every two snaps today just and
that was just what we're going todo on day one. You know,
we'll reassess it after we got throughit. Get a chance to count up

(04:35:41):
all the reps of how many plays, how many plays each guy got and
did they get more in seven onthan they did in eleven on? You
know, and we'll go through thatwhole thing, and that'll be a constant
flow in terms of how we're doingit. But I think the best way
people learn is they learn by doing, you know. So they've been great
in the meeting rooms, they're sharp. When you get them on the board,
they're really good, and they're watchingfilm. But you gotta go out
and you gotta play the game.And so the more we can put him

(04:36:03):
in those situations to play the game, the better we'll have an opportunity to
evaluate them. Uh ship, thinkingof all of these things, Uh go
back so forward Ryan's day. Youmentioned since you've done him since she was
a kid, what were your firstimpressions back then? And then she could
come full circle to now like howdo you how do you feel about that?

(04:36:26):
It's still the same way he youknow, even since he was playing
the little league, he was theultimate competitor, you know, and he
was always trying to find a wayto win. He was great at a
lot of sports, Baseball, basketball, football. You know. I got
an opportunity to recruit him, youknow, so I coached him when I
was at New Hampshire. I recruithim out of high school. We all,
and we grew up really close toeach other, so the same elementary

(04:36:47):
school, same high school, samejunior high, same college. You know.
So I've known him since for fora 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's gotan amazing athletic brain in terms of how
to process things and how to howto put people in position to make place.
He's always been that prototypical coach onthe field no matter what sport he

(04:37:07):
was playing. So I knew hewas destined to be a coach, you
know, and I was fortunate inmy career as a head coach to have
him on my staff in a coupleof places, so I got a chance
to see him work firsthand, youknow. I got to see him work
firsthand as a player and then asa coach. So the success he had
is not is not surprising to me. Is there where you seeing Hryan the
successes had? Yeah, I thinkwe all do that. I think we

(04:37:30):
come from a unique place and ina really small hometown in New Hampshire where
we all take a lot of prideto where we're from and and when anybody's
successful coming out of there, thenyou kind of take a little pride that
that's it's the upbringing that we allhad, you know, in the UTH
sports program that we grew up inin in every aspect whether it was football,
baseball, basketball, those coaches wehad an amazing impact on us.
And that's why we are where weare right now. Bil Rabinwick, Columbus

(04:37:53):
Dispatch. Ryan said he doesn't thinkof it as you working under him.
It's worked with him. The factis he's the head coach. He makes
me call him sir, though hejust said can you do that? Day
one? And I was like,all right, right now. But I
mean, he ultimately is the decisionmaker. You've been a head coach.

(04:38:17):
How do you think that's going towork. Do you think there'll be any
as close as you are, anykind of awkward moments the right term.
But when he's the ultimate decider andyou are working for him, Yeah,
I certainly understand my role. I'mnot Alhaic, like I'm not I'm not
in charge here. Yeah, somepeople get that reference. Other people don't
get that reference. But I'd certainlyunderstand that, and and I actually kind

(04:38:41):
of relish it because I really lovethe scheming part. I love the individual
part. I love being in themeeting room of the quarterbacks and trying to
game plan. But everything we dohere is collaborative. You know. The
one thing that that really struck mewhen I walked in this place is there's
an amazing coaching staff here, youknow, and if you get a chance
to talk to Larry Johnson just aboutfootball, or Tim Walton or Jim Knowles

(04:39:02):
or Brian Hartline or any of theseguys that are on the staff here,
it's it's a very collaborative effort.I think everybody's on the same page.
You know, it's not our offenseand their defense and it's Ohio State.
You know, it's it's Ohio Stateversus the twelve opponents that we're gonna play
during the regular season and then beyond. So it's it's really collaborative. And
that's the thing I like, justin the short time that I've been here,

(04:39:23):
is how collaborative everybody's been. Youknow, we're all trying to make
each other better and we're all tryingto develop this team. Touched on this
when you said, you know,you'd like to do what you want to
do and not My sense is you, in your perfect world, you'd like
to scribble plays on a napkin andnot deal with boosters, dot deal with
all the stuff that coaches head coacheshave to deal with. Now, how

(04:39:45):
much of a factor was that inthis decision? You can just do football?
Now that that's not it? Imean, I enjoy I mean,
we've had some amazing I've had anopportunity and everywhere I've been to meet some
amazing people that are associated with theprogram. And there's people that from my
time at New Hampshire or my timeat Oregon. I was just with Phil
Night two weeks ago, you know, and got an opportunity spend some time
with him and his wife Penny,who are dear friends of mine that have

(04:40:08):
been great mentors to me in mycareer. And there's a bunch of people
that and UCLA, Terry Donna WhueAndrea Donna who were awesome to me.
Angela Mazzoni is a great friend,Casey Wassman, Troy Aikman. There was
a bunch of people at UCLA thatI really enjoyed, you know, being
around and talking with. So Ithink sometimes everybody wants to make a narrative
of it's either this or that.It's it's never that. It's never just

