Speaker 1: Everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals broadcaster Dave Pash. Well,
Speaker 1: as you know from our first fifty one episodes of
Speaker 1: the Dave Pash Podcast, we have a variety of guests
Speaker 1: on this show, but most of the time it has
Speaker 1: an Arizona Cardinals spin. Well, today we get back into
Speaker 1: the Cardinal space with Cardinals second year linebacker Xaban Collins.
Speaker 1: Xavin has had an outstanding year for the Cardinals. He's
Speaker 1: really coming into his own and currently he is just
Speaker 1: one of nine players in the NFL with at least
Speaker 1: seventy five tackles, eight tackles for a loss in two sacks.
Speaker 1: He also has an interception for a touchdown and could
Speaker 1: have easily had two more interceptions over the last two games.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about how close Zaban was to getting another
Speaker 1: touchdown in the game on Monday Night. We'll also talk
Speaker 1: with Zaban about his childhood growing up outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: playing at a small school, and then what he learned
Speaker 1: his first year in the NFL. It's not so much
Speaker 1: like the game slowdown, like everyone's still fast as hell.
Speaker 1: Everyone's you know what I mean, Like the players are
Speaker 1: all that are all fast. You know, it's the recognition
Speaker 1: of things and you know, processing information. Also, Zaban will
Speaker 1: discuss some of the players that he looks up to
Speaker 1: on this team, what to expect from the Cardinals the
Speaker 1: last month of the season, and what he hopes to
Speaker 1: achieve next year as he continues to roll in his
Speaker 1: role as one of the leaders of the defense. We
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Speaker 1: all right, time for our conversation with Cardinal's linebacker Saven Collins. Well, Saven,
Speaker 1: this is actually the first time we've had a chance
Speaker 1: to meet, so it's it's great to sit down with you.
Speaker 1: Appreciate the time. Really enjoyed watching you this year. UM,
Speaker 1: I'm curious from your perspective. I know it's tough when
Speaker 1: things aren't going well for the team, but how do
Speaker 1: you think you've played this year? Um? Obviously from last
Speaker 1: year it's a completely nine day difference, but you know,
Speaker 1: from like an overall league standpoint, UM, you know, just
Speaker 1: trying to I've played I think good, but just still
Speaker 1: trying to get better every game. You know, produce, UM,
Speaker 1: make the plays I need to make, and you know,
Speaker 1: UM play complimentary football for the defense and then obviously
Speaker 1: the team. But yeah, it's been it's been good. I've
Speaker 1: been robbed the last couple, you know, big plays that
Speaker 1: you know, Chargers would have been a game ender, and
Speaker 1: then obviously last week would have been seven points for
Speaker 1: the defense. And it's kind of nice because getting to
Speaker 1: do that with Isaiah's touchdown, my touchdown against the Seattle
Speaker 1: we like, UM, I think the Cardinals defense like number
Speaker 1: one for like touchdowns for a defense, I think, which
Speaker 1: is you know what I mean, just trying to stack
Speaker 1: those stuff like that, Just trying to put points on
Speaker 1: the board and do whatever as a defense is always fun.
Speaker 1: Not only did you get robbed, but and I said
Speaker 1: this on the air when you were doing the game,
Speaker 1: Wolf and I both I don't understand how replay in
Speaker 1: the Chargers game overturns that because there's no way that
Speaker 1: that was indisputable video evidence beyond all doubt. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the thing that that that hurt me there. And then
Speaker 1: last game, I secured that the ball on my shoulder
Speaker 1: while falling, so it's not like it was fumbling around,
Speaker 1: and they said it didn't even look like it hit
Speaker 1: the grass, so they didn't really understand. The thing that
Speaker 1: confused me last game more than both games was I
Speaker 1: caught the ball, fell ran into the end zone, went
Speaker 1: to the sideline, and was already back onto the field
Speaker 1: because they'd overturned it that fast. I was like, Dan,
Speaker 1: I was so fast because they had declared it a
Speaker 1: touchdown already, so they have to have like a you
Speaker 1: said again in disputed evidence. I thought they're just gonna
Speaker 1: call me down by him touching me or something on
Speaker 1: a knee while I was still on the ground, and
Speaker 1: then when they overturned it all the way, I was
Speaker 1: pissed off. It was like, damn yeah, because I think
Speaker 1: looking back at it, had they still ruled in the
Speaker 1: last game, had they still ruled that an interception, they
Speaker 1: would have said you were down by contact. But the
Speaker 1: league wants to let things play out because obviously if
Speaker 1: they say you're down but then you're not, yeah, you
Speaker 1: lose the runback. What happened to JJ Yeah exactly with
Speaker 1: the forced fumble. Yeah, and they said it was incomplete
Speaker 1: pass and he runs into the end zone and they'd
Speaker 1: blown it dead and yeah, so those two plays, oh
Speaker 1: so close. But you did have the pick six earlier
Speaker 1: in the year. And what are the plays that stands
Speaker 1: out to me? And maybe it's because it was fresh
Speaker 1: in my memory from Monday night. Was one of the
Speaker 1: fifty screen passes they ran where you saw it, recognized it,
Speaker 1: tracked and backed. Yeah. Yeah, we'd we'd been tipped off.
