WEBVTT - #772 Packers Unscripted: Small world, full circle 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:07.600 Hi, everybody. 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:11.760 Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.760 I am Mike Spoffer, joined as always by my partner 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:16.960 in crime, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.760 our studios at lambeau Field and Wes. If there's a 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:26.080 theme to this show, this random off season mid May 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:31.320 episode of Packers Unscripted, it's going to be small world, 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.199 because what I want you to talk to. 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.240 Us about is my trip to Disney last month? What 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:39.680 my trip to Disney last month? 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.400 Actually, no, that was not where I was going. Although 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.800 I'm sure Killian would love a discussion though, Oh, it's 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:46.360 a small world. 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:48.200 He would fill up all thirty minutes of this show 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.000 discuss I'm sorry, continue. 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:51.400 To know what I want. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.320 What I want you to talk about is the story 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.240 that you posted on Packers dot com on Monday morning, 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:02.960 which was a really good and interesting and entertaining illustration 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:09.520 of the small world that is that is NFL coaching circles. 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:13.679 Because we found out from talking to assistant coaches last 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:19.720 week that Ryan Downard, the Packers defensive backs coach, and 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.920 Jeff Hafley, the new Packers defensive coordinator, they go back 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:25.120 like a decade. 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:25.360 YEA. 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.560 And well, I'll just let you take it from there, 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:33.720 because because I thought your story outlined the connections and 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.560 how and how long it is that that Downard has 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.479 looked up to a coach like Hafley and is really 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.839 looking forward now to working with him as essentially his boss, 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:47.240 the defensive coordinator over the position coaches. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:48.800 Yeah, and if you go back and look, and I 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:51.640 wrote this in here, you know it was kind of 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.280 a stacked coaching staff that Mike Petton put together at 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.000 the Cleveland Browns. I mean, they didn't win a lot 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:57.920 of football games that second year. The first year they 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.480 did pretty good. Yeah, but you know when you look 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.680 at the offensive the side of the ball, Kyle Shanahan. 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.240 Defensive side of the ball, you had Anthony Weaver, Aaron Glenn, 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:11.760 Bobby Bazich, babbitch excuse me, who's now the defensive coordinator 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:15.160 of the Buffalo Bills. And as Ryan explained, who's now 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:16.959 the defensive backs coach the Packers has been here for 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:19.480 the last five years. He was the fourth guy in 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.600 that dB room with Jeff Hafley being the one that 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.680 was leading those guys. And the one thing I think 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.280 is so interesting about the coaching world is the amount 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:29.680 of intersection that goes on. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:31.600 Yeah, it's not just coaches the coaches. 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.840 Sometimes it's a coach and then a player that played 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.480 for that coach and then they end up kind of 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:38.639 rising up the ranks. You know, a number of years 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.360 ago when you look at Mike Petten came off of 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:45.200 the Rex Ryan coaching tree. Well, then you look at 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.480 Jimmy Leonard also came off of that tree, sure, and 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.120 then was the safety for both of those guys and 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.400 then ended up becoming a coordinator at the college level. 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.960 So to listen to Halfley explain it was one thing, 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:58.840 and he talked a lot about those connections when he 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.520 first got the job. But both Downard and Anthony Campanelli, 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.200 the Packers linebackers coach, explaining their past history with him. 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.520 Downward from the perspective of just getting to learn from 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.160 him being in that dB room, going home and telling 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:12.720 his wife, Hey, this is what I got to do. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:14.280 This is the kind of coach I need to be 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:16.080 if I want to be at the front of the room, 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.520 much like Halfley. And then you listen to Campinelli, Well, 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.840 him and Halfley never worked together, but it kind of 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.000 goes back to just building relationships, building friendships, and it 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.760 isn't always just about well, you're the editor at packers 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:30.360 dot com and I'm the senior writer, so we got 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.680 to be friends and you know that's our tree. No, 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.320 sometimes it's getting to know people from other media outlets, 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.040 and in Campanelli's case, not I don't know, I'm maybe 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:39.680 jumping ahead on the script here a little bit, but 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.440 you know, this is a guy that was a really successful, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.320 really successful high school coach in the New Jersey area. Yeah, 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.080 Halfley's coaching over at Rutgers. He's going out, He's he's 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.200 leaving with that Chiano staff that's going from Rutgers to 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.360 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, right right, But before he does so, 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:58.440 he puts in a good word with the remaining staff 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.080 at Rutgers that's taken over that program for Campinelly. 