(04:40:29):
all ball, it's never just allrecruiting, it's never just all boosters.
It's a mixture of everything. ButI think the one thing that as this
position as a head coach kept movingon is that if you look at a
lot of them, they all becomemore CEOs. You know. I can't
tell you how many coaches that havecalled me since I made this decision that
said I'm two years behind you,brother, you know that are thinking the
same exact way, and I thinkit's all part of what we have to

(04:40:52):
do. I think we all needto protect this game and promote this game,
and I think there are some rulesthat we need to get straightened out
so that people understand what it's about. Because the game is still about the
players, and I hope that nevergets discounted. You know, it's it's
always been about the players, andI think if we can keep that at
the forefront the people that are makingdecisions on this, and I think Jean
Smith is one of the best influencesin in the NCAAA, is to make

(04:41:15):
sure we keep that the main thing, the main thing it needs to be
the student athletes. You know,you're coming in at a time where you've
been through some places where the expectationsare high. I understand it's also coming
into a juncture where, you know, the three losses to Michigan, the
not making the playoff last year,the urgency is pretty high here. I

(04:41:37):
guess just sort of what the perspectivedo you have on kind of the stakes
that there are for Ryan this yearand the decision that then he makes to
bring you in to kind of helpsolve that. Yeah, I think the
expectations can be no harder than theyare in your own brain, you know.
And I think if you try toworry about what other people are thinking
in their brains, you're going toget screwed up a little bit. So,
you know, I talked earlier theone thing about Ryan that I know

(04:42:00):
about him and has always been he'sthe ultimate competitor. So he's got There's
nowhere that has higher expectations of OhioState than Ryan does, nor the rest
of us that joined him in ourpart of this and that are working with
him. So you know, Idon't think. I think sometimes you can
spend too much time thinking about thosethings. You know. What you really
have to do is just as there'sa big sign as you walk into this
place, it says when the momentyou know, I think that's a real

(04:42:21):
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 aconsistency to the players approach when they walk
in this building every day, whichis it's unique. It's not like that
everywhere else. And it's one ofthe things that I remark to Mick when

(04:42:42):
I you know, he said,Hey, what do you think, and
I was like, it's impressive.It's impressive the culture of the players that
are in this program right now.But I think it speaks a lot to
the leadership. There's a lot ofolder players 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 andgetting right in line with that. Ever,
hit it over a play calling tosomeone before, what does it mean

(04:43:03):
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,

(04:43:26):
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,

(04:43:48):
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 of thefourth quarter that we haven't done. But
I think it's the key to reallybeing successful on OFFSS is how you game
plan, how you put it alltogether, and then how you practice and
train for that so that you geta chance to execute it. Because the
player's confidence comes become comes from theirdemonstrated ability that they've done this so many

(04:44:10):
times in practice that when they getout 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's theypractice it so much so that they can't
do it wrong. So, youknow, I think it's that whole part
of it that is really the keyto being a really good game planning team,
right, Doug Lane Reef Kings ofthe North Chip. When you had
that feeling when you were coaching thequarterbacks during BOWLD, did you consider at

(04:44:34):
that point maybe resigning as the headcoach and thinking like this is this is
not where I am anymore. I'llleave and then I'll look to see what
else is out there. No,I never thought about quitting anything. So,
you know, I just is therean opportunity that I think I can
that fit, you know, AndI think that's the you know, it's
no different than when you're talking toa recruit about them make a decision on

(04:44:56):
where they're going to go to school. I think that where they should go
to school is where the best fitis for them. So, you know,
I just entertained some opportunities and Ialways felt I felt like this was
the best fit. But I neverthought about quitting or not coaching. I'm
gonna coach. I'm a coach,and then I'm gonna die. I mean,
that's how I think I think aboutthings is I can't picture that.
I know someone I was on theNike trip and they like, how much

(04:45:18):
longer are you gonna go? WhenI said I had to go another fifteen
twenty years. I don't think aboutI 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 football andin the as long as I can be
part of this game, then I'llbe part of this game. Just the
way things worked out with your departurefrom UCLA, is there anything that you

(04:45:40):
wish you had done differently, oranything you regret, or just that the
circumstances that presented themselves. Do youthink 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 it somewhereelse and you have to text message,
and you know, that was alwaysimportant to me that I wanted to make
sure I talk to my players andexplain the reason of what I was doing.

(04:46:00):
I wasn't leaving to take a headcoaching job somewhere else. I wasn't
thinking that the grass is greener atanother university. Was just in my personal
situation, this is what I wantedto do. I wanted to take an
opportunity to go be a position coachand coordinator, and that's how it fit.
You know. What I was happyis that I always thought to Sean
Foster, I think the world ofthem, and I think he's a special

(04:46:21):
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 that Shaun would bea great head coach and I'm really proud
of him and happy that that hegot the opportunity to take that job right
behind him. Actually have your reputationas innovator. Was part of the appeal

(04:46:44):
of this is that you get toget in the weeds a little bit.
Uh maybe not mad scientists, maybetoo too strong of a work because you're
working within the system. But wasthere an appeal of I get to get
my hands dirty here again and innovateand to get back to that side of
things. But it was really moreimportant of who I get to work with,
you know, and so knowing youknow, I've got I know a