Speaker 1: I mean knew that they're going to come into our
Speaker 1: game with a lot of screen. We've been getting a
Speaker 1: lot of screen all year. So whenever I saw that
Speaker 1: pump fake the other way and you can really tell
Speaker 1: by the o liman like their eyes. Like, for the
Speaker 1: most part, when you're off the ball, like by five yards,
Speaker 1: those o liman aren't staring at you. They're looking right
Speaker 1: to left to see you know. For games, if it's
Speaker 1: pass protection, pulling a screen, they're letting the rush go
Speaker 1: by them and then they're climbing for the linebackers or
Speaker 1: you know, second level. So whenever their eyes are locked
Speaker 1: onto you and your five yards off the ball, that
Speaker 1: kind of just gives you a heads up right now,
Speaker 1: like this is a screen. So then making that play
Speaker 1: was nice. Yeah, there was a couple of screens that
Speaker 1: I had. I had another tight end screen. That's the
Speaker 1: one where each Max Jones scrambled around and they called
Speaker 1: linman down the field. I'd actually grabbed that tight end
Speaker 1: before he could give him the ball. So is that
Speaker 1: an area where you've grown when you think about going
Speaker 1: from year one to year two? Is that what I
Speaker 1: think when people say things have slowed down? Is that
Speaker 1: what it looks like where you're able to recognize it
Speaker 1: pre snap or as soon as the snap happens, what's
Speaker 1: going on based on seeing the lyman's eyes. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not it's not so much like the game slow down,
Speaker 1: Like everyone's still fast as hell. Everyone's you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like the players are all that are all fast.
Speaker 1: You know. It's the recognition of things and you know,
Speaker 1: processing information, you know, it's it's that And that's the
Speaker 1: aspect that's slowed down the most for me being able
Speaker 1: to recognize things listening to the DJ's call, and because
Speaker 1: he gives us, you know, a giant call sheet each
Speaker 1: week and it has like first and second down, these
Speaker 1: are the play calls this personnel, here's the play calls,
Speaker 1: you know, passing situations. Here's what we're thinking. So then
Speaker 1: if you take the call and kind of apply it
Speaker 1: to the situation and down, that'll tell you what he's thinking.
Speaker 1: And then you know, like ninety five percent of the
Speaker 1: time he's right. So it's like it just gives you
Speaker 1: a little head step before and you know, obviously having
Speaker 1: him in the headset, it's like he'll tell tell me
Speaker 1: to tell guys other things, so then I understand, like
Speaker 1: I am getting all the information even when he's not
Speaker 1: even talking to me. I have to relay it. So
Speaker 1: that's what it's like. So he'll call the play, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he'll call the defense and then there may be instructions of, hey,
Speaker 1: remind Isaiah about this, Like yeah, it's not so much
Speaker 1: remind someone. It's more like, um, you know, show this
Speaker 1: or show that, or you know, remember to tell the
Speaker 1: these guys like right here in this situation, we're press
Speaker 1: belling or we're you know, we're staying, we're pressing right here.
Speaker 1: You know, it's more of the situational reminders rather than
Speaker 1: a job reminder. Like the job reminder like that doesn't
Speaker 1: really tell me much about the game. It's the situational
Speaker 1: reminders that really, you know, help me too. How's your
Speaker 1: memory retention? So when good, So when he calls it
Speaker 1: and he tells you, he adds something like, hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna show this or disguise this or whatever. You're boom
Speaker 1: telling guests. Ye, yeah, I mean it's just like if
Speaker 1: you're talking to me right now with this headset on,
Speaker 1: I'm talking to you. So whatever you're saying, you're talking
Speaker 1: to Craig ray Lewis. Yeah, So I'm yeah, obviously, yeah,
Speaker 1: just letting people know who I'm. So there's three people
Speaker 1: in here, every Yeah, there's a third person here. So
Speaker 1: you're talking so one to two, and then two is
Speaker 1: talking to two to three. But I'm talking to everyone
Speaker 1: while you're talking to me, because there's not enough time
Speaker 1: most of the time for him to call the call
Speaker 1: and meet a wait listen to everything unless it's like
Speaker 1: a stop down or you know, a long play, but
Speaker 1: like when teams are going hurry up. You know, I
Speaker 1: gotta talk while I'm listening, which is kind of a
Speaker 1: task that I've had to learn. Um sure so, but yeah,
Speaker 1: and I don't get everything, like as far as like
Speaker 1: the situational reminders stuff like that. I don't get everything,
Speaker 1: but I mean I get most of it. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I don't know if you watch a lot of sports
Speaker 1: on television, But so in a similar now I'm not
Speaker 1: about to get run over or run over somebody, but
Speaker 1: you know, in a similar way, like I've got somebody,
Speaker 1: you know, we may have to get a promo in
Speaker 1: or hey, there's an injured play or something happens. A
Speaker 1: producer is telling me in my year, and I have
Speaker 1: to talk while he's telling me something and then listen
Speaker 1: to the analysts. So I get I have an idea
Speaker 1: like what you're talking about. But obviously then uh, there
Speaker 1: aren't you know, three hundred pound lineman running at me
Speaker 1: right after its running sprints. You know, the worst part
Speaker 1: is like having a twelve played drive, and then you
Speaker 1: get into the red zone and you know, red zone
Speaker 1: everything has to be neat and you know, all all
Speaker 1: eyes dotted, all tea's crossed to have a good red
Speaker 1: zone performance. So that's like the you know, just trying
Speaker 1: to get the call to everyone and can get hectic
Speaker 1: down there sometimes. So I remember the year at Tulsa
Speaker 1: when you won the bed Nerek and the Nagurski Awards
Speaker 1: and obviously ended up being a first round pick. I
Speaker 1: know it was a weird year because it was a
Speaker 1: COVID year and I don't even remember if you guys
Speaker 1: had fans at all at any of your games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we did a little bit, but not much. It was
Speaker 1: like spread out, no front or bottom row, so it
Speaker 1: was really weird. And then I mean Tulsa, we didn't
Speaker 1: really have like a giant you know, Ohio State fan base,
Speaker 1: you know it was it wasn't like that, but it
Speaker 1: was a was spread out for sure. Quiet and so
Speaker 1: in in that league, are you in a similar situation
Speaker 1: where you're in charge of getting everybody lined up, and
Speaker 1: are the calls similar, Is they're less furbiage? Are there
Speaker 1: just a handful of defenses at that level or calls
Speaker 1: at that level as opposed to if you were at
Speaker 1: a Power five school or the NFL. Yeah, so I
Speaker 1: mean at that level, No, we didn't have a lot
Speaker 1: of calls. I mean we had blitzs and pressures and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, but we didn't have nearly as much
Speaker 1: as you know what we do here. We have you know,
Speaker 1: we have personnels for thirteen. We have personnels for twelve.
