Tuesday, May 5, 2020
(Opening statement) “I’m looking forward to getting down to Jacksonville and out of the Wisconsin weather. Like I was saying earlier, 48 degrees is the high today here in Wisconsin, so not very pleasant. Wife, baby and family are looking forward to getting down and getting some sunshine year-round. For me, myself, I’m excited to join the Jags franchise. I didn’t know a lot about the Jaguars or owner Mr. [Shad] Khan beforehand. Doing some research, it makes me very proud to be a part of the organization and play for somebody like Mr. Khan and what he’s done with his life and where he’s come from. Obviously, being in the AFC South, coming from the AFC North to the AFC South, playing some good competition, looking forward to it every year and getting the Jaguars on top and back to the playoffs. Happy to be here!”
(On how much 3-4 he’s played in the past and if there will be more 3-4 played here in Jacksonville even without the additional time on the field to learn a new defense) “Once you play for a while, I mean, I played a 3-4 in college. I was an outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense. Once you learn NFL schemes, 3-4, 4-3, obviously different in terms of defensive line personnel and outside linebacker personnel on the field, but schematically for an inside linebacker, it’s not so different. There’s only so many ways you can play, cover-3, cover-4, man-to-man. There’s only so many gaps you can play. It’s just about learning where you’re going to line up and the techniques and the communication that would go on, but once you get that stuff down, it’s really not that hard, you’ve just got to learn, like right now, I’m learning the verbiage and all the communication for the Jaguars’ system. Once you get that stuff down, it’s kind of just plug and play.”
(On how much he feels he might miss out on playing with a new group of guys without OTAs) “Right now, we’re going through our first install today and usually when you go through an install, you go through the classroom, which I just did. I feel like I got a pretty good understanding of what we tried to install today, but then usually you go on the field and you get to walk through and you get to practice it, so you put it into practice. I can go in my backyard and I can go through steps, but I can’t see the offense doing anything. I can’t communicate to Myles [Jack] next to me or to the defensive ends to make some calls here and there to get through it, to work through it. It’s definitely going to be different. You’ve just got to be really studious and kind of pay attention in the classroom, or in the virtual classroom, way more and kind of go through the film. It’s going to be a lot more just watching film and putting yourself in the shoes of the guys who are in it because you are not going to be able to talk. We have Zoom meetings. We are making our calls and our checks through the Zoom meetings, but it is not the same.”
(On if he has the same drive that he has always had) “I think back when I was in high school, Wisconsin was a very under recruited state, being as the University of Wisconsin is the only Division I or Division II football program in the whole state. If you are not going to the University of Wisconsin, you are probably going Division III or you are going to a FCS school somewhere in the Midwest, one of the MAC schools. Kids were not really recruited when I was in high school. I played four sports. I did not go to the football camps in the summer, all the seven-on-seven or the combine things. I always believed in my athleticism and that I was a good football player. In my head, I always thought I had what it took. Going to Wisconsin as a walk-on, I was going to prove … Wisconsin has a great walk-on tradition, so I was like, I’m going to be the next guy to step up and prove it. I am going to get in there, put my head down, work hard and do what all the coaches ask of me. I knew I had the athletic ability to do it, it was just going to be gaining strength, getting stronger in the weight room and learning the schematics of everything. I took it step by step, didn’t try and look too far in the future, didn’t try to take things too [hard]. I came in as a freshman, I was last on the depth chart playing scout team for the whole freshman year. I was like, if I’m on the scout team, I’m going to be scout team player of the year. I am going to emulate the other guys [from the opposing team] on defense the best I can, and I checked that box. The next year, I worked my way up the depth chart. I checked that box. It was a slow, even process until my junior year, I became a starter and as a senior, I kind of took off. That process is proof to myself that if you do things the right way, you put your head down, you work hard and you listen to your coaches, you are going to be able to get to where you want. I have taken that to the NFL. Obviously, I was drafted. Going from walk-on to being drafted, I do not have that undrafted chip, but that walk-on chip never leaves your shoulder. I think Wisconsin does a great job of instilling work ethic and smarts in the classroom. Being able to take that to the NFL has proven for me to be successful so far.”