(04:47:07):
lot of guys on the staff besidesRyan also, so you know, when
I know what their mindset is andwhat their values are and how they do
things, and so I want tobe a part of that. But there's
a part of that. Yeah,how much of a teacher you get labeled
in the innovators. The teachings arepart of this. How much is how
the teacher are even how patient areyou? Yeah, I think we're all

(04:47:29):
teachers. I mean, education isthe transportation of knowledge, you know.
So it really doesn't matter what thecoach knows. It matters what the players
understand, you know. So youhave to be able to make sure that
while you're implementing things is what resonateswith them and how does that come back
to them. So, you knowa lot of our teaching styles that we've
learned is more the socratic method ofthere's a lot of questions, you know,
and a lot of check for understandings, just to kind of find out

(04:47:52):
where the players are coming from,because it's what they know that that's ultimately
going to win games, not whatwe know. You know that we're not
playing the games. We're not steppingacross those white lines, you know,
And your job as a coach isto create an environment where they have an
opportunity to be successful and then getout of their way and let them go
do it. So I think theteaching aspect is huge, and we continue
to research, you know, someof the latest trends in teaching to make

(04:48:14):
sure that we are transporting that knowledgeto our players. The second rolld left
Steve Helwagan, twenty four seven Sports. Yeah, coach, just curious you
got five scholarship quarterbacks with differing levelsof experience from age and everything else.
Not to annoyed him, but justwant to ask specifically about Will Howard coming
in after starting part of two yearsat kids a stage. He just seems

(04:48:37):
to promote this idea that he's afootball player, you know, above all
else. Just how impressed are youwith his makeup, his experience, what
he's bringing to the table walking inhere right now? Yeah? Really impressed.
You know that you don't have totalk to Will for more than five
minutes to kind of know where he'scoming from. He's really focused, you
know, he knows he's got ashort window left in his college career,

(04:49:00):
and it really wants to capitalize onwhat that is. There's a maturity to
Will, you know. I II really I've had experience, My experience
in in this thing since the transferportal opened in college football is is some
of the best players I've had anopportunity to coach. Award transfers. Sometimes
when you're a true freshman and it'sfive years out, you know, it's
like, hey, I got aton of time, you know. And

(04:49:22):
sometimes when you're a transfer, isthat I've got nine months, you know.
So there's a sense of urgency Ithink when you're dealing with with transfers,
and I think Will has exuded thatsince he's been here. But the
other thing that I just in theshort time that Will has been here is
how quickly he's fit in with theentire team, you know, and how
much the the rest of the playersrespect him. You know. He was
uh one of the gold Award winnersfor his work in the weight room in

(04:49:42):
this offseason, So that says alot for him coming in here as a
in a short time, being ableto to win a weight room award,
you know. To start off,you guys hope to have the number one
internally externally at the end of springor I guess just let it play out.
I think it always every time I'vebeen involved in these, I think
when they're organic is when it's thebest that. I don't think you can

(04:50:03):
anoint somebody or force the issue becausethe players know, the players would understand.
They see it every single day,you know. And there's a team
chemistry part of this thing too,So we're not gonna force the issue.
But I've always seen it play itselfout. So I've been fortunate that there's
always gonna be some quarterback battles atat some point in time. At every
school, there's a quarterback battle,you know. And then and really,

(04:50:26):
yeah, I feel like in theleague, whether I left or right,
you're still going against premier guys.So obviously your high expectations for your left
and right tackle, but there's definitely, uh, like the the level of
energy and like the expectations definitely takeand a human spect because now conneted to
the blindside that stuff as de tackleroles, you know. So so yeah,

(04:50:51):
I would say in terms of communicationas far as just even outside of
facility and just stuff like that andreally creating that tackle quarterback. Bonding more
off the field I think has beensomething that's even been cool. I got
a text one day he said,hey, like you play left and I
was like him, you know,yeah, I've been training both. I've

(04:51:11):
been training both. You know.I asked after the season. They're like,
honestly, you know, we'll talkto you some play in the season
and I just gotta text me,like, depending what happens with with the
free agency then. So I waslike, you know what, I had
a whole season right tackle. Soif I get the word, I'm going
I'm standing right tackle. I'ted todo what I did before. I'm built

(04:51:33):
on that bus. I was like, I might as west train the left
tackle now as if I'm going tobe left tackle. And I'd rather do
that than training on right tackle andget the ko Hey you're the left tackle.
I'm like, ooh, I didn'tswitch on my feet yet, you
know what I mean. So I'mlike, let me just prepare in advance.
I was like, yeah, let'sgod. You know, I think
occasionally on third down there would bea lot of twists. I would just

(04:51:53):
know I'm gontamatically coming, and Ithink that was my mindset for like the
first half of the season, LikeI didn't have to go to a game
and was surprised, like, ohmy gosh, they did that. I
kind of figured like, okay,like this is this is the type of
rush minut again, this is howthis guy usually rushes. But I get
the vibe, this is how theends like the rush you know, tackles