Speaker 1: We have personnels eleven, you know, so eleven one tight end,
Speaker 1: one on one back, you know, two tight ends, one back.
Speaker 1: We have personnels for all of this stuff. We have
Speaker 1: calls we're thrown in. We have such you know, situational
Speaker 1: calls we're doing. We have you know, exotic pressures I
Speaker 1: called zotics to where it means like the it doesn't
Speaker 1: look like a normal defense, like we're kind of all
Speaker 1: lined up in a really weird way, you know, like six,
Speaker 1: six or seven men down on the line or you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like exact pressures like that. You
Speaker 1: got um goal line packages, you know, all this stuff.
Speaker 1: Just because there's so much that goes into an NFL
Speaker 1: game like you're not just working. Like when you talk
Speaker 1: about the NFL game, you know, there's been scouts that
Speaker 1: have for the other team that are you know, three
Speaker 1: games go that we're watching you to see what their
Speaker 1: weakness is on the defense. They apply that to you know,
Speaker 1: they tell the coaches that the coaches scheme you up
Speaker 1: all week. They bring that to the players, the quarterback
Speaker 1: for their team and scheming up. So it's like, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, there's so much stuff. And then
Speaker 1: that's another thing that I've learned too while being in
Speaker 1: NFL so far as like you know, going back and
Speaker 1: watching film and seeing all this stuff, it really applies.
Speaker 1: It does apply to the field. But then an offense
Speaker 1: is always going to have their change up to beat
Speaker 1: you that week. Sure, and once you can catch on
Speaker 1: during the game to what that is, then you kind
Speaker 1: of start to stop that offense. There their m O
Speaker 1: for that week, and and that's the thing. So you
Speaker 1: kind of got to be prepared for that offense. But
Speaker 1: also in a general broad aspect of how are you
Speaker 1: going to fix this? But yeah, I mean I've had
Speaker 1: some situations this year where you know, hey, I saw
Speaker 1: this on the field, I bring it to the sideline.
Speaker 1: We look at the still shots and it's like, this
Speaker 1: is where they're going to hit us if we don't
Speaker 1: fix this right now. And then you know, we fix
Speaker 1: it and you can see where they were trying to
Speaker 1: hit us, you know, a couple of plays later. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, like they tried it and I think it
Speaker 1: was one time as like a pressure. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just in that kind of like it gives me confidence,
Speaker 1: you know, to see like, hey, I saw this and
Speaker 1: I was right, because you don't want to see it
Speaker 1: and then you know, make a big doubt of it
Speaker 1: and it's like, damn, you're wrong, but you know, yeah
Speaker 1: it's and it's not. This isn't like a week to
Speaker 1: week thing that happened a couple of times maybe, and
Speaker 1: but it's nice, Yeah, just seeing it kind of all
Speaker 1: unravel and then just trying to be a professional in
Speaker 1: the building and you know, study and know the plays
Speaker 1: and you know, once I know my job description really well,
Speaker 1: I can help other players that come in. So like
Speaker 1: I've done the Cardinals for twenty one years, I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of guys come through here, and seeing guys
Speaker 1: that you know, we're really good college players that didn't
Speaker 1: make it. I've seen guys that weren't really good college
Speaker 1: players that end up being terrific NFL players. And some
Speaker 1: of it is just the situation what's going on with
Speaker 1: the team at that time. And you know, you came
Speaker 1: from a small school, but you're a mid first round pick.
Speaker 1: I mean, you were going to get picked. Whether In fact,
Speaker 1: I was told by several people that if Mac Jones
Speaker 1: and you probably know this thing you're been it, would
Speaker 1: you would have been a Patriot. Yeah, Mac, Mac was
Speaker 1: number one on their board, and then I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, number two, So yeah, I figured
Speaker 1: that out. Like I don't know if it was after
Speaker 1: the draft or the day of the draft or what
Speaker 1: it was. So you're sitting there watching like everything just unfolded,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And like, you know, ninety
Speaker 1: percent of the time, unless it's even like this year
Speaker 1: it's draft or whatever it was last year's draft, the
Speaker 1: only really certain pick kind is the first pick, and
Speaker 1: then last year's draft, you know whatever that was. Twenty
Speaker 1: twenty twos draft was kind of you know, after the
Speaker 1: first pick, everyone thought it was gonna be this dude,
Speaker 1: it wasn't and you know, you know, it's just all
Speaker 1: over the place. So but yeah, it's a it's different
Speaker 1: for sure. So how when you got here then how
Speaker 1: much of it was a new world for you? Something?