(On what he feels he has to prove in Jacksonville) “I come from a franchise where I didn’t play in the playoffs. I was 1-31 my first two seasons; that was my record. I just want to prove that I can be a part of a winning franchise, a winning organization. In 2017, the Jaguars went to the AFC Championship game, but I want to be able to change the culture into a traditional winning culture to be a team that can go to the playoffs year after year and become one of the more successful franchises in the AFC, competing for titles every year.”
(On how crazy the past two months have been) “It was especially crazy, my son was born on March 13. The NBA got canceled the day before because of all the COVID-19 stuff. We went into the hospital being able to have visitors and then he was born and the next day, you were not able to have any visitors. The spouse was the only person allowed in the hospital. Four days later, free agency was supposed to start, but there were rumors that some GMs or executives wanted to push it back because physicals would not be able to be completed or you were not able to sign anything or meet people. It was quite a whirlwind and then obviously it started on time. I went through the whole process signing with Jacksonville and being able to sign my contract, but I did not get my physical until I drove down and looked for houses a couple weeks ago. I was finally able to get my physical done. You agree to terms and then there is no contract there. I agreed to terms, but is it really for real or is something going to happen in a week or two where for some reason, this is not seen through? On top of that, you are getting no sleep trying to figure out how to raise a kid for the first time. The benefit is that I am not going to work, my wife is not going to work, we are here all the time and we can spend all the time with him. We get to take naps during the day. That pays off. That is one of the positives that this whole situation has provided for us.”
(On how he has been able to get his workouts in and what his schedule has looked like) “I am staying at my in-laws house right now with my wife and the baby. I ordered a [weight] rack right away and was lucky enough to be able to get it in a couple weeks, where now I think everything is back ordered for months. I have set up a little weight room in the basement. I have a lot of weights. I have a bench, I have a squat rack. I can do pretty much everything down there. There is an elementary school down the street where they have a big field and parking lot where I can do my running and field work and stuff at. I am able to stay on top of my workouts pretty conveniently. I usually have to wait until the afternoon. We usually sleep in the morning because we are waking up and falling asleep all the time during the night with the feeding and changing the diapers and everything. We sleep in a little bit, and after these meetings in the afternoon, it is usually kind of my free time of the day. I go and get my workouts in for a couple hours in the afternoon and get back on the dad train and help take care of the baby and all of that.”
(On if he drove from Cleveland to Jacksonville) “Yes. I had to move out of my Cleveland apartment by May 1, so I had to get back to Cleveland, help pack everything up and then me and my dad drove down to Florida right after that. It was 13 hours, a straight shot. We made it quick and easy. We got stopped at the border. They have a Corona virus checkpoint at the border just to see where you are coming from. If you are coming from an area with a [high amount of cases], you have to fill out additional paperwork. Since we were coming from Ohio, we had to tell them where we were coming from and got to go straight on through. It was a nice drive.”
(On how many days later he drove to Wisconsin) “It was about four days later I think. I got my physical, we did some house hunting, we got to see the lay of the land. It was about 16 hours back to Wisconsin, it was four days later.”
(On if he was informed the restaurant Culver’s was in Jacksonville) “I know there are some Culver’s down there. There are some noodles and company. There is some stuff I missed in Wisconsin that I did not really have too much in Cleveland. I am looking forward to those options.”
(On if he had a relationship with anyone on the current roster) “I have been meeting everybody all at once for the most part. I know Leon Jacobs. I played with him in college at Wisconsin. I knew Austin Calitro before he got let go, he played with the Cleveland Browns. I reached out to him before I signed and then Seth DeValve from the team last year, the tight end. His wife is probably my wife’s best friend in the NFL. I reached out to Seth to get his thoughts and opinions on the team. Other than that, all of the guys on the defense and everyone on the offense now, I had not really met or talked to. It has kind of been a crash course through virtual Zoom meetings and watching the film on the iPad. Even the coaches, I have only talked face to face with the Linebackers coach [Mark Collins] and the Defensive Coordinator [Todd Wash].”