(04:52:15):
that are you know, first yearguys who got the premiere patch on.
I already knew what it was gonnabe, already knew over every stunt and
honestly just knowing that it's kind ofan advantage too, so you're not you're
not you're not old. They broughtthe twisted my side again. It was
never an Aaron donaldick, you knowthere coming out the mines like three plays
in a row and in two minutesI knew that it was gonna win.
That happened, so like you knowwhat I mean, I'm watching more than

(04:52:37):
everybody else and he rarely England goesout there on occasional third down was on
the d N. I was like, already know it's gonna be He's gonna
pick me, you know what Imean, So fact fact, it's kind
of a. It's also kind ofadvantage in a way, but it's also
exciting, like Okay, I'm gonnaget the hardest look, you know.
So those are real, real reps, you know, the thing so real

(04:53:00):
and kind of process that I waslike, hey, when they tell me
to let me know about I'm justgonna training. I was training all left
so tas. I guess if Ididn't hear anything about Ta's I would have
came in like so you know whatI mean, cause just like I'm cool
training both continuing, I would havebeen cool trading both continually. But I

(04:53:22):
still not, Like, what's itbeen like for you just seeing is the
early stages of how he challenges peopleof how they responded. I mean yeah,
I mean at the end of theday, I think we're all grown
men in here, so you knowyou should automatically, you know, take
accountability for you know, everything youdo on the field, whether it's something
good, whether it's something bad.And I think everybody's responded well to that.
So you know, I think thatdoes nothing, but you know,

(04:53:45):
makes everybody better allowed to her teammates, to you know, put more trust
in so whoever it is that's takenaccountability at the time, Ustin, what
I uh, what'd you seeing theguy accounted all week? Yeah, I
mean he's quick. You know,he can create a lot of space and
uh small spaces, so uh it'squick, you know, uh Savva with
his route running, and you know, he's just he's just a hard worker.

(04:54:06):
You know. You know there's someplays where he knows he's not getting
the ball and he's still still winningthe route. So you know, just
to have that player, uh Aa player like that give that much effort
uh on the field every play,it's really really good to see. And
I think it's you know, reallyuh gonna rub up on the other guys
too. I'm good, I'm aboutto. I'm'a get another. What's it
like working with uh? Some ofthe tight ends that you guys happen in

(04:54:27):
the room there, I know afterSmithy straight just talked about the versatility that
a lot of other guys have,especially in that grip. Yeah, I
mean we have a different uh uha lot of you know, different guys
in the tight end room. Youknow. Darn now he brings sides to
the room, Uh, Rodney speed, uh Connor. He has a great
awareness in the field. Pat ofcourse he you know, he's a great
all the round tight end and thenuh, you know, uh, crew,

(04:54:51):
he's a he's a bat. He'ssmart, he knows what he's doing.
So, I mean, just allthe guys in the room, you
know, they're smart and intensive andthey f I F I feel like they've
ju justice to the offense. Will. So's it. What's been like working
with Tom? Or from what's hebeen? Kind of working? What you
want? Yeah, I mean Sala'sbeen great. Uh just his at tis

(04:55:12):
attention to detail, the way hecomes you know, in each and every
day. He comes in as thesame guy every day and uh to beyont
ibn'. 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 with you, sending us uhthe info, breaking down each and
every play and really just really justfocused on the details, to be honest

(04:55:34):
with you. I think, uh, that's the thing that sets him apart.
And you know he's he pushed usto be hard. I mean our
our indie periods or you know,conditioning, so of course that's good for
us. But I mean he's beengreat so far. So excited to uh,
you know, allow that our allowour relationship to grow, and excited
to work for him to and iswhat he's doing kind of compliment what you're

(04:55:56):
doing individually, you know, whenyou're away from the facility working with you
know, coaches on one or anythinglike that. He said, what is
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 different 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 ofthe facility. So it's good getting that

(04:56:19):
different work in, different drill workthat I can and you know, implement
into my you know, off seasonprogram and stuff like that. So it's
good that I'm learned this stuff forsure. Deep all of efficiency numbersus a
time last year. What what dowhat? What is uh? Our smith
in the offense talk about you oftrying to make make the incorporate that into
being a big part of this offer. I mean yeah, Uh, I

(04:56:41):
think we have fast guys, guysthat can get down the field with speed,
uh, guys like Quez Calvin ScottieVan. You know me and Rust.
You know, we've we've had alot of deep of all success and
a lot of explosive plays in thepast. So you know that's just uh,
you know what, I guess howour offense is built. To be
honest with you, but I mean, our job is to create explosives and

(04:57:02):
you know, push the ball downthe field. So anytime we get those
ops, we definitely wanna capitalize onthose. Are your coach that's interesting,
any part of your mechanics and anybodythat 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
quarterback consistem He you know, usuallystays on me the most about it.
So I appreciate the fact that hedoes that, and I usually, you

(04:57:23):
know, make sure he doesn't makesure. I just just stay on top
of it, you know as awhole, and you know, make sure
my mechanics are always clean. Canyou talk about one particularly element that they're
stressing. It's it's different areas,to be honest, I don't think it's
just one specific area, but it'sit's different areas justin in your opinion,
was there something that you wanted towork on, maybe get better at when
you got here at this point inyour career. I mean, like like