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:02.360 Yeah, hey, check out that. 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:04.920 You might want to check out this this high school 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.000 coach here in the Jersey areas doing some really good things. 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.560 I mean, I mean, first off, how many guys would 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.920 actually do that? I mean, I mean amazing It says. 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.840 It says a lot about Jeff Haffley, because. 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:18.080 It's not like they're bringing him in to be coordinator. 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:20.440 It was like for a defensive assistant, basically quality control 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:20.719 type of. 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.120 Yes, but it also tells you as a high school 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.120 coach the type of impression that Campinelli made on Jeff Halfley, 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.000 that he that he would go so far to do 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.200 that when the Rutgers staff that you know, there's this 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.880 mass exodus of all these guys going from Rutgers to 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.600 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As you said, it's like, oh, yeah, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.760 by the way, there's there's this high school coach doing 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:42.600 some good things. You might want to check him out 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.560 and lo and behold. Roughly a decade later or wherever 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.599 we are now, maybe maybe it's longer than that. 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.679 Literally a decade it was for two Yeah. 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:51.560 A decade later. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:56.040 Now you have you have Anthony Campinelli and and Jeff 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:57.599 Haffley coaching together. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:04:59.599 The story no go ahead. 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:01.000 I was just gon the other funny thing I didn't 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.479 put in the story, but it's interesting. Campinelly coached at 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.480 Boston College too then, but he was there before Halfley 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.080 got there, right, and then when Halfley thought about maybe 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.520 being able to keep him, Campinelly was already going to Michigan. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.320 Yeah, two ships passing in the night like that, but 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:19.560 eventually exactly well the other I mean, the other thing 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.960 I was fascinated. I was fascinated by by a Downard story. Yeah, 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:28.840 because because here he's he's just you know, just breaking 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.000 into the NFL absolutely at you know, the the bottom 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.200 spot on the totem pole on a coaching staff. But 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.600 he ends up he ends up in a defensive backs room. 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.720 And this is just this is just essentially one position 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.720 group where I guess too, you know, cornerbacks and safeties 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.800 kind of all together, but essentially one one position group 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:54.960 room that has four guys in there who all eventually 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.200 become an are currently NFL defensive coordinators. When you're talking 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:04.480 about Halfley, Weaver, Babbage and Glenn I mean. 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:05.600 That's unbelievable. 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.839 I mean there there's obviously been a lot made of 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:14.680 that Washington coaching staff about a dozen years ago that 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:19.119 had you know, Matt Lafleur and Sean McVay and Kyle 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.440 Shanahan and you know, and and and that whole Mike McDaniel. 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:24.080 Cleveland had Mike McDaniel too. 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:25.120 That's right. 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.960 He was, he was, he was on the offensive Washington ball. 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.440 He was on the offensive side of the ball by 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.039 that time. But there's been a lot made, obviously of 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.560 that Washington staff because of the head coaches that have 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:36.200 been produced. 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:37.400 Well here's here's. 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:41.520 Just one one position room. Guys who you know coaching 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.440 cornerbacks and safeties of the Cleveland Browns when Mike Petton 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.560 takes over, and four of the coaches in that room 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:52.400 become NFL defensive coordinators. And Ryan Downard is a guy 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:53.240 who certainly. 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:54.359 Could be on his way as well. 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.280 He's uh, he's worked his way up over the last 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.080 ten years, and it can take a while. It takes, 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.760 it takes a lot of pays, it takes a lot 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.200 of hard work and dedication and the willingness to move 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.840 around and jump around to different cities and different clubs 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.040 when the opportunities arise. But he's another guy who certainly 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:11.640 could become a defensive coordinator. 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:12.040 Sometimes. 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:16.480 I was kind of floored by that story because you 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.080 know about you know about how there are a lot 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:22.160 of connections and everything is about relationships and word of 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.920 mouth and stuff. But then when certain stories actually crystallize 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.400 to where you see where a certain group of guys 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.320 was at one particular time, and then where they've all 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.800 advanced to now it's absolutely fascinating. 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:36.800 And that was one of the things. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.120 I only had so much room to write for our 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:41.120 little subhead that we put with the story, so I 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.760 went with you know, the construction of Jeff Hafley staff 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:45.680 has been a decade in the making. When I did 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.160 my little Instagram post for it, though, you have a 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.400 little bit more room to work with words wise, and 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.120 I thought, really the summation of the story was his 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.680 construction of his staff was a decade in the making 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.440 because it's been more about the people than the profession. Yeah, 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.880 and with finding guy and bringing in a Campinale being 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:02.720 able to bring him back. 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.960 Now that this guy has been widely successful, it was. 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.800 Praise unanimously for the job he did down in Miami 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.840 the last four years, working with multiple coordinators. Now he 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.480 makes that move up here and then looking at how 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:17.840 they did it Downard stayed, you know, Jason Rebovich stayed 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.840 Wendell Davis State. He brought over two assistants from Boston 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.840 College as well. He's been able to kind of mesh 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.080 all these different areas of his own life and his 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:30.000 own coaching career together now to hopefully figure out this plan, 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.360 and last thing I will leave on that story. What 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.120 I think speaks the best two halfway as a coach 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.480 is we talked so much, We've spilt so much ink 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:39.000 over the four to three and that's what Green Bay 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.439 is going to run this year. But this system of 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.280 offense or excuse me, defense that they use, it works 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:45.760 in a four to three, it works in a three 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.720 to four. All those guys have different philosophies and how 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.600 they want to run things, but you know it shows 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.160 you when you have a certain aggressive mindset the way 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.160 you play your coverages. Yes, the four to three three 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.240 four is something that I think the layman can easily 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.600 talk about, discuss and debate, but realistically, it's how you 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.040 use those principles in the defense that you put together. 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.360 That's the sense I get. The more the more we 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.840 have heard from Jeff Haffley and now the assistance on 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.839 the defensive staff and hearing them talk about what they 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.079 are relaying to the players in terms of in terms 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.600 of teaching the system and teaching what they're going to 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.520 play and how they're going to play it. This is 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:26.960 the first time because because to me, this feels, this 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.520 feels completely different from back in two thousand and nine, 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.080 fifteen years ago when when Mike McCarthy hired Dom Capers 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.240 and the Packers were making this wholesale shift from the 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.880 four to three to the three four Because to me, 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.000 what this one feels like is the is the schematics 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.200 the three four to four to three and how the 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.400 fronts are gonna align, et cetera, and the x's and 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:56.600 o's part of it is entirely secondary or on the 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:00.960 back burner in a sense compared to the style of play. 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.760 It's it's going to be about the play style of 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.520 the guys on the field, wherever they're lined up. That's 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.720 really what the bigger emphasis is. It's not so much 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.840 being so concerned about switching from like three four to 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.959 four to three. This is a this is a play 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.000 style defense and as you said, you can play this 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.839 way in any kind of scheme. They're just choosing this 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.360 particular format is how they're gonna do it and how 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.640 they're going to utilize the players. But this is not 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.840 as big a dramatic schematic shift as we saw fifteen 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:34.040 years ago under McCarthy. 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.559 And that's why you heard when Jason Ribovich was talking 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:40.120 to the media, he mentioned San Francisco, he mentioned the 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.880 New York Jets, he mentioned Houston and Demico. Ryan's what 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.480 they're doing there. It's that mentality of the way you 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:47.680 play defense, and at the end of the day, you 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:49.839 have to be good at something. You know, you often 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.400 use that phrase, it's when you are defense, you have 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.400 to find something that you can hang your hat on 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.439 because there's going to be holes. Is an offensive driven league. 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.840 Matt Lafleur says that all the time he feels as 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:03.400 an offensive coach that you can poke holes in any 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:06.240 defensive scheme. Whatever x's and o's somebody wants to lay 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.280 out there, you can poke holes in it. And so 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:11.920 for Matt Lafleur, what he's what he wants to do, 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.800 The change that he wants to make defensively is the 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.880 style of play. So what are you going to emphasize. 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.400 And we heard from Jason Rebovich, we heard from the others, 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:21.920 We've heard from Halfley. 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:23.160 This is about it. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.439 It's about vision to the ball, It's about trying to 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.360 take away the ball. It's about trying to get the 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:31.480 TFLs and the sacks, making plays in the backfield. If 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:33.880 that's what you're going to emphasize, then that's what you 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.480 have to get because then if you get, if you 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:40.240 are getting what you emphasize, then you can find a 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:42.679 way to win football games that way. And one of 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:46.000 the things I personally think was the biggest downfall of 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.200 the Joe Barry tenure. It's not that it's it's not 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.800 that it's wrong to play a defense that's designed to 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.560 limit big plays. A lot of defenses play that way. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.600 The problem is if you don't get what you emphasize. 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:00.640 If you're playing a style that's just igned to limit 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.240 big plays, but yet you are always ranking in the 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.480 bottom third of the league in terms of big plays allowed, 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.920 that doesn't work because you're not getting what you emphasize. 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.960 So then you're you're kind of lost defensively because you 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.040 don't have that thing to hang your hat on. The 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:16.640 Packers are going to try to hang their hat on 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.599 something else with this style of defense and with the 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.679 way they're going to go about it, and it's up 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.360 to half Lee in those assistants to get that play 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:25.880 style implemented with the players. 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.080 Yeah, and the trends of the league, Mike, we see 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:29.400 it all the time. I mean, because it wasn't just 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.760 a Joe Barry issue. You know, Brandon Staley was going 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.720 through it too with the Los Angeles Chargers. That style 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.480 of defense, the Bronco type fronts that got very popular 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.720 for a time and getting a little bit lighter in 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.440 boxes and having five man fronts and that it kind 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.640 of This past year was a very you look at 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:47.880 the statistics and where teams ranked in that area that 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.320 you know deployed those fronts. I think Vic Fangio did 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:52.480 it the best that I of anybody, but even then 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.520 there was a switch after the seasons with him. So 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.240 I just feel like moving forward now listening to what 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.440 Jeff Hafley talked about, he wants guys to be confident. 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.839 He wants guys to know what they're doing out there. 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.360 And that's where Xavier McKinney comes in. That's where having 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.760 JayR Alexander here for the offseason program is a really 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.440 big thing for this defense in being able now to 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.920 find this vision for twenty twenty four and hopefully beyond. 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.120 Yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.120 those defensive backs you just mentioned in a minute, but 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.280 first I'll take care of sponsor because it's a serious 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.720 XM NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.000 the minute and NFL news that true football fanatics need. 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.120 Twenty four to seven, three sixty five and a cousin subs. 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.600 We have something for everyone like our Wisconsin Cheese Kurts, 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.720 mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.240 with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl cousin subs. 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:44.440 Fifty plus years of better. All right, you mentioned jay R, Alexander, 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:50.320 Corey Ballentin, Xavier McKinney. This is part two of the 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.040 Small World Teams. Yeah, okay, and you know where this 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:53.320 is going. 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:54.680 I know exactly where this is going. 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:59.680 Packer's new passing game coordinator on the defensive side, Derek 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.840 ains Lee. When we heard from him, we found out 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:09.199 that his connections with some of these defensive backs, So 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:13.360 he's going to be coaching. Yeah, maybe all go back 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.960 to a lot of them. Go back to his recruiting 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:23.200 days in the SEC. He he recruited Xavier McKinney to Alabama. 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:28.280 He tried to recruit Jay R, Alexander to Kentucky, lost 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.240 out on him to Louisville. He recruited at one point, 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.920 was involved in Eric Stokes recruiting, was involved in Corey 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:40.680 Ballentine's recruiting. It's it's again, it's kind of fascinating how 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:44.160 this small world stuff and things kind of come full circle. 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.640 But the back when when you actually look at the 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:50.000 details of the background, it makes sense. Derek Ainsley was 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:55.280 a defensive essentially a defensive backs coach in some form 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.360 or other, different titles, whatever, but for three different SEC 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:03.760 programs Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee over the course of about 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.920 a decade's time, give or takes some breaks in there. 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:11.600 So when you're coaching defensive backs in the SEC for 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.280 about a decade at a bunch of different schools within 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.840 that conference, as he said, you're going to cross paths 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:22.040 with a lot of the best defensive backs coming out 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.280 of high school because you're getting you're trying to get 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.880 those guys to come to your program and to play 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.960 in the SEC. So you know, So he's known Xavier 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.720 McKinney since he was seventeen years old. He's known Jay 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.640 R Alexander since he was about seventeen eighteen years old. 