(On his conversations with Myles Jack) “It was mostly him welcoming me to Jacksonville and saying how excited he is to have me as the MIKE linebacker to come into the defense and play alongside him. Then it’s just been getting to know basic little things here and there. I cannot think of the word, but just small talk. That is what I was going for – some small talk conversations in between the meetings, after the meetings or before the meetings. I am looking forward to actually getting to know the people and see everybody in person once all of this passes. There are a lot of cool dudes in the linebacker room from what I can tell through the virtual meetings.”
(On what he likes about the defensive front) “I think there are obviously a couple of new guys we signed. Josh Allen as a rookie played extremely well last year. You do not know what is going on with the other defensive end, but the defensive end play in Jacksonville has always been pretty good the last five or six years. Hopefully the new rookie, K’Lavon Chaisson, steps right in to provide pass rush, which he certainly seems capable of. From whatever I have seen of the Jacksonville Jaguars, from what I have watched the last couple of years, is they always seem to be very aggressive and get good penetration, cause havoc in the backfield, get after the quarterback and it is always nice to play behind that kind of defensive line.”
(On if he likes the team’s defensive line) “I always love when we have the big boys up front, who are doing all the dirty work for the linebackers so we can run around untouched. It’s definitely an appreciation of mine. Those guys don’t get a lot of hype, especially the good ones who can take on double teams and hold their own and the linebackers can sprint downhill fast and make plays on the ball. Having those guys is crucial to any defense. I always love to have those kind of guys in front of me.”
(On the mix of experience and youth in the linebacker room) “The most important part is having the experience in the room. Whenever you get the young guys, the young bodies who are coming in, if they have the idea to just be an open book, ready to soak up all the information, ready to learn. A lot of these kids coming from college are just athletes who don’t have a lot of wear and tear on their bodies, so if they can soak it all in and do things the right way and listen to veterans, there’s no telling how far a lot of them can go. The problem is that you have to have some of those veterans on the team who know what they’re doing, have been through the NFL season before because from college to NFL is a huge step up. Just mentally, in terms of what you have to do on defense, what you have to handle. No matter who you are, it’s going to take time to process it, get a playbook down, be used to the speed of the game and the NFL. I think having a combination of that is crucial in your linebacker room. I think we have a good combination down here.”
(On if going through repetitions in your backyard is comfortable for him) “I go to the park down the road and do some of the drills and all that and don’t really feel too self-conscious. Just going through my stuff. There’s not a lot of people out all the time. The stuff I would want to do would be to go through practice, where I would be sitting there, seeing a pulling guard, seeing a fullback, seeing the backfield motion and being able to react to it. You can try to do that in your head, but it’s not truly a reaction if you’re seeing that stuff. The most I can do is watch film. That’s what I miss the most about OTAs, but I’m doing my linebacker drills and my running and stuff. I can go out and do that any time. If people want to join me, as long as they’re six feet away, I’m cool with that.”
(On if he can help the rookies and younger guys with their development during COVID) “You can help a little bit, but I don’t know how exactly it’ll all play out. It’s definitely about to be a tough year for rookies coming into the league, probably similar to the lockout in 2011 where it’s a good chunk of the offseason. I think that once you get into training camp, that’ll be the ones, like I said, who come in with open ears, ready to learn, soaking in information. Depending on how fast you can mentally process things, those guys can have a good chance of learning as long as the veterans do a good job of stepping up and showing them the right way. You can’t replace the lost time of OTAs and however many hours you have at practice. I remember when I was young and when I was first starting, it took me five, six games just to start feeling comfortable in a game as a MIKE linebacker playing, knowing what I was doing, being confident in what I was doing and that’s through OTAs, training camp and then the actual game experience. It’s really hard to get that experience through Zoom and virtually. I’m going to try and help as best as I can once we’re actually able to get on the field and get down there.”
