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Speaker 1: day and now welcome to Bears All Access, your all
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Speaker 1: CDW and four and good even everybody had Welcome into
Speaker 1: another edition up Bears All Access presented by IGS Energy,
Speaker 1: Jeff Jonny Acabong with Tom Fair on Chicago Sports Radio
Speaker 1: six seventy the Score and welcomed to be joined by
Speaker 1: Roy robertson Harris the Bears Defense Event. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1: My friend ad a heck of a game the other night.
Speaker 1: Here you, sir. Preseason has been pretty well for me
Speaker 1: and I want to continue to play well, perform well
Speaker 1: and do what I can get a Bears win and
Speaker 1: contribute to the defense and taken in the regular season
Speaker 1: week one and a half sack pre season already for
Speaker 1: the big game? Right? You know? Do you have I
Speaker 1: don't even want to tell me, but do you have
Speaker 1: a goal set in your mind in terms of sacks?
Speaker 1: Because I would imagine every defensive lineman has an imaginary number.
Speaker 1: And when I saw your sack the other night, all right,
Speaker 1: so now you're rushing the outside shoulder and you reach
Speaker 1: in with your left arm and you grab the quarterback.
Speaker 1: I mean the distance you can cover and the types
Speaker 1: of sacks you've had so far in the preseason. Do
Speaker 1: you have that secret number? I don't right now. At
Speaker 1: this point, it's just get healthy or stay healthy and
Speaker 1: throughout the preseason and then once Week one hits we'll
Speaker 1: start writing notes down about goals and what we want
Speaker 1: to accomplish for the year. Good for you. Is that
Speaker 1: something that you guys talk about individually when you say
Speaker 1: you're gonna sit down and do that, or is that
Speaker 1: something coach Jay Rogers tries to put in your heads, Hey,
Speaker 1: guys think this way, well, Jay, Jay does a good
Speaker 1: job of Hey think this way about you know, getting
Speaker 1: to the quarterback. Jay wants us to as many sacks
Speaker 1: as possible. He wants us to get sacks every third down. Individually,
Speaker 1: I want to write down how many sacks I want
Speaker 1: to get for the year, how many tackles, TFLs, things
Speaker 1: like that. I have a set number of sacks that
Speaker 1: I do want to get for the year. Things like
Speaker 1: that I do every single year. But that's not something
Speaker 1: Jay harps on. He's more so, Hey, every third down
Speaker 1: should be a sack, should be a takeaway, you know,
Speaker 1: every sack should be a force fumble. Things like that.
Speaker 1: I would think the best way in time as a
Speaker 1: player for yourself when it it's individual. Obviously you know
Speaker 1: that that sounds good and everything, but in the framework
Speaker 1: of the team, say a third down sack the results
Speaker 1: in a forced fumble, strip sack, guy scores a touchdown.
Speaker 1: It's a meaningful play in the overall effort that results
Speaker 1: in a victory. Do you look at plays like that
Speaker 1: and say, okay, Week seven, I made this play, but
Speaker 1: it resulted in a win. Same for you. A big
Speaker 1: block that may have resulted in a big run that
Speaker 1: led to a win. Well, you know, Royan In term
Speaker 1: those terms, I think like when you take on a
Speaker 1: massive double team of two offensive lineman. Now you know
Speaker 1: that there's trying to get a guy trying to get
Speaker 1: to the second level and you hold him up in
Speaker 1: John team, wo would happen to him? The other night
Speaker 1: you took on a big double team team who comes
Speaker 1: to the outside makes a perfect solo tackle. That has
Speaker 1: to be a rewarding in terms of what Jeff is
Speaker 1: talking about as if you, you know, make a tackle
Speaker 1: at the line of scrimmage the way you support your teammates, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's all about being in the best
Speaker 1: position to get your guys to make plays. And like
Speaker 1: you're saying, the double teams, it gives team will a
Speaker 1: chance to make a play, even a TfL that I
Speaker 1: can't get to because I'm taking on a double team.
Speaker 1: Little things like that are game changes for us. So
Speaker 1: you're getting a lot of reps at practice, You're getting
Speaker 1: a lot of reps in the games. You're on two
Speaker 1: different special teams, you know. So I look at the
Speaker 1: elevation in Denver five thousand, twenty five, eight hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty feet and then I looked up UTEP and it's
Speaker 1: four thousand and six feet elevation. Yeah, were you in
Speaker 1: condition for immediate work at Denver or did you feel
Speaker 1: better after two days or three days? I definitely feel
Speaker 1: bet after a couple of days, being that I have
Speaker 1: been up here for the past few years. I haven't
Speaker 1: been back in the pass so since Pro Day. So
Speaker 1: I did have to get used to being that high
Speaker 1: an elevation again. But being in UTEP, I felt that
Speaker 1: I was in pretty good shape anywhere else that I
Speaker 1: went because we were so high in the mountains. But
Speaker 1: I did have to get used to it a couple
Speaker 1: of days. I think that played in my favor that
Speaker 1: we did practice a couple of days with them and
Speaker 1: then play living game. It definitely did help. Roy Robertson
Speaker 1: Harris our guest here on Bear's All Access brought to
Speaker 1: you by IGS Energy, Jeff and Time with You as well.