Speaker 1: What we were talking about with with what you did,
Speaker 1: what you were asked to do a tulsa based on
Speaker 1: what you're asked to do at this level. The description
Speaker 1: of you know, take charge of the defense and call
Speaker 1: the plays was the same. The amount of plays and
Speaker 1: knowing situational stuff and processing of information was so opposite.
Speaker 1: It was just like it was just so much stuff
Speaker 1: for me, you know, trying to learn all that stuff
Speaker 1: last year and you know, it just I just needed
Speaker 1: time to understand it all because I'm when I know something,
Speaker 1: I know in depth and know how what we're thinking,
Speaker 1: what we're trying to do, how we're trying to operate
Speaker 1: this thing, you know what I mean, I just don't
Speaker 1: know it because it's the rule. You know. Billyde which
Speaker 1: is my linebackers show, she's big on like know the why,
Speaker 1: know the why why are we doing this? So then
Speaker 1: out on the field, if he's calling this, then you
Speaker 1: know the reason or the why behind it. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean, So it's not it's it's it makes
Speaker 1: things a little bit easier for me. And you know,
Speaker 1: like this year, I've taken I think, for myself, big
Speaker 1: steps because I can like help other players fund need
Speaker 1: to or like, you know, get people aligned if I
Speaker 1: need to, maybe not the right guys are in for
Speaker 1: a certain call I can make. I can know the call,
Speaker 1: change the call. You know, if offensive hurry up, it's
Speaker 1: third and one balls in the you know, on the
Speaker 1: fifty yard line, what are we gonna run? Last year,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't been able to do that, no shot, just
Speaker 1: because the mental you know what I mean. Like last year,
Speaker 1: I'm studying all these calls and then this year I'm
Speaker 1: studying these calls for a situation more so it's just
Speaker 1: a situational matter. It's just, you know, is big in
Speaker 1: this league because you can get put into anything and
Speaker 1: you got to know it and you're expected to know it.
Speaker 1: So you're from hominy, Is that how you say it? So?
Speaker 1: I was in Oklahoma a few weeks ago. I did Bedlam.
Speaker 1: It's the first time I'd done Bedlam. Obviously it was
Speaker 1: not a great year for Oklahoma, and I had done
Speaker 1: Oklahoma State, Texas and Oklahoma State won that game and
Speaker 1: then did not play well down the stretch, but obviously
Speaker 1: that is the game in the state. You grew up
Speaker 1: north of Tulsa, closer to Stillwater than Norman. Did you
Speaker 1: grow up watching Bedlam? Were you recruited it all by
Speaker 1: either school? Were you? Did you have a school that
Speaker 1: you preferred if it wasn't Tulsa. Would you wanted to
Speaker 1: be a Sooner or a Poke? Yeah? When I was
Speaker 1: growing up, it was all owe you everything, you know,
Speaker 1: owe you over everyone, Oh you over Texas, owe you
Speaker 1: over OSU. And then like I really didn't even realize
Speaker 1: what Tulsa was when I was being recruited. I remember
Speaker 1: I got one letter from OU and it was the
Speaker 1: general information letter that they send regular students. So and
Speaker 1: it just happened. It just happened to be, you know,
Speaker 1: it was something that I like thought was big at
Speaker 1: the time. I'm like, oh man, I gotta leary from OU.
Speaker 1: And it's like, you know, it was it was nothing
Speaker 1: at the time, but for me it was everything. And thought,
Speaker 1: you know, I was gonna get offers, this and that
Speaker 1: just grind and you know, never really got the offers.
Speaker 1: And then obviously when I knew, and that was the
Speaker 1: time when OU was getting you know, they were getting
Speaker 1: five star after five star after four star, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like I would have been from a
Speaker 1: prospect standpoint, bottom of the barrel. You know, They're coming
Speaker 1: out of small school in Oklahoma, last eleven man before
Speaker 1: you go to eight man football. So and then the
Speaker 1: very first college game, actual college game I ever went to.
Speaker 1: I guess I would did go to OU when I
Speaker 1: was younger, but you know that I clearly remember was
Speaker 1: Tulsa versus Marshall for a church event type of deal. Really,
Speaker 1: and then you know, two or three years later, I
Speaker 1: got an offer from them, only Division one offer, and
Speaker 1: I ended up playing you know, football there for four years.
Speaker 1: It was I loved Tulsa. Tulsa coach Money, that whole staff.
Speaker 1: Um Joseph Gillespie, he was my defensive coordinator. He's now
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator for TCU. UM so he's had a
Speaker 1: big year this year. And uh, I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 1: can't think them enough. They you know, there's the reason
Speaker 1: why I'm here for sure. So going back to Oklahoma
Speaker 1: for a second, because you said you you did go
Speaker 1: to some games as a kid to some games in Norman.
Speaker 1: Who did you have a favorite player? No, it was like,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty it was like Sam Bradford at the time,
Speaker 1: and you were a quarterback some up in high school, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: but this was like way before high school. Like this
Speaker 1: is young, that's true. Yeah, like I was. I was young.