(On the virtual offseason program) “I think every team is doing it a little differently, but for us, the coaches pre-record meetings and PowerPoints with the film and the cut-ups in our XOS systems so we go in and watch that in the morning or whatever time before we have scheduled for our position coach meeting. For us, it’s 1 p.m. eastern, the linebackers come in and you have an hour over Zoom and we’ll go through the installation pretty quickly and then we start watching film. They’ll have us, the MIKE linebackers, make the call, like the post calls and give some of the safety communication, make some of the checks. So you’re kind of playing through the game a little bit over the film and then you just talk about certain coaching points every play. If there’s something big in the installation that’s important for our position, you go over that. And then it’s just watching a bunch of film and making the calls and stuff like that.”
(On where he’s taking his meetings) “I watch my stuff upstairs in the office during the day. The middle floor, the downstairs is the loudest, craziest place because my mother-in-law is also teaching, so she’s doing Zoom meetings and teaching all of her kids at the same time downstairs while I’m up here. When I work out, I go to the basement and get out of everybody’s way, too.”
(On if the Jaguars mentioned being a leader while they pitched you) “That was one of the things in the initial talks before I signed anything: they want to bring in proven players who have played in the NFL before and proven they’ve belonged and also guys that’ll be good, leadership role models in the locker room. Level-headed, steady voices and they thought I could provide one of those things.”
(On how comfortable he would be asserting his leadership role right away) “It’s something you get a little bit of a feel for, but the thing you can do right way is lead by example. I’m going to go in and do things the way I’ve always done them. Getting in the weight room, working hard, going out on the field, asking questions, doing my best to hustle every play, run to the ball. Just do stuff to set an example physically with my actions. As you learn the personalities of people, as you learn your position group, as you learn the whole field and whole team and you start stepping in and figuring out where you fit in vocally. I’m sure there are vocal leaders who are there already and you don’t want to come in and just step on somebody’s toes and try to be loud and talk over them and stuff like that. Just go in and figure that stuff out, but you can always lead by example.”
(On if anyone has warned him about the heat in August and September) “I’ve been warned about the heat and there will definitely be an adjustment time, but I’m hoping to move down here in at least June, middle of June or so and get some workouts in through June and July so I can get myself acclimated a little bit before camp starts. Coming from here, like I said, there was a high of 48 today, so there’s going to be an acclimation period. I’m looking forward to it, looking forward to getting into the heat, but mostly I like the heat for December and January. The summer months are going to be a little brutal, but I’m hoping to get down and get acclimated soon before that all starts.”
(On who he modeled his game after when he was younger) “When I was younger growing up in Wisconsin, Clay Matthews. I was playing outside linebacker, so he was a guy I liked to watch and then Von Miller when I got to college. When I transitioned to inside linebacker, I liked watching Bobby Wagner and Luke Kuechly. My head coach in college, Gary Anderson, coached Bobby Wagner at Utah State, so I got some behind-the-scenes stories about him in college and going through the NFL. And then Luke Kuechly is one of the guys who, as a student of the game, is a person you always want to watch and emulate. He does a lot of great things on the field just with this knowledge of other teams’ offenses and stuff.”
(On if he’s studied other players on the team and how much the move to WILL will benefit Myles Jack) “I came in at the same time as Myles Jack and I remember in college watching UCLA stuff when he was playing running back and linebacker, running all over the field and making plays all the time. I think the 2017 (AFC) championship game against the Patriots, if you watched that game, you just see the talent he possesses, how fluid he is as an athlete and how sudden he can be and explosive. My goal for me coming in here is to just take things off of the plate, being able to set the defenses, make the calls, make the checks and their adjustments and let Myles just go be an athlete out there and wreck the game which he has the ability to when he doesn’t have to be caught up in trying to get other people lined up and be responsible for all that communication.”