Speaker 1: Paul's Rang our engineer, and Dan really our producer and
Speaker 1: helping things out at how to Saw. Now that's some
Speaker 1: good research right there, because I didn't even come into
Speaker 1: my head that UTEP is a higher elevation. I had
Speaker 1: never been down there. With our experiences coming from the
Speaker 1: Midwest and college, going Notre Dame to Air Force, or
Speaker 1: going from Chicago to play Denver Broncos and stuff. I just,
Speaker 1: you know, that was always in our minds because we
Speaker 1: didn't have experiences. Maybe when you're a younger person you
Speaker 1: have a little bit of experience with elevation, you kind
Speaker 1: of know what to expect. Yeah, I mean I had
Speaker 1: to ask Danny, hey, how's elevation is it? Is it
Speaker 1: really what people expect? And he's like, oh man, it's
Speaker 1: it's real out there, like you're gonna you know, make
Speaker 1: su you need to hidrate properly and make sure you
Speaker 1: control your breathing. And then I thought back was like, well,
Speaker 1: I played a no passo for four years five with
Speaker 1: the rich shirt, it shouldn't be too bad. And sure
Speaker 1: enough I got my second win. In the middle of practice,
Speaker 1: you know, things started to get better. And then obviously
Speaker 1: in the game, you practice with them for two days,
Speaker 1: had a mock game, things like that. After a while
Speaker 1: you get you get pretty used to it. But the
Speaker 1: funny thing, as you come off the bush, the first
Speaker 1: thing you see is this big right though altitude sickness
Speaker 1: and all this business. But they remind you on the
Speaker 1: side of the stadium too. It says five eighty fee.
Speaker 1: They make sure that you know that. You know, most
Speaker 1: defensive linemen, when it's not their period, they get a
Speaker 1: chance to rest or relax. You're on kickoff return, you're
Speaker 1: on extra point and field goal protection. You're on extra
Speaker 1: point and field goal block. So for a guy like you,
Speaker 1: because you're such a good athlete. Sometimes your coaches are
Speaker 1: attempted to get you more involved than some other guys.
Speaker 1: I've spent my entire career, from my first game to
Speaker 1: my last game on kickoff return. Yeah, how as a
Speaker 1: defensive player, how are you absorbing and accepting that role.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that coach wants me on special teams.
Speaker 1: As I've gotten to this point, I think, I think
Speaker 1: the fact that we played in Denver in the elevation,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, you know, maybe I don't know, but
Speaker 1: the fact that I have these roles, it makes me
Speaker 1: feel good that coaches trusting me that I can't play
Speaker 1: defense and play special teams. But as time goes on,
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, I've been more focused on
Speaker 1: playing defense. I feel like special teams. I played a
Speaker 1: whole year starting on punk return, starting on kick off return.
Speaker 1: I felt comfortable enough, Hey, let me focus more on
Speaker 1: defense reverse. Last year I was more focused on, Hey,
Speaker 1: special teams. I gotta make the team. That's how you're
Speaker 1: gonna do it. I drafted rookie things like that. Defense.
Speaker 1: Defense will come because I'm not getting as many reps.
Speaker 1: Now it's reverse, I'm getting all. I'm getting all these
Speaker 1: reps in the game, all these reps in practice, and
Speaker 1: it's reverse special teams. I'm not really getting any reps
Speaker 1: because I mean, we don't know how the how it's
Speaker 1: all gone unfold. The extra point field will protection where
Speaker 1: your job is this difficult? You know you had he
Speaker 1: has two guys. He is an inside guy who's got
Speaker 1: to be long enough to get the outside. He's long enough, right,
Speaker 1: we know, no, Um, you know Steve McMichael did the
Speaker 1: same role when I was here, a defensive lineman who
Speaker 1: was talented. And when I see you in that role
Speaker 1: out there, I can see, Okay, I know why Royce
Speaker 1: picked for that. Well. The path is quite similar in
Speaker 1: many respects to Israel Adnager when he was here, a
Speaker 1: big body player like yourself who cut his teeth on
Speaker 1: special teams and would run down the field. At his size,
Speaker 1: as you guys are are very similar to that size.
Speaker 1: It was pretty scary for the guy that he was
Speaker 1: going to get hit by. But then he evolved and
Speaker 1: they they yollowed his weight constantly. So one year he
Speaker 1: was this and he was inside, next year is this
Speaker 1: he's outside. You've been building ever since college, your weight
Speaker 1: to what it is, right, now you said earlier about
Speaker 1: two ninety five, Is that right? Do you feel comfortable
Speaker 1: with that? You still swift quick? You feel good about that?