(04:57:45):
I said, there's you know,no matter who you are, you know,
there's always stuff to get better at, always different areas. Nobody's perfect
in one area. So I thinkyou can continue to prove in all your
in my game, you know mepersonally, so I'm just focused on getting
better. When we talked to Russyesterday, he said that rested that he
personally felt kind of revived being atanother staff in his career. Is there

(04:58:07):
any of that sense of maybe rejuvenationor feeling revived? Obviously you haven't been
in the league for thirteen years,but is there a new energy that you
get being in a different organization,going through mini camp in a different way
for the first time. I thinkso, you know, just being around
a new team, uh an organizationas players. But to stay on day
one that I think that our schemeis gonna be this, this or this,

(04:58:30):
it's you know, that's gonna bea work in progress as we start
to get familiar with what the player'sskill sets are and then what we can
do and it's always a combination ofwhat you have upfront and then what you
have out back. And I knowwe've got a couple of really talented running
backs behind him, so you know, it's something that we're gonna look at.
But I also know you can't beone dimensional in football. You need
to be able to throw the ballas much as run the ball. You
know, It's funny. Some peoplethink I'm an area guy, some people

(04:58:51):
think I'm a wing tea guy.Some people think I want to run the
ball every down. You know,we're gonna we're gonna do what's best for
a house state, and that's that'skind of what our game plan is right
now, right Austin wore a podcast. When you think about your first evaluations
of the quarterbacks and going through thesefifteen practices at how do you want to
structure that? I know that youand Ryan have probably talked about that a

(04:59:11):
good amount, Like what's the rightway to set up a spring position battle?
How many reps does everybody need?What's sort of your plan just from
a general perspective, I guess yeah, you know, we're really detailed in
what practice looks like and how that'sgoing to operate. But I also think
you need to let the players go, you know, So I don't think
you need to put shackles on them, so to speak, and just keep

(04:59:33):
them constrained. I think you gotto let them go and you got to
let them operate. And we wererotating, I think everybody on every two
snaps today just and that was justwhat we're going to do on day one.
You know, we'll reassess it afterwe got through it, get a
chance to count up all the repsof how many plays, how many plays
each guy got and did they getmore in seven on than they did in
eleven on? You know, andwe'll go through that whole thing, and
that'll be a constant flow in termsof how we're doing it. But I

(04:59:53):
think the best way people learn isthey learn by doing, you know.
So they've been great in the meetingrooms, they're sharp when you get him
on the board, they're really goodwhen they're watching film. But you got
to go out and you got toplay the game. And so the more
we can put them in those situationsto play the game, the better we'll
have an opportunity to evaluate them.Tony German uh ship as thinking all of

(05:00:15):
these things go back. So forwith Ryan Day, you mentioned since you've
done him since he was a kid, what were your first impressions back then?
And then she come full circle tonow like how do you how do
you feel about that? It's stillthe same way he you know, even
since he was playing little league,he was the ultimate competitor, you know,
and he was always trying to finda way to win. He was

(05:00:37):
great at a lot of sports,Baseball, basketball, football. You know.
I got an opportunity to recruit him, you know, so I coached
him when I was at New Hampshire. I recruited him out of high school
and all, and we grew upreally close to each other, so same
elementary school, same high school,same junior high, same college. You
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

(05:00:59):
always admired with. I mean,he's got an amazing athletic brain in terms
of how to process things and howto how to put people in position to
make place. He's always been thatprototypical coach on the field no matter what
sport he was playing. So Iknew he was destined to be a coach,
you know, and I was fortunatein my career as a head coach
to have him on my staff ina couple of places, so I got
a chance to see him work firsthand, you know, I got to see

(05:01:21):
him work firsthand as a player andthen as a coach. So the success
he had is not is not surprisingto me. Is there for you seeing
Ryan the successes had. Yeah,I think we all do that. I
think we come from a unique place, in a really small hometown in New
Hampshire where we all take a lotof pride to where we're from and and
when anybody's successful coming out of there, then you kind of take a little

(05:01:41):
pride that that's it's the upbringing thatwe all had, you know, in
the UTH sports program that we grewup in in in every aspect whether it
was football, baseball, basketball,those coaches we had an amazing impact on
us. And that's why we arewhere we are right now. For g
Bill Rabinwick's Columbus Dispatch, Ryan saidhe doesn't think of it as you working
under him, that's working with him. The fact is he's the head coach

(05:02:04):
waiting off the quarter. He makesme call him sir that he just said,
can you do that? They one, and I was like, all
right, right now. But Imean, he ultimately is the decision maker.
You've been a head coach. Howdo you think that's going to work.
Do you think there'll be any asclose as you are, any kind

(05:02:25):
of awkward moments the right term.But when he's the ultimate decider and you
are working for him, Yeah,I certainly understand my role. I'm not
Alhaic, like I'm not I'm notin charge here. Yeah, some people
get that reference. Other people don'tget that reverence. But I'd certainly understand
that, and I actually kind ofrelish it because I really love the scheming

(05:02:48):
part. I love the individual part. I love being in the meeting room
of the quarterbacks and trying to gameplan. But everything we do here is
collaborative. You know. The onething that really struck me when I walked
in this place is there's an amazingcoaching staff here, you know, And
if you get a chance to talkto Larry Johnson just about football, or
Tim Walton or Jim Knowles or BrianHartline or any of these guys that are
on the staff here, it's it'sa very collaborative effort. I think everybody's