Speaker 1: So it's like, you know, I'm just sitting in the stands.
Speaker 1: It was like, oh you. I think it was oh
Speaker 1: you versus Missouri, and I just remember sitting the stands
Speaker 1: watching football. I thing, I want to play football one day.
Speaker 1: And then you know, it's like it's crazy, you know
Speaker 1: because as when you think back about being a kid
Speaker 1: and watching football and saying, man, I want to play
Speaker 1: football for the rest of my life, and then you
Speaker 1: get so caught up and playing football for the rest
Speaker 1: of your life that you forget like this is your
Speaker 1: dream job. You get you get paid to come and work,
Speaker 1: paid to be around people like guys you know, complaint.
Speaker 1: Oh I had to interview today about I mean, we're
Speaker 1: really lucky to be able to do this. So you're
Speaker 1: not going to complain about how those pasts good? Like
Speaker 1: it's will be the first it's a it's a it's
Speaker 1: a blessing, you know, to be able to do this stuff,
Speaker 1: be able to you know, reach out and you know,
Speaker 1: be able to help the world. Um, that's you know,
Speaker 1: that's one of the things I say my pregame prayers. Uh,
Speaker 1: thank you, you know, thank you guy for allowing me
Speaker 1: to play this game. Thank you for allowing me to
Speaker 1: provide for my family. That's awesome. Yeah. So and that's
Speaker 1: it's it just it brings jills to me because that's
Speaker 1: really what this game is about, you know, and just
Speaker 1: going out there and perform and trying to be the best.
Speaker 1: And that's what it's about. So that piqued your interest
Speaker 1: when you were you know, when did it start? Like
Speaker 1: when did you actually start to play football? And what
Speaker 1: did that look like when she started to play. I've
Speaker 1: played football since i've been knee high to a grasshopper.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've played football forever. I mean we started
Speaker 1: flag football and like kindergarten, and then we were playing
Speaker 1: pads in like third grade, like you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like you're just falling on each other rather than tackling someone.
Speaker 1: But that's like where it starts. So I've been playing
Speaker 1: football longer than I've been able to drive. I've been
Speaker 1: playing football longer than a lot of things, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's crazy to think about because that's it's been
Speaker 1: my life. And then being from a small school, you
Speaker 1: play other sports too. It hasn't been always football, but
Speaker 1: play basketball, baseball, track all growing up? Did all that? Did?
Speaker 1: I also read that you were a gymnast at one point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how old were you when you were a gymnast? I
Speaker 1: was young, shoot, probably nine, Okay, so you weren't six three,
Speaker 1: two sixty like, no, no, no, no, Yeah. Could you
Speaker 1: do some of the stuff that you could do back then? Now? No,
Speaker 1: I could do like a backflip on like a trampoline
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. I'm athletic, do stuff like that,
Speaker 1: cart wheel and stuff like that. But nothing like you
Speaker 1: see those people flying through the air. You can't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't fly to two sixty through there. So you're
Speaker 1: not gonna do the Buddha kip up I could do.
Speaker 1: I feel like I could do that. I might try
Speaker 1: that next game. I'll probably make a fool out of myself.
Speaker 1: But if you get a pick and they actually let
Speaker 1: you keep this one and they don't take it away
Speaker 1: from yet, do the kip up? Yeah? I know, I'll
Speaker 1: just go lay in the end zone until i want
Speaker 1: to back up, and I'm gonna try and kick myself
Speaker 1: up like Buddha. Still that the kip. And then also
Speaker 1: which I don't know if you saw the meme of
Speaker 1: against the Saints where Andy Dalton throws the pick six
Speaker 1: to Marco Wilson and Andy's walking off the field and
Speaker 1: you see Marco Wilson flying through the air behind him.
Speaker 1: So you said you played a lot of different sports
Speaker 1: growing up. Did you think about playing another sport? It
Speaker 1: was always football, always football, Never thought about playing anything else.
Speaker 1: I wanted to go to college for football. Didn't want
Speaker 1: to go to college for anything else. Nothing. Do you
Speaker 1: have hobbies? Yeah, okay, yeah, so I mean growing up,
Speaker 1: I mean, you'd you know, you're in football. Football ends.
Speaker 1: You get it one day off, it's really half a day.
Speaker 1: You're trying on stuff for basketball. You're trying to get
Speaker 1: your jersey fitted. You're trying to you're me and my
Speaker 1: mom are going to Hibba Sports Academy, going to buy
Speaker 1: basketball shoes, throw those basketball shoes on, and next day
Speaker 1: you're playing in a tournament somewhere, like you know, like
Speaker 1: literally the next day, like one day off playing in
Speaker 1: the tournament, after that playing basketball. You know, basketball ends
Speaker 1: one day off, you're swinging the bat and then also
Speaker 1: running track at the same time. We had We used
Speaker 1: to get out of school, start doing our track, leave
Speaker 1: track halfway through, go to baseball. And then you had
Speaker 1: to pick sometimes would you rather go to the baseball
Speaker 1: tournament and baseball games or the track meet that day?
Speaker 1: Was this your mom who was really pushing you? No,
Speaker 1: it was just it's just I mean it's just a
Speaker 1: small school. It's not like I'm the only person doing this.
Speaker 1: It's either this is like everyone, this is everyone in hominy.