Speaker 1: I feel pretty good. Um. One thing I would say
Speaker 1: the fact that I played a lot of special teams
Speaker 1: last year. I do feel that I was more comfortable
Speaker 1: at that weight, being that I didn't play that many
Speaker 1: snaps on defense. Now that I'm a little bit heavier,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here like, uh, should I lose maybe five
Speaker 1: pounds if I do have to play a lot of
Speaker 1: special teams this year. So it's kind of like it's
Speaker 1: kind of a waiting game because preseason I haven't had
Speaker 1: to play really that many special team snaps at least
Speaker 1: part return, kickoff return. I only did two or three
Speaker 1: kickoff return snaps this the other day. Punt return, I
Speaker 1: haven't played any snaps. And then field goal, you're taking
Speaker 1: two steps, You're not really gonna feel it. So would
Speaker 1: that be a personal choice that you could present to
Speaker 1: your coaches or do they tell you, hey, you know right,
Speaker 1: me and Jay spoke about the weight. He does want
Speaker 1: me at two ninety five, and that's to be a
Speaker 1: little more stout on double teams, you know, taking on
Speaker 1: guys in the run things like that, but it would
Speaker 1: be a little more tougher for me to have to
Speaker 1: run after guys on punt return to get blocks. If
Speaker 1: I'm two ninety five, it's a little bit different. Lashout
Speaker 1: was two eighty five. So I think it'll be a
Speaker 1: personal decision, you know, maybe get down to about ninety
Speaker 1: ninety two. I feel like I've strength trained pretty well
Speaker 1: over the summertime, and if I were to play at
Speaker 1: ninety ninety two, I still play the same on defense
Speaker 1: as well as playing on special teams. Roy Robertson Harris,
Speaker 1: our guest here on Bears All Access, will pick up
Speaker 1: the conversation where he left it off his offseason work,
Speaker 1: what he did in the gym and in the boxing ring.
Speaker 1: That's Roy Robertson Harris here on Bears All Access with
Speaker 1: Tom There, Jeff Jony Act on Chicago Sports Radio six
Speaker 1: seventy The Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access, brought
Speaker 1: to you by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural gas, and home warranty products
Speaker 1: to over one million customers across the country. Learn more
Speaker 1: about IGS Energy at igs dot com. Jeff Jony act
Speaker 1: Tom there, and I guess Roy Robertson Harris the big
Speaker 1: defensive end, how to bring his third year here with
Speaker 1: the Bears and off to a heck of a start.
Speaker 1: And a lot of the roots of your off season
Speaker 1: was built in the gym and you went to various
Speaker 1: different lengths to get yourself in the condition you wanted.
Speaker 1: What was the plan, how was it executed, and why
Speaker 1: did you choose to do what you did? So Jay
Speaker 1: talked about boxing a lot anytime we've done workouts and
Speaker 1: OTAs he trying to throw a little bit of boxing
Speaker 1: in there. So hey, let me try this. Let me
Speaker 1: see how I feel comfortable with. You know, in the summertime,
Speaker 1: so poundful pound boxing over in Highland Park. Got in
Speaker 1: contact with them and twice a week I will go
Speaker 1: in there hand speed. Well, first we do we do
Speaker 1: a little bit of conditioning, so we'll do one minute
Speaker 1: intervals and do three rounds, about five different workouts. Dog
Speaker 1: tired after all done. And then we get in the ring.
Speaker 1: We do a lot of different hand speed drills and
Speaker 1: get on the heavy bag. You gotta take on double teams,
Speaker 1: so why not work on the heavy bag. And then
Speaker 1: I also worked with Chuck Smith over in Atlanta. We
Speaker 1: did a lot of pass rush moves and things like that,
Speaker 1: working on double hand swipe, working on the stab, little
Speaker 1: things like that to just help with my pass rushing
Speaker 1: in the games. I feel like, UM, that made a
Speaker 1: huge difference so far and UM definitely want to take
Speaker 1: that into the regular season. Chuck played for the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Falcons and tutors a ton of pass rushers. Now are
Speaker 1: you telling me x NFL players now the audience? You
Speaker 1: know what's cool about your room is I really like
Speaker 1: the energy that Jay Rogers brings upon you guys every
Speaker 1: day if you come out there. Uh it's not you're
Speaker 1: not going to be that way, but you know, outside
Speaker 1: a team, I like the youth in the room because
Speaker 1: you gotta pull. You have to pull Jonathan, Jonathan Bullard's
Speaker 1: gotta push you. You gotta push John Jenkins, He's got
Speaker 1: to push you. Eddie and the whole crew. You know,
Speaker 1: you do have that enthusiasm from your position coach, where
Speaker 1: I think is really important because offensive defense every day
Speaker 1: practice is kind of monotonous. But he's a type of
Speaker 1: guy that can cultivate that young talent on this team,
Speaker 1: no doubt Jay is a real energetic guy. Even in meetings,
Speaker 1: he's he's real, he's real upbringing, he's real positive. Um,
Speaker 1: he brings it out to the practice field. If we're
Speaker 1: I'm all sluggish, he's, hey, we have that juice out
Speaker 1: there today. Let's make sure we bring the juice every
Speaker 1: single day. That's Jay. And that's one thing I do
Speaker 1: like about Jay is he makes sure that he's real
Speaker 1: positive with this every single day. Hey, let's get it
Speaker 1: going today. If you're having a bad day, let's make
Speaker 1: sure we get out in the practice field and make
Speaker 1: it a good day. I think that's one of the
Speaker 1: things about the fundamentals and the techniques have offered some
Speaker 1: defensive lineman. You've got to be positively reinforced every day,
Speaker 1: whether you're in high school or college, and even especially
Speaker 1: at this level, because the talent you're seeing every day
Speaker 1: is different. And that's the thing. So you go in
Speaker 1: the first two preseason games, you go out there and
Speaker 1: you play against the guys, and it's the first time
Speaker 1: they see you and you see them. So now you've
Speaker 1: got a series of one on ones and different type
Speaker 1: of tempo periods with the Denver Broncos. Did that help
Speaker 1: you in the game or did it make things a
Speaker 1: little bit different? I feel like it definitely helped me
Speaker 1: in the game. You'll see, like one on ones, you'll
Speaker 1: see the way guys set you see, Hey, this guy's
Speaker 1: gonna jumps at you. He's gonna sit there and wait
Speaker 1: for you. All right, that's the opportunity for one move
Speaker 1: or another. So definitely two days, two old days, two
Speaker 1: practices with these guys, I think it made a big difference,
Speaker 1: and you're able to see what guy's tendencies are in
Speaker 1: practice and what they're gonna do in the game. You know,
Speaker 1: you're a long guy in one of your best moves
Speaker 1: as your hand right to the middle of the offensive
Speaker 1: lineman's chest and they can't stop you because they can't
Speaker 1: touch and you're driving back. So you get an offensive guard.