(05:03:11):
on the same page. You know, it's not our offense and their defense
and otherwise it's Ohio State. Youknow, it's it's Ohio State versus the
twelve opponents that we're going to playduring the regular season and then beyond.
So it's really collaborative. And that'sthe thing I like, just in the
short time that I've been here,is how collaborative everybody's been. You know,
we're all trying to make each otherbetter and we're all trying to develop
this team. Touched on this,you said, you know, you like

(05:03:36):
to do what you want to doand not My sense is you, in
your perfect world, you'd like toscribble plays on an at can and not
deal with boosters, do deal withall the stuff that coaches, head coaches
have to deal with. Now,how much of a factor was that in
this decision? You can just dofootball? No, that's not it.
I mean, I enjoy I meanwe've had some amazing I've had an opportunity

(05:03:57):
and everywhere I've been to meet someamazing people that associated with the program.
And there's people that from my timeat New Hampshire or my time at Oregon.
I was just with Phil Night twoweeks ago, you know, and
got an opportunity to spend some timewith him and his wife, Penny,
who are dear friends of mine thathave been great mentors to me in my
career. And there's a bunch ofpeople that and UCLA Terry Donnahue Andrea Donna

(05:04:17):
who were awesome to me. AngelaMazzoni is a great friend, Casey Wasserman,
Troy Ayikman. There was a bunchof people at UCLA that I really
enjoyed, you know, being aroundand talking with. So I think sometimes
everybody wants to make a narrative ofit's either this or that's It's never that.
It's never just all ball, it'snever just all recruiting, it's never
just all boosters. It's a mixtureof everything. But I think the one

(05:04:37):
thing that as this position as ahead coach kept moving on is that if
you look at a lot of them, they all become more CEOs. You
know. I can't tell you howmany coaches that have called me since I
made this decision that said I'm twoyears behind you, brother, you know
that are thinking the same exact way. And I think it's all part of
what we have to do. Ithink we all need to protect this came
and promote this game, and Ithink there are some rules that we need

(05:04:59):
to get straightened out so that peopleunderstand where what it's about, because the
game is still about the players,and I hope that never gets discounted.
You know, it's it's always beenabout the players, and I think if
we can keep that at the forefrontthe people that are making decisions on this,
and I think Jeane Smith is oneof the best influences in in the
NCAAA, is to make sure wekeep that the main thing. The main

(05:05:19):
thing needs to be the student athletes. You know, you're coming in at
a time where you've been through someplaces where the expectations are high, I
understand, which also coming into thejuncture where you know, the three losses
to Michigan, the not making theplayoff last year, the urgency is pretty
high here. I guess just sortof what perspective do you have on kind

(05:05:42):
of the stakes that there are forRyan this year and the decision that then
he makes to bring you in tokind of help solve that. Yeah,
I think the expectations can be noharder than they are in your own brain,
you know. And I think ifyou try to worry about what other
people are thinking in their brains,you're going to get screwed up a little
bit. So, you know,I talked earlier the one thing about Ryan

(05:06:03):
that I know about him and hasalways been he's the ultimate competitor. So
he's got there's nowhere that has higherexpectations of Ohio State than Ryan does or
the rest of us that joined himin our part of this and that are
working with him. So you know, I don't think. I think sometimes
you can spend too much time thinkingabout those things. You know. What
you really have to do is justas there's a big sign as you walk
into this place, it says whenthe moment you know, I think that's

(05:06:23):
a real thing that we have todo as coaches, is to make sure
that our players aren't worried about what'sgoing on in the future, or or
aren't worried about what's going on inthe past, or worry about can they
get a little bit better today,you know, and can we make improvement?
And I think the one thing thatI've seen here, and I've only
been here for three weeks but there'sa consistency to the players approach when they
walk in this building every day,which is it's unique. It's not like

(05:06:44):
that everywhere else. And it's oneof the things that I remarked to Mick
when I you know, he said, Hey, what do you think,
And I was like, it's impressive. It's impressive the culture of the players
that are in this program right now. But I think it speaks a lot
to the leadership. There's there's alot of older players on this team,
and they've set the tone for theyounger players, and I think the younger
players have done a great job offollowship and getting right in line with that.
He's never handed over a play callingto someone before. What does it

(05:07:06):
mean to you? I guess hetechnically did it to Bill when he was
here for a couple of weeks.But what does that mean to you to
kind of be getting that responsibility fromhim and he's calling essentially the offense that
you gave it. I guess insome way. Yeah, I still think
the play calling part will be acollaborative effort, And by that I mean
that if it's a good play,I called it, and if it's a
bad play, he called it,because the great part is an assistant coach,

(05:07:29):
you just hen 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 dayyet. You know, we'll see how
that operates. But everywhere I've beenit's been a collaborative effort, and all
of a sudden, someone that's callingthe plays isn't isn't like pulls one out
of left field that you hadn't practicedand hadn't been part of your offense and