Speaker 1: This is all my friends, you know ninety like you know,
Speaker 1: eight out of the five or five out of eight
Speaker 1: friends that I had from back there that was close
Speaker 1: to they all played four sports or you know, three sports.
Speaker 1: So and that was just what they did. And I
Speaker 1: grew up with a bunch of cowboys and stuff like
Speaker 1: so in the summertimes they were out cowboy and doing
Speaker 1: that stuff, and I was in summer basketball. And you know,
Speaker 1: but we all grew up hunting. We all go up
Speaker 1: up out at the lake doing stuff of the lake.
Speaker 1: And so I mean, for now, my free time I
Speaker 1: hunt when I get, you know, my free time. And
Speaker 1: then whenever it's so limited during the season, like on
Speaker 1: my days that I get long days, like I'm Friday,
Speaker 1: we get out of a certain time, I'm able, we'll go,
Speaker 1: I'll go to the gun range. I'll just shoot for hours.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what I do. What do you hunt?
Speaker 1: So I've We did a little bit more Western hunting
Speaker 1: this year, me and my friend from college, his name
Speaker 1: is Sam Clayton. We did a little bit more Western hunting,
Speaker 1: which is like up in the mountains, hiking a lot.
Speaker 1: We killed an elk and we were going from mule deer.
Speaker 1: But this year I killed a which is South Texas hunting.
Speaker 1: I killed a giant nil guy. And what a nil guy?
Speaker 1: What is that? A nil guy is an Asian deer
Speaker 1: and it's giant. They're usually like five hundred pounds six
Speaker 1: hundred pounds. Wow, they're big. And they brought them over
Speaker 1: a long time ago from India on a boat. There's
Speaker 1: like six of them. They put them in South Texas
Speaker 1: thinking all these things don't aren't gonna get out, and
Speaker 1: know these things run through fence. Six of them got out.
Speaker 1: They were and from six there's like thirty thousand now
Speaker 1: forty thousand in South Texas. So they're they're an animal
Speaker 1: that they call Farrell, which is like shooting anything that
Speaker 1: farrell is like you can shoot on site and leave.
Speaker 1: The meat's really good. It's one of the best meats
Speaker 1: for you in the world. It's uh yeah, it's super lean,
Speaker 1: tastes really really good. And U so I killed that
Speaker 1: harvested that got like I think I'm getting like three
Speaker 1: hundred pounds of meat. Oh my goodness, So this is
Speaker 1: gonna last meet forever. And then and then I got
Speaker 1: a deer too, And the deer was an older and
Speaker 1: older buck, so we're not really gonna eat that, but
Speaker 1: we donated all the meat. So they got um hunters
Speaker 1: for the hungry, so donated all the meat to that.
Speaker 1: That type of deal, so nothing gets wasted. The only
Speaker 1: thing that probably you know is like a wild boar,
Speaker 1: which is a very Ferrell animal like that'll just go
Speaker 1: through stuff. They carry a lot of diseases, lies, they're disgusting.
Speaker 1: They smell bad. One could walk in on the other
Speaker 1: complete opposite side of this building and you'd go, what
Speaker 1: is that smell? And I'd be like that swine like
Speaker 1: that's a pig. I can smell it. Like you let
Speaker 1: them out on the field, two of them out on
Speaker 1: this field for twenty minutes. The whole field to look
Speaker 1: like it's been ran over by a tracker. That's what
Speaker 1: it's like. So it's like, you know, and I like
Speaker 1: to do that on my free time. I like to
Speaker 1: fish and stuff too. Because when it grew up on
Speaker 1: a lake. But that's it. So did you have did
Speaker 1: you get like the head and put it on a
Speaker 1: mantle of yeah? So I yeah, we um we caped
Speaker 1: it out and we got like a shoulder mount. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 1: It's like facing left and looking right. Yeah. Big, it's
Speaker 1: a giant. You were telling me before we started that
Speaker 1: you you do listen to some some other podcasts because
Speaker 1: this still this is still pretty new to me. We
Speaker 1: just started this last year. Um so what do you
Speaker 1: listen to? A sports or no sports? No sports? Um?
Speaker 1: I every once in a while, when I'm digging in,
Speaker 1: like if I'm on a rabbit hole, like a YouTube
Speaker 1: rabbit hole, I'll fall into like a Joe Rogan Crazy
Speaker 1: podcast will take you down, you know, just like who
Speaker 1: knows what's being talked about today? But someone who's like
Speaker 1: talks you know, Jocko willing Is, he's a cool podcast
Speaker 1: listen to um he talks about just like I'm also
Speaker 1: in factuated with like just guns. And then like all
Speaker 1: those you know, what the service men and women do
Speaker 1: for our country. You want to talk about sacrifice, you
Speaker 1: can talk to them, you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: that's that's a whole different level level of self sacrifice
Speaker 1: rather than you know, than what we do as football players. Like,
Speaker 1: that's a whole different level. They're they're they're a blessing
Speaker 1: from God. But like I listened to someone called Visions Elite,
Speaker 1: he brings in um ex military or you know, ex
Speaker 1: special forces people unless them just kind of share their
Speaker 1: experience and how it's like turned them, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, And it's actually cool. And then also is
Speaker 1: a lot of information, you know what I mean, Things
Speaker 1: really aren't as bad as they seen here. But um,
Speaker 1: I think the thing that about that that relays for
Speaker 1: me to football is each one of these guys is
Speaker 1: a leader in some formal way, and each one of
Speaker 1: them have a specific job and task to do every
Speaker 1: time they're tasked with one, and they perform it to
Speaker 1: the best stability. And that's kind of like you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, that's just like something that if you
Speaker 1: can apply to football and every day when you come
Speaker 1: to work you have a job to do. This is
Speaker 1: what you need to do. Go out do it. And
Speaker 1: if you can kind of just transfer what they're saying
Speaker 1: into like you know, apply it to football, it helps
Speaker 1: me out just you know, hey, come in, get it done,
Speaker 1: let's do it. Learn it, know it, and whenever you know,
Speaker 1: starts to hit the fan, you're able to you know,
Speaker 1: figure it out. So that's what kind of resonates with me,
Speaker 1: I guess. But you know, everyone's different. So I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got first of all, again you've had a terrific here,
Speaker 1: but just I could sit here and talk to you
Speaker 1: for an hour, but I know you've got stuff to do.