Speaker 1: Offensive guard imuc's got stumpy little arms. Are you licking
Speaker 1: your chops because your length is such an asset and
Speaker 1: pass right, No doubt. That's one thing that I feel
Speaker 1: like Jay has helped me with. It's making sure that
Speaker 1: I use my length to my advantage, especially if a
Speaker 1: guard ass shorter arms, and um, I try to make
Speaker 1: sure that that's something I'm practicing every single day, whether
Speaker 1: it's during one on ones team periods, if we're just
Speaker 1: working on you know, individual just hey, work on that
Speaker 1: stat working on getting your arms out, making sure you're
Speaker 1: striking a guy in the chest. That's something I've made
Speaker 1: an effort to working on every single day. That's what
Speaker 1: happened to Ron Learry in the game on Saturday night,
Speaker 1: that left arm. And we talked about with Jay Rodgers
Speaker 1: at practice before training camp, ended about unlocking the hands
Speaker 1: of his guys, in particular Leonard Floyd, and I'm certain
Speaker 1: that applies to you as well, and everybody that's rushing
Speaker 1: the passer um at Brandon Staley talking about that for
Speaker 1: Leonard Floyd obviously the outside linebacker. But so the Denver
Speaker 1: post apparently did how long it took to get pressure
Speaker 1: on case keenum They timed it or whatever, and so
Speaker 1: it took two point eight nine seconds, And that's that's
Speaker 1: that's the time it took for you to put the
Speaker 1: left hand in the chest and wrap up the quarterback.
Speaker 1: But those thirty three and a half inch ore, is
Speaker 1: that what it is? Thirty three and a half I
Speaker 1: don't know. I didn't get pretty long. I didn't go
Speaker 1: to the combines. Yeah, the half sack or the individual sack.
Speaker 1: That was when he grabbed him. Remember I said he
Speaker 1: was it was like a raptor frying out because it
Speaker 1: was it was really Yes, you really did it with
Speaker 1: one arm. Yeah, I mean that's the beauties I have
Speaker 1: in long arms. Um. I trying to make sure if
Speaker 1: I if I can't get to a quarterback, I at
Speaker 1: least reached for him and it hit him. Miss I
Speaker 1: either get him or you know, he'll step up and go.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, thank god I was able to
Speaker 1: get him down. I think I got the same exactly.
Speaker 1: The players look identical to each other, one in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame game and the one I had in
Speaker 1: Denver um looking at it on film. But um, I
Speaker 1: feel like I got the job done. And it's not
Speaker 1: about how cute is get it. Get the quarterback down
Speaker 1: and get it to that. Hey, when you're mugging the quarterback,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what it looks like. It's exciting, nonetheless,
Speaker 1: which which drives me to think, what it is a
Speaker 1: what if scenario? So if you were, say two seventy
Speaker 1: five to two ninety as a college defensive end with
Speaker 1: your hand down on the ground, what kind of damage
Speaker 1: might you have done because you didn't rush. You weren't
Speaker 1: asked to rush the passer as much in college you're
Speaker 1: outside linebacker. They did a lot of zone blitzing, a
Speaker 1: lot of zone type of pressures. Do you ever think
Speaker 1: about that if it would have started that way? Being
Speaker 1: well I was, I was actually a defensive and just
Speaker 1: in a different system. Um, we did a lot of
Speaker 1: four two five, right, four three? Just four three? Oh
Speaker 1: wasn't fourty three? Is everything I read? They say it
Speaker 1: was a four two five? It wasn't accurate. Yes, it was,
Speaker 1: so we ran. We did run a lot of zone pressures,
Speaker 1: and it was it was tough to rush. Anytime I
Speaker 1: did get a chance to rush, it was we ran well.
Speaker 1: I mean conference, you would say it's a passionate league.
Speaker 1: Everyone's in the shotgun, everyone's quick pass out. You only
Speaker 1: got two seconds to get to the quarterback. So, um,
Speaker 1: I feel like I didn't get enough opportunities to rush
Speaker 1: us With the zones, you know, we're either drop into
Speaker 1: a flat to or running back, fullback, tight end or
Speaker 1: running you know, for the safeties to come through and
Speaker 1: or mike'st you know, rush and get get themselves saction.
Speaker 1: I did feel comfortable in that defense, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, I wish I did have more opportunities. But
Speaker 1: now we're here, can't live in the pass and just
Speaker 1: trying to get better here in the NFL league. How
Speaker 1: about your evolution as a defensive player against our po
Speaker 1: specifically because you are in a position of influence and
Speaker 1: how they're going to run that play? Has it? Has
Speaker 1: it changed your approach or do you just have to
Speaker 1: play with more awareness according to the down and distance
Speaker 1: formations and personality you see, it's all about the aware this. Um,
Speaker 1: you have to know the down in distance. Um, it's
Speaker 1: all about watching film. What you know what you see
Speaker 1: on film. Hey, these guys are gonna run this on
Speaker 1: this down. These guys are gonna U on this down. Um,
Speaker 1: it's all about studying your opponent and seeing what they're
Speaker 1: gonna do at the end of the day. In terms
Speaker 1: of the run game, is your size? How do you
Speaker 1: maintain pad level and stick to it in your head?