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:41.080 So there's it's it's interesting and we'll I'm sure when 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.080 we get a chance to talk to the players during 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.480 open locker room during OTAs and whatnot. We'll get to 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:48.680 we'll get to ask a little bit more about just 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.640 maybe what they remember about some of those interactions during 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:53.760 their teenage years with this guy who's now up in 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.480 front of them, you know, in the in the defensive 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.400 meeting room and all that. But again, my point is 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.640 another sample of the small world that is sort of 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.560 NFL circles and uh and how uh and how Paz 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:11.280 can sometimes not cross but then ultimately cross and end 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:12.200 up in the same place. 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.680 You could write me a blank check, Mike. I would 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.960 never want to be a recruiter, a position coach in 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.320 the SEC not built for it. I wouldn't a single 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:25.040 night because as fertile as that, you know, recruiting ground 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.160 is for NFL programs, Man, I just there's a reason 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.200 why Derek said that it was because they were chasing 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:31.600 some of the best players in the country. 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:31.880 Yeah. 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.120 Absolutely, And I actually the one I thought actually was 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.880 most interesting to me was Jay Air because I don't 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:38.840 We've talked about it over time, but I think sometimes 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.000 people forget about this. Gyro was really lightly recruited. Uh, 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.920 South Carolina I think was in on him. But I 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.240 think I remember Kentucky. I remember him talking about Kentucky, 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:49.600 but then ultimately, you know, Louisville was the one that 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:50.040 he ended. 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:50.560 Up settling on. 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.080 Yeah, but he was a kid that got completely overlooked 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.200 out of Charlotte for some reason I've still never quite 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.360 figured out. Still would love to write that story at 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.080 some point. But that being said, for Ainsley, now it 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:05.080 shows you in NFL circles again, not only the small 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.840 world of it, but just how all these guys run 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.480 on a very similar track. And you know, I think 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.199 back to even the draft night when Michael Prewett. I 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.399 was doing the conference call with Michael Prewett and he 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:17.200 was talking about his relationship with. 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.240 Sean Sorry, Michael Pratt. 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:23.920 Michael Pratt, not Jeremy Prewett from Alabama who took Dereck 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:25.639 Ainsley to Tennessee. 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:26.880 That's why he's on the back of my. 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:27.959 Head, is where we all. 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.120 We all get confused the more we try to talk Mike. 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:32.359 I just wanted to correct. 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.400 Yeah, no, I appreciate that I have Jeremy Pruitt's bio 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:36.920 up right now, but two a days, great show in 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.480 the night in the two thousands. But the point I 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.280 was going to make there was just Michael Pratt. He 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:44.399 ended up meeting Sean Clifford at a Manning camp, just 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.800 a Manning quarterback camp. That's how they've been on a 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.200 text chain ever since, have built a friendship. They knew 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.480 each other well before he ever got drafted to Green Bay. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.040 In these worlds, much like if you're in you know, 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.639 doing AAU basketball or any of this stuff, people tend 0:17:57.680 --> 0:17:59.800 to know each other. The exciting thing for Ainsley and 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:01.760 when I think it is going to be most interesting 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.840 for this secondary is he brings back that Jerry Gray element. 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:07.800 A guy that's been a defensive coordinator in the league, 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.120 a guy that has had a lot of success as 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.080 a defensive back and a defensive backs coach throughout the 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.359 course of his career, and now getting a chance to 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.440 work with JayR and Xavier McKinney, trying to bring all 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.119 these components together because so for so long, Mike, we 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.879 have talked about how talented these dbs are and how 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.680 much resources the Packers have invested in that position. Ainsley 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:30.040 is now tasked with trying to get it back up 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.480 to that level again after a very difficult our US 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.240 season last year, a lot of which was brought on 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.719 by injuries, but trying to still find that synergy they 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.159 were looking for. Because Mike, a year ago when you 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.000 and I were doing these talks and we knew JayR 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.680 wasn't at the volunteer stuff, but we still were like, Okay, 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.920 well jyr Alexander, Eric Stokes, you know is coming back, 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:53.320 Keishawn Nixon, Rasul Douglas. He had all these names. I 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:55.600 remember thinking like, where is Carenton Valentine going to fit 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:56.080 into all this? 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:56.600 Right? 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.439 And then lo and behold, that's what ends up happening. 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:03.000