Speaker 1: Oh no, you're good, Yeah, you have, you have a life.
Speaker 1: But I do want to ask it. You know, how
Speaker 1: often do you get back to Tulsa. Are you a
Speaker 1: big family guy? Yeah? I went back on our week
Speaker 1: long break after So you get three breaks during the
Speaker 1: season usually once right after training camp Thursday game, which
Speaker 1: is we call them, you call it mini buy, and
Speaker 1: then you have to buy by game. So those are
Speaker 1: like usually the three breaks, ones before season and then
Speaker 1: two during season, one usually halfway through, and then you know,
Speaker 1: obviously we had a bye week late this season, went
Speaker 1: back home for all of them, or tried to. I
Speaker 1: didn't get to go home for the Thursday game. I
Speaker 1: didn't get to do that. Yeah, it was just such
Speaker 1: a short week. That's the week we killed that ELK.
Speaker 1: But we h. Yeah, I try and get home as
Speaker 1: much as possible, and then in the off season I'll
Speaker 1: go home for you know, a long period of time.
Speaker 1: And then fourth of July. I'm I'm just curious also
Speaker 1: as we close out here, because you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: chance to go home here soon, obviously, the way things
Speaker 1: are going with the team, unfortunately, what do you want
Speaker 1: to see from yourself your teammates the last four games
Speaker 1: so that you leave this season with a good taste
Speaker 1: in your mouth, Because obviously this thing has not gone
Speaker 1: the way any of us thought it would hoped it would,
Speaker 1: And I know it's probably just as frustrating for you
Speaker 1: as it is for the coaches and for all of
Speaker 1: us in the organization. More so, I'm sure for the
Speaker 1: players than anybody, because you guys are part of it.
Speaker 1: And obviously you guys were building something and had the
Speaker 1: hic up here in twenty twenty two. But what is
Speaker 1: it you want to look back on in a month
Speaker 1: and say, you know, we we finished strong and here's why. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you just never want to see like a
Speaker 1: quitting mentality. I mean, let's not give up until you know,
Speaker 1: all zeros. And this kind of also stems from the
Speaker 1: the podcast I listened to, like don't ever give up,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like that's that's too easy,
Speaker 1: way too easy, Like you know, just stick with getting.
Speaker 1: You know, if if the way we practice whatever or
Speaker 1: whatever we did that week, if it didn't work, we
Speaker 1: will just change it and we'll figure out something that does.
Speaker 1: And then we just got to keep moving and keep growing.
Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest thing is just you know,
Speaker 1: be you know, be able to change, be able to adapt,
Speaker 1: and you know, just keep going forward, keep pushing, keep
Speaker 1: st Like Buddhas says, every every game went on three
Speaker 1: and Strain, you know what I mean? Strain And he's
Speaker 1: really good. He's someone I look up to because like
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, has he messed up before? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And but he messes up going ninety miles an hour.
Speaker 1: He knows everything in that playbook he makes. He makes
Speaker 1: like I'll hear buddhoo yelling calls and from one sideline,
Speaker 1: and VJ was telling me what the thing Buddha is saying,
Speaker 1: even though they can't hear each other or talk to
Speaker 1: each other, you know what I mean, Like Buddha knows
Speaker 1: what's about to be calling and he don't have the
Speaker 1: green dot. There's only one green dot on the field.
Speaker 1: That's me, you know what I mean. So I know,
Speaker 1: like Buddha is on top of his stuff, like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like he's so on top of
Speaker 1: his stuff. And he expects a lot out of you
Speaker 1: as a player, Like he expects you to know your stuff,
Speaker 1: He expects you to know your job. He expects you
Speaker 1: to do your job at a high level, more so
Speaker 1: than a lot of people, Like I mean a lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, So I really respect him. But yeah, and
Speaker 1: he's always a no quick guy, no quit just ball,
Speaker 1: keep going, keeps driving and just you know, never give up.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing I want to see out of
Speaker 1: us is just and myself just keep going, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? How vocal are you in the locker
Speaker 1: room with that, are you because you know, watching Hard
Speaker 1: Knocks and obviously you know that's just a snapshot of
Speaker 1: what's going on. Yeah, but I see a lot of
Speaker 1: different guys talking. Are you one of those guys? M
Speaker 1: I'm not screaming at people, but like, you know, my
Speaker 1: my little group that I kind of like with the linebackers, Me, Tanner, Roleo,
Speaker 1: ben um Comu, Zeke, all those guys. That's during the game,
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, you know what I mean, keep going,
Speaker 1: let's go, come on, it's time to go. JJ all
Speaker 1: the guys up front in the huddle. More so, whenever
Speaker 1: it's just you know, us eleven out there, I have
Speaker 1: I'm not a big stand in front of the you
Speaker 1: know everyone and scream at him. I have to earn that.