Speaker 1: Because the first thing you do is you just go
Speaker 1: you you go back to what you know right to
Speaker 1: make the play right. Being being six six, it is
Speaker 1: tough for me to keep low pad level. Um, and
Speaker 1: Jay gets on me about that every single day. Hey,
Speaker 1: this is what you need to work on your pad
Speaker 1: level and your feet. Um, I think if I if
Speaker 1: I get my pad level lower, I'd be just fine
Speaker 1: as a player. The downfalls and the negative plays that
Speaker 1: I do have is because of my height. I get
Speaker 1: up and I stand straight up, and um, that's been
Speaker 1: I think since I've been playing ball, that's been one
Speaker 1: of my toughest things. Kalais Campbell makes it look easy.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean he's Kalais Campbell. I'm not so
Speaker 1: yet yet. That's right, big time. Yet, the potential is unlimited.
Speaker 1: You must realize that potential. To me, it's some's someone
Speaker 1: that ain't done nothing. So I'm, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: get past the potentially and I want to be I
Speaker 1: want to be one of the greats, trying to learn
Speaker 1: from other guys in the room and be the best
Speaker 1: player I could be. Roy robertson Harris Bears Defensive End.
Speaker 1: Joining us here on Bears All Access will continue with
Speaker 1: Tom Fair Jeff Joniac on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy
Speaker 1: The Score. Get the latest Bears news, photos and videos
Speaker 1: delivered straight to your mobile device. Download the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: Official Mobile at presented by a Verizon. Segment three with
Speaker 1: Bears defensive en Roy Robertson Harris with Tom Fair and
Speaker 1: Jeff Joniac breaking down what's happened so far and still
Speaker 1: a ways to go before the season opener. It feels
Speaker 1: like it's felt like a real long journey, hasn't it.
Speaker 1: So this is the longest preseason training camp I've been through,
Speaker 1: But it's all worth it. We're going to win games
Speaker 1: this year and do what we can to be one
Speaker 1: of the best teams. Ask him along one of his personally,
Speaker 1: it's worth it for you because you know Roy, realistically,
Speaker 1: the more opportunities you get to shine in front of
Speaker 1: the coaches, the more you're going to upgrade your opportunities. Hey,
Speaker 1: here you are your college free agent. Today, you're meeting
Speaker 1: the media. You've been through a position change, and now
Speaker 1: you've got multiple sacks in the preseason. The opportunity you're
Speaker 1: creating for yourself has to be pretty encouraging for you
Speaker 1: personally when you come to work. Oh yeah, sir, I
Speaker 1: definitely love the fact that the coaches are giving me
Speaker 1: the opportunity to get more snaps. Last year I was
Speaker 1: running with the threes. Now I'm running with the ones
Speaker 1: and road stating with bulls to you know, get these
Speaker 1: snaps in. But I definitely love the fact that Jay
Speaker 1: is trusting me, and hey, I want you to I
Speaker 1: want you to start off and I want you to,
Speaker 1: you know, get as many snaps as you can in
Speaker 1: the game and in practice. And I feel like it's
Speaker 1: getting me better. And just like I said, giving me
Speaker 1: an opportunity. Can I put a little bit more pressure
Speaker 1: on you. I've been talking to I've been talking about
Speaker 1: this with Jeff. Yeah, he's this is the day of
Speaker 1: the season. The success and failure this football team is
Speaker 1: gonna be decided by the nineties. That's ninety ninety one,
Speaker 1: ninety five, ninety four, in ninety nine, and and that's
Speaker 1: well ninety six. I'm kind of putting him on a pedestal,
Speaker 1: but I think that that's that side of that. And
Speaker 1: I mean the Bear, the guys in the Bears jerseys
Speaker 1: in those ninety numbers, Eddie Goldman, yourself, Lynch and so
Speaker 1: I really think that this was a top ten defense
Speaker 1: last year. This team defense gets in the top five,
Speaker 1: you guys are gonna have a lot of the responsibility
Speaker 1: for that, I would think. So I mean the I
Speaker 1: mean games are won on defense. We've been taught that
Speaker 1: since we've known the game of football. Um, and I
Speaker 1: feel I feel great to be a part of this defense.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of great guys on the front seven,
Speaker 1: and um don't I mean we got great dvs. Two.
Speaker 1: But being being a defensive and playing on that front seven,
Speaker 1: it's a humbling experience. UM. I love the guys I'm around.
Speaker 1: We got some great team leaders, guys like a team
Speaker 1: and and Danny, I feel like there there are defensive leaders. Um,
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna do great things this year. Three
Speaker 1: years ago, I believe it was April eighteenth, you got
Speaker 1: a private workout here with the Bears and you're in
Speaker 1: the same car I think, going back to the airport
Speaker 1: with Leonard Floyd. So you guys struck a relationship right
Speaker 1: then and there, and you've seen each other grow and
Speaker 1: you've seen what he's going through. Now another injury. Sadly,
Speaker 1: hopefully it'll it'll something to be able to play through.