(05:07:49):
said, hey, let's do this. You know, we're not running the
annexation of Puerto Rico. You know, we're not coming up with something special,
you know in the middle of thefourth 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

(05:08:12):
many times in practice that when theyget out on the field that this is
like that to them. You know, 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,Maurice Kings of North Chip. When you

(05:08:33):
had that feeling when you were coachingthe quarterbacks during bold that preparation, did
you consider at that point maybe resigningas the head coach and thinking like this
is this is not where I amanymore. I'll leave and then I'll look
to see what else is out there. No, I never thought about quitting
anything. So you know, Ijust is there an opportunity that I think
I can that fit, you know, And I think that's the you know,

(05:08:56):
it's no different than when you're talkingto a recruit about them make a
decision where they're going to go toschool, think that where they should go
to school is where the best fitis for them. So, you know,
I just entertained some opportunities and Ialways felt I felt like this was
the best fit. But I neverthought about quitting or not coaching. I'm
going to coach. I'm gonna coachand then I'm gonna die. But I
mean, that's how I think Ithink about things. Is I can't picture

(05:09:18):
that. I know someone I wason the Nike trip and they like,
how much longer are you going togo? When I said, I have
to go another fifteen twenty years.I don't think about I don't think about
retirement. I don't think about anyof those things. That's just not kind
of my mindset that you know.I love football and in the as long
as I can be part of thisgame, then I'll be part of this
game. Just the way things workedout with your departure from UCLA, is

(05:09:41):
there anything that you wish you haddone differently, or anything you regret,
or just that the circumstances that presentedthemselves. Do you think that you handled
that departure the best that you couldhave? Yeah, I mean I got
an opportunity to tell my players personally. You know, I think in this
day and age of the Internet wherethey read it somewhere else and you have
to text message him. You know, that was always important to me that
I'm I want to make sure Italked to my players and explain the reasons

(05:10:02):
of what I was doing. Iwasn't leaving to take a head coaching job
somewhere else. I wasn't thinking thatthe grass is greener at another university.
Was just in my personal situation,this is what I wanted to do.
I wanted to take an opportunity togo be a position coach and coordinator,
and that's how it fit. Youknow. What I was happy is that
I always thought to Sean Foster,I think the world of them, and
I think he's a special you know, and the fact that that they were

(05:10:26):
they gave him the opportunity to takeover there was you know, it worked
out. I didn't have any sayin that decision, you know, I
was gone, But I always thoughtthat Deshaun would be a great head coach,
and I'm really proud of him andhappy that that he got the opportunity
to take that job. Right behindhim, you have your reputation as innovator.
Was part of the appeal of thisis that you get to get in

(05:10:48):
the weeds a little bit. Uhmaybe not mad sciences, maybe too too
strong of a word, because you'reworking within the system. But was there
an appeal of I get to getmy hands dirty here again and innovate and
get back to that side of things. It was but it was really more
important of who I get to workwith, you know, and so knowing

(05:11:08):
you know, I've got I knowa lot of guys on the staff besides
Ryan also, so you know,when I know what their mindset is and
what their values are and how theydo things, and so I want to
be a part of that. Butbut there's a part of that. Yeah,
how much of a teacher you getlabeled in the Innovator The teaching is
a part of this. How muchis it is how the teacher are even

(05:11:29):
how patients are. Yeah, Ithink we're all teachers. I mean,
education is the transportation of knowledge,you know, So it really doesn't matter
what the coach knows. It matterswhat the players understand, you know.
So you have to be able tomake sure that while you're implementing things is
what resonates with them and how doesthat come back to them. So,
you know, a lot of ourteaching styles that we've learned is more the
Socratic method of there's a lot ofquestions, you know, and a lot

(05:11:52):
of check for understandings, just tokind of find out where the players are
coming from, because it's what theyknow that that's ultimately going to win games,
not what we know know that we'renot playing the games. We're not
stepping across those white lines, youknow. And your job as a coach
is to create an environment where theyhave an opportunity to be successful and then
get out of their way and letthem go do it. So I think
the teaching aspect is huge, andwe continue to research, you know,

(05:12:14):
some of the latest trends in teachingto make sure that we are transporting that
knowledge to our players. Yeah,coach, just curious, you've got five
scholarship quarterbacks with differing levels of experience, age and everything else. Not to
annoy him, but just want toask specifically about Will Howard coming in after

(05:12:34):
starting part of two years at Heis a state. He just seems to
promote this idea that he's a footballplayer, 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 that you don't have totalk to Will for more than five minutes

(05:12:56):
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 it
really wants to capitalize on what thatis. There's a maturity to Will,
you know. I really I've hadexperience, My experience in this thing since
the transfer portal opened in college footballis some of the best players I've had

(05:13:17):
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,
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

(05:13:37):
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
for him coming in here as ina short time being able to win a
weight room award, you know,to start off, to have the number
one internally externally into spring or Ithink it always every time I've been involved

(05:14:03):
in these. I think when they'reorganic is when it's the best. I
don't think you can anoint somebody orforce the issue because the players know,
the players would understand. They seeit every single day, you know,
and there's a team chemistry part ofthis thing too, So we're not going
to force the issue. But I'vealways seen it play itself out. So
I've been fortunate that there's always goingto be some quarterback battles that at some