Speaker 1: That's one of those things you kind of have to earn,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. This year being year two
Speaker 1: for me, you know, that's probably a role of a
Speaker 1: very vocal person. I think next year that needs to
Speaker 1: take place, especially be the mic, you know what I mean. U.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, obviously sometimes you do have to
Speaker 1: get onto some people, like not get on them, you know,
Speaker 1: like we're not they're not kids. Everyone here's a grown man,
Speaker 1: but like you know, like let him, Hey, you can't
Speaker 1: really do that here because you know that this is
Speaker 1: happening behind you or you know where you can't do
Speaker 1: this stunt or whatever. But it's not I'm not you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not not there m F and people. But it's
Speaker 1: interesting that you because obviously you're very well spoken and
Speaker 1: you're very smart, and you also recognize kind of where
Speaker 1: you are right now and that you know that that's
Speaker 1: a step you have to take, yeah, and that that
Speaker 1: will come naturally. Yeah. And another thing another person I
Speaker 1: talked to, so Buddha is more of like like he
Speaker 1: shows you like he speaks like with extreme action, and
Speaker 1: so does JJ. JJ speaks with extreme action. But JJ
Speaker 1: also has like obviously since he's such like eleven year vet,
Speaker 1: twelve year vet whatever he is, he has also knows
Speaker 1: how to approach it with um a very vocal leadership
Speaker 1: mentality and knows how to talk to people, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And that's the thing about part being
Speaker 1: a leader on this team, and what I've learned from
Speaker 1: in the past is like you got to know how
Speaker 1: to talk to certain players, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like some players like me, you can yell at me
Speaker 1: or do whatever. And I'm not someone who's just gonna
Speaker 1: like snap And then you know, you got some people
Speaker 1: like you can't do that, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: They're gonna snap back at you and you canna catch
Speaker 1: a right hook. But um, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So but um, you can also get your point across
Speaker 1: by being you know, in a very serious, you know manner.
Speaker 1: And uh that's like how how JJ is? You know,
Speaker 1: And he's and I've talked to him especially recently about
Speaker 1: you know, what to do in the offseason, what to
Speaker 1: do about year three coming up, what to do about
Speaker 1: being a leader on the team, how to you know,
Speaker 1: approach certain things, how to approach um to make guys responsible. Um,
Speaker 1: that's just like all the stuff, you know, it's just
Speaker 1: pre practice stuff you just get a chat about. And
Speaker 1: then it's he's really helpful in that aspect, as you know,
Speaker 1: as everyone thinks he would be here, he really is. Um.
Speaker 1: And it's it's nice too because I just take all
Speaker 1: that just put in a little foul cabin at the
Speaker 1: back of the brain, you know, remember it for later,
Speaker 1: and you know, just try and apply it whenever it
Speaker 1: comes well, you've got such a bright future. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see a play out. It's been fun watching
Speaker 1: you this year, and I appreciate you spending some time
Speaker 1: with him. Man. Yeah, I appreciate you having me on
Speaker 1: this pretty cool. I didn't know you guys did this here.
Speaker 1: This is the first time that I've heard about this.
Speaker 1: I have to go back. Yeah, so, well, this is
Speaker 1: your episode fifty two, so I don't know if you're
Speaker 1: so it's it's not just Cardinals. So and being in
Speaker 1: the media, I've had Scott vanpeld on, Jim Nance recently,
Speaker 1: like last year. I don't even know if Greg Olsen
Speaker 1: earlier this year, got Damian Lillard on from the Blazers.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're an Yeah, Dame was on
Speaker 1: last year. Mckel Bridges, James Jones. I'm having Mark Jackson
Speaker 1: on next week from ESPN. Had been Gundy on last year.
Speaker 1: So again, I don't know if these names are that's
Speaker 1: cool too, but yeah, it's this is a It's fun
Speaker 1: because for me it's an opportunity to get to know
Speaker 1: guys a little bit more and until it's been fun
Speaker 1: getting to know you. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me on. I wasn't kidding. I
Speaker 1: really could have talked to Zaban and I'm sure you
Speaker 1: would have loved to have listened to zabn for another
Speaker 1: thirty minutes or so. Had so many cool things to say.
Speaker 1: Just love his perspective on the game. He really gets it.
Speaker 1: You can understand why he's really improved here in year
Speaker 1: two and it is probably one of the most improved
Speaker 1: players in the NFL, certainly on the Cardinals roster. Just
Speaker 1: interesting how he admitted the struggles of last year and
Speaker 1: that it was such a wake up call for him,
Speaker 1: but that he's handled things much better here in year
Speaker 1: two and his hopes and dreams for year three and beyond.
Speaker 1: Just really excited for him and just a joy to
Speaker 1: talk with. We're presented by BENMGM, the official sports betting
Speaker 1: partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Resorts
Speaker 1: and Casinos. You can follow us on Twitter at pashpod.
Speaker 1: You can also rate and review us by going to
Speaker 1: your podcast platform and telling us what you think. Thanks
Speaker 1: to Cardinal's linebacker Zavian Collins, and thanks to you for
Speaker 1: listening to another edition of the day Pash Podcast.