Speaker 1: And with the hand injury, broken bones in his hand,
Speaker 1: so they're gonna see if they could cast it up
Speaker 1: and let them go to work. How is he Uh,
Speaker 1: he's got to be frustrated because that you know, that's
Speaker 1: something that happens to players obviously, but it's been successive
Speaker 1: seasons of trying to overcome something. Right. I talked to Flow,
Speaker 1: He's doing good. Um, his mindset is good. He's real
Speaker 1: positive right now. Um. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's part of the game. Injuries happening, and at this
Speaker 1: point it's just a waiting game seeing where he's at. Um,
Speaker 1: there's not too much I could say about it, but
Speaker 1: from what I've from what he's told me, he's he's
Speaker 1: doing fine. Is miset is great, He's ready to play.
Speaker 1: You know, I think he got a reflection of Leonard
Speaker 1: Floyd being able to recover and take part in every
Speaker 1: play a training camp recovering from the knee injury. I
Speaker 1: think that's a reflection of how important it is that player.
Speaker 1: So whatever, you know, this is not a setback. It's
Speaker 1: just something that you go through during the course of
Speaker 1: having a career. You know, my brother in law had
Speaker 1: a bad finger and played with a stump on his
Speaker 1: hand for eight weeks. I'm not saying that's Leonard, but
Speaker 1: you know, a guy like Leonard has proved to a
Speaker 1: lot of people that it is important to him. And
Speaker 1: I think he's got the feet in the athleticism and
Speaker 1: the length to if he can play, to play well. Lear,
Speaker 1: He's gonna do fine. Um. He does a good job
Speaker 1: of recovering. Um, you know, guys, guy saw how well
Speaker 1: he took part in making sure the recovery stuff. It
Speaker 1: was important to him coming in with his knee, and
Speaker 1: he did. I think he did a really good job
Speaker 1: and training camp and taking care of his body so
Speaker 1: um with his hand, I think he's gonna be just fine.
Speaker 1: He's gonna recover very well. He's gonna come in and
Speaker 1: be flow. Roy Robertson Harris our guest here on Bears
Speaker 1: All Access brought to you by IGS Energy with Tom there,
Speaker 1: Jeff Joniac. Going back even further in your life and
Speaker 1: the stories we read that people have done on you,
Speaker 1: and there was a lot of stories are written about
Speaker 1: players leading up to the draft. The love of the
Speaker 1: game wasn't quite there initially in your career, right, tell
Speaker 1: us why tell us that story? Oh I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't really like sports when I was a kid. Um,
Speaker 1: when I first started playing football, I didn't like hitting.
Speaker 1: I didn't like getting hit. I told I told my
Speaker 1: coach I wanted to play receiver, and he said, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: the old lineman are down there. I wanted to go
Speaker 1: play right tackle. I was upset. I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do. There was one day I told my mom
Speaker 1: I didn't want to play anymore and sold up to practice,
Speaker 1: just hating it. I didn't like it, and once I
Speaker 1: moved to Texas, things started changing for me. I was
Speaker 1: a little bit bigger than most of the kids, played
Speaker 1: a little bit of tight end, and then switched over
Speaker 1: the defensive end, defensive end back to tight end, outside linebacker,
Speaker 1: and then early in high school I told my coach
Speaker 1: I wanted to play safety and he's looked at you're
Speaker 1: wearing at that time. Then, this was my freshman year
Speaker 1: of high school. I was about six three, not even
Speaker 1: two hundred pounds yet I was still super small. I
Speaker 1: say about one eighty five maybe one ninety at the
Speaker 1: very most, and I remember asking my coach, hey, I
Speaker 1: want to play safety. I want to, you know, I
Speaker 1: wanted to be Troy Paulamalu. That was my guy as
Speaker 1: a kid. And he looked at me like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what you're thinking you're too big. You know, it
Speaker 1: was no safety in the NFL that big, and so
Speaker 1: m I stayed on defense to play defensive end, a
Speaker 1: little bit of tight end back and forth, and then
Speaker 1: going into my junior senior year, that was it. I
Speaker 1: stayed on defense and got real comfortable and the rest
Speaker 1: is history. I'm here and playing for the greatest team
Speaker 1: in the league right now. It's an awesome experience. As
Speaker 1: to hear that story, right, Yeah, Austin Journey. You know, well,
Speaker 1: I think of a guy like him, who's got his
Speaker 1: entire life that hid the football. He always tells the
Speaker 1: story about when he went his mom took him to
Speaker 1: practice it, you know, the midget football or whatever it was.
Speaker 1: He cried every day my first two years. I cried
Speaker 1: every day any way to practice. My mom would push
Speaker 1: me out of the car and say, hey, you'll stop
Speaker 1: crying when you see your friends. Because when you're a
Speaker 1: big guy, you know you're not choosing a position. The
Speaker 1: position has been chosen for you by birthright, So I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be anything other than an offensive lineman. Luckily
Speaker 1: you had the athleticism to be a defensive lineman. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's not the funnest up positions when you
Speaker 1: go out there as an eight year old kid to
Speaker 1: an open field and start, you know, banging yea out there.