(05:14:25):
point in time at every school there'sa quarterback battle, you know, And
then and really you got to letthem play it out on the field,
and that's where it has to That'sthat's where it has to be decided.
Hey, welcome to you. We'reexcited to have you here. I'm kind
of to talk about the innovative part. Ryan said that that's something that he's
always loved but working with you andnow he wants you to roup that here

(05:14:47):
and how it would sit with OhioSteake. Do you have any idea what
that's going to look like yet oris just ways though? I have no
idea, you know. I thinkpart of it is is you're trying to
put the players in position to makeplays. So a lot of that comes
from getting to understand the players andwhat their skill sets are and how we
feature what their skill sets are,you know. And the one thing after
day one, I can tell youthat there's a lot of skill set out

(05:15:11):
there, you know. So that'sthat's what gets you excited, you know,
That's what That's what you jump outof bed in the morning and you're
excited to go to work because ofthe talent that you get to work with.
But the one thing that's the mostimpressive is the work ethic that goes
along with that talent. You know, it's not just empty talent. It's
is you got some kids who wantto I mean all of them since I've
been here, want to work.So that that's what gets you excited.
But I think assessing what the skillset is you know that we have available

(05:15:34):
to us on the offensive side ofthe ball is vitally important. And then
our job is to put those guysin positions to make place made good.
Lots of pressure. I mean,you've experienced what it's like to coach national
championship, how over teams this programright now and moving into a situation where
you got to win quick and nowSo does that feel like pressure here for

(05:15:56):
you or is it a little bitof excitement or both? Well, I've
always subscribed to us. Sure iswhat you feel when you don't know what
you're doing. So if you don'twant to feel pression, then you should
know what you're doing. So,you know, I think it's it's part
of that, and I think partof our job with our players in terms
of the education process is getting themto understand that too. Is that you
know, it's it's about your preparation, It's about you and your development.

(05:16:17):
It's not about that you can't begoverned by what other people say. It's
it's what's my mindset and how amI intrinsically motivated? And then how do
I really compete against myself on adaily basis to get a little bit better.
You know, we got a littlebit better today because we get out
on the field today and got achance to do some football. And then
the challenges when we get back onthe field on Thursday, can we be
a little bit better than we wereon Tuesday? And if we're doing that,

(05:16:37):
then we keep stacking good days ontop of good days, and I
think we'll be in good spot andwelcome. Thank you. I'm gonna ask
about the pros and cons of coachingfrom the box and coaching from the field.
It's interesting to talk to some oftensome coordinators, or Tom Herman talking
about he swore he wanted to coachfrom the box. Saw the game so
much better, sterile environment, notall the chaos on the field. Some
coaches you talk to the like,I want to be on the field so

(05:16:59):
I can look at my guys inthe in the eye. Where are you
at as a as a coordinator?Honestly, And I've thought of this a
lot. I thought of it alot during COVID because we had the empty
stands, you know, so Ihad thought about just walking up into the
stands for a little bit because Ihad a better advantage. I've always believed
you can see the game better fromup above, but I believe you can
feel the game better from the field. So if there was any way we
could get a zip wire where youcould do both, you know, coach

(05:17:23):
called from there and then zip downof the field get a chance to talk
to him, because it's a differentdeal when you're talking to the quarterbacks on
a phone, you know, thanbeing able to look in their eye and
kind of see where they are withit. And part of it is the
field part of it. I rememberwhen I coached Ryan once. We were
playing Yukon and he got hit hardgoing out of bounds and he just walked
by me, and I was aplay caller, and he was like,

(05:17:44):
run the next play, and Ijust kind of looked at him. I
saw the look in his eyes becauseI don't think he could have thrown it,
you know, he was still tryingto get his win back. But
you wouldn't know that if you're upin the booth, you know, and
you call a pass play from upin the booth and you're like, how
come we can't complete that? Well, he just took a shot going out
of bound. So it's that fineline. Then I don't have an answer,
you know. I think I thinkit's feel on the ground and it's
see from up above. Maybe inthis day of technology, they'll figure it

(05:18:08):
out. But we'll see how thatthat that operates, and whatever Ryan feels
is the best for the team iswhat we're gonna do. So COF your
teams at the Oregon were obviously noever playing at this assid pace and running
a bunch of plays for a minute, and yep, maybe not act by
a past pretty fast. What ruledo you see tempo and having an offense

(05:18:30):
in the States? Yea in collegefootball and 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
fast. So I think the gameis always going to go up and down,

(05:18:52):
and there's gonna be different cycles thatit goes through. I think tempo
is part of an those two keysbecause I recruited and when they was in
high schoo so uh, I'm upfor the challenge and the responsibility of it.
Got right behind him Dan Hopele Carlos, Just what is your kind of
coaching philosophy? How do you getthe best out of your running backs?
I get the best out them causeI love the young mayor. My main

(05:19:14):
focus is to change the the heartsand minds of them, and they'll play
for me. I had just gotthrough reading Coach Trestle's Windows Manual, and
it's some day that I took fromthat book. You have your purpose and
you have your goals alright,