Speaker 1: Well I was. I was twelve when I started playing,
Speaker 1: so I was a little bit older. Um the guys
Speaker 1: that because the divisions we were playing it was all
Speaker 1: based on weight, right, So all the other guys that
Speaker 1: I was playing with, all my teammates, were fourteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: and I was twelve, so I'm the youngest, but you know,
Speaker 1: I'm one of the biggest guys. Um. But I hated it.
Speaker 1: One day, I actually did have a crime store. I
Speaker 1: remember coming coming back to the car and my Mom's like,
Speaker 1: what's wrong. So I don't want to do this no more.
Speaker 1: I don't want to play. I'm tiring of this. These
Speaker 1: guys are hitting me and this and that and uh,
Speaker 1: I mean she she didn't, Hey, this is what you
Speaker 1: wanted to do. This is you know, you chose to play.
Speaker 1: You chose to sign up for football, so um, you
Speaker 1: have to you have to thug it out for the
Speaker 1: rest of the season. So that's what I did, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, ended up moving to Texas, and obviously Texas
Speaker 1: is football country, so um got more comfortable and um,
Speaker 1: like I said, the rest is history out here. And
Speaker 1: that was a Dallas area, right, Dallas area from Oakland.
Speaker 1: Was that tough for you as a because now you're
Speaker 1: a young team. I mean, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it was, it is what it is. Uh, I had
Speaker 1: really no choice. It was either you stay in the
Speaker 1: Bay Area you come with us to Texas, and I
Speaker 1: chose to move. And ye know, at first I didn't
Speaker 1: like it. I say, the first year I didn't like
Speaker 1: it and started making more friends and yeah, from time
Speaker 1: to time, I'll still talk to guys from back home
Speaker 1: in Dallas, still keeping contact with everyone in the Bay So,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I did at first, I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: I hated it, to be honest. You ever watched Friday
Speaker 1: Night Lights when it was on the TV show, the
Speaker 1: movie the TV show, That show was one of my
Speaker 1: favorite TV shows of all time. Well, after the break,
Speaker 1: we got to talk about it because I kind of
Speaker 1: got caught into binge watching that and it's about high
Speaker 1: school technas football. One of the greatest books I read.
Speaker 1: That book. Well, let's bring it out back wall, share
Speaker 1: stories about Friday Night It Lights here with right Robertson
Speaker 1: Harris kind enough to join us and spent a significant
Speaker 1: amount of his a day with us. You're on Bears
Speaker 1: All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score
Speaker 1: the youngest twenty five preseason game against the Chiefs coat
Speaker 1: up on Saturday, brought to you by Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: partner United Airlines. The first twenty five thousand fans entering
Speaker 1: Soldier Field received a Bears schedule magnet courtesy of United
Speaker 1: Airlines United, probably flying the Bears for over forty years.
Speaker 1: Roy Robertson Harris our guest with Tom There Jeff Joniac.
Speaker 1: Before we went to the break, we were talking about
Speaker 1: Friday Night Lights, the book, the movie in the series
Speaker 1: in time. You said you were a binge watcher of
Speaker 1: that show, right, because Roy's from Texas and those I
Speaker 1: you know, I had a successful high school program, but
Speaker 1: you watched the fabricated TV shows just everything that's poured
Speaker 1: into Texas high school football, you know, the support of
Speaker 1: the signs in the yard, the crowds and everything like that.
Speaker 1: Did you have that experience with Texas football at that
Speaker 1: age or was it something that's kind of blown up
Speaker 1: in our minds for the TV show South Grand Prairie,
Speaker 1: Texas High School. South Grand Prairie is a little bit
Speaker 1: of a bigger town than the fictional Dylan High School,
Speaker 1: and obviously Odessa. Odessa is a small town, but they're
Speaker 1: all about Odessa Permian being in a bigger city. Grand
Speaker 1: Prairie is actually right next to the city of Dallas.
Speaker 1: So they're not shutting stores down, They're not shutting the
Speaker 1: whole city down. I'll go to our games. Plus we
Speaker 1: have Rand Parade which is on the north side. That's
Speaker 1: our arrival. Um so you got two games going on
Speaker 1: in the city. Um, so they're not shutting it down
Speaker 1: to go to you know, either or games. But the
Speaker 1: like playing in the games, it's like it was like college.
Speaker 1: Like the band's playing. Everyone's screaming their their lungs out,
Speaker 1: you know, cheering for us. We score touchdown, we make
Speaker 1: plays on defense. The experience of playing in Texas was phenomenal.
Speaker 1: You can't you can't play high school ball anywhere else.
Speaker 1: That's playing and simple. Um, what you see in the
Speaker 1: movies and the TV shows is very true, but you're
Speaker 1: only seeing that in the small towns like Odessa. Everyone
Speaker 1: shuts the whole city down to go to the games,
Speaker 1: everyone shuts the city down. Hey, we're going in the
Speaker 1: state where the whole city is gonna travel on the state. Um,
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to play in state. We
Speaker 1: played Uless Trinity in the first round of the playoffs
Speaker 1: and uh we actually played them pretty good, but they
Speaker 1: went on in At one statement, were there any other
Speaker 1: NFL players on that field that day other than Roy
Speaker 1: Robertson has not that I know of. I know there
Speaker 1: was a running back they had, Uh, Tevin Williams. I
Speaker 1: think he went to Oklahoma and then um Brandon Carter
Speaker 1: he went to TCU. Everybody else just a memory, which
Speaker 1: is the bulk of players. When you think about it's
Speaker 1: the whole. It's the funnel effect that I always talk about.
Speaker 1: Everybody plays. That funnel gets real small when you start
Speaker 1: to get to two percent is definitely real or the
Speaker 1: one percent? What is it now that people are saying
Speaker 1: the one so was the was the heat extreme? Because
Speaker 1: now the conditions you're playing here, they got as many
Speaker 1: beautiful manicured fields outside here, the whole facility here in Househall.
Speaker 1: Did you have to live through the extreme heat of
Speaker 1: Texas and the kind of because if he can live
Speaker 1: through that. It's kind of a springboard going Okay, I
Speaker 1: have a measurable desire to be able to do this,
Speaker 1: but these conditions are more perfect in the middle or
Speaker 1: better up here, well being being in Texas. You get
Speaker 1: used to it because you have to. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't just pray for snow in Texas. So I mean
Speaker 1: you live through it. Eventually, your body gets used to it,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, you can't really do much complaining
Speaker 1: because it's not gonna say it's it's gonna be there
Speaker 1: whether you like it or not. And then you choose
Speaker 1: to play the sport, so you can't do you can't
Speaker 1: do too much complaining about it. You get used to it.
Speaker 1: That nineteen eighty four, when I was just I was
Speaker 1: senior at Iowa State and my first job offer was Odessa,
Speaker 1: Texas at a TV station. I had never heard of Odessa, Texas.
Speaker 1: I had no I had no idea, and he told
Speaker 1: me what I was gonna make, and I no, I
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna stay home. But I but when Friday
Speaker 1: Night Lights the book came out, I read that thing
Speaker 1: cover to cover a few times, like, man, that must
Speaker 1: have been something. Yeah, I missed that opportunity and it
Speaker 1: was high school sports. You should get you should get
Speaker 1: a globe. Yeah, I start understanding the equator at where
Speaker 1: the world is. We're here with the man A Big
Speaker 1: Xander ninety five. That's Big capital x A and d
Speaker 1: E R ninety five on Twitter? What's the Elexander? Which
Speaker 1: Big exad? My old handle used to actually be I
Speaker 1: am Rob Harris for Robertson Harris, but everyone started calling
Speaker 1: me Rob like it was my first name. So Big
Speaker 1: Xander m Alexander's my middle name. So um my gamer
Speaker 1: tag actually on PlayStation if anybody likes to play Fortnite,
Speaker 1: I'm a Fortnite fan, it's Young Xander. Back when I
Speaker 1: had um had got my first PlayStation in college, it
Speaker 1: was Young Xander forty three. I was number forty three cars.
Speaker 1: Now it's Big Xander ninety five playing Fortnite. Is it
Speaker 1: Roy Robertson Alexander Harris? No, no no, no, it's Roy Alexander
Speaker 1: Robertson Robertson Harris. Yeah. Everyone, So, so long story short,
Speaker 1: my mom's got married. Her last name is Robertson. My
Speaker 1: dad's last name is Harris, and uh I got the
Speaker 1: name change once I graduated from school to have robertson,
Speaker 1: Harris Alexander's just my middle name. Who's doing the Fortnite
Speaker 1: thing with you? Everybody? Yeah, everybody, everybody. I try and
Speaker 1: engage with some of my fans on Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker 1: Um if I do get the chance to get on.
Speaker 1: We've obviously been in camp, so I haven't been on
Speaker 1: a long time, but summertime I usually get on with
Speaker 1: any of the fans that invite me, those semi invites,
Speaker 1: or they just want to play for a little bit,
Speaker 1: so I try. Kyle Long's big into the gaming to
Speaker 1: I'm not as big as Tarik and Kylor on a
Speaker 1: different level. I never said anything about being good. I
Speaker 1: just like, I just enjoy playing it with my guys.
Speaker 1: So well. The crazy thing is that the esports thing
Speaker 1: that not just necessarily I don't know, maybe it is,
Speaker 1: but it's blowing up. I mean, they're selling out arenas
Speaker 1: with people to pay money to go watch young kids
Speaker 1: play video games. It's foreign to guy's our age, you know.
Speaker 1: And I read fifty wish I had something like that
Speaker 1: as a kid. My moms she was real big on
Speaker 1: not letting me play the game. I had to do
Speaker 1: chores or uh, you know, read a book for an
Speaker 1: hour just to get thirty minutes on the PlayStation. But Roy,
Speaker 1: you you're an athlete, you've developed your craft, you're the
Speaker 1: entirety of your life. If you would have had access
Speaker 1: to that and you spend the hours to it, would
Speaker 1: you be the would you be in this seat? Not
Speaker 1: at all? I would be I'd be lazy, I'd be Hey,
Speaker 1: I just want to play video games all day. So
Speaker 1: I do look back and I do think, my mom,
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you did. Um you know, limit the
Speaker 1: time that I had on a video game, because that's
Speaker 1: all I would do if I had nothing else to do,
Speaker 1: That's all I would do. Well, you know when kids
Speaker 1: and moms listen to the show and they hear you,
Speaker 1: I do think it's an important lesson because yeah, you
Speaker 1: can always create an incentive or give them amount of
Speaker 1: time to play the games, but you still have to
Speaker 1: cultivate you as a person. And whether you're a cross
Speaker 1: country to football, you know you got to take advantage
Speaker 1: of that as an outstanding point. Well, absolutely, I think
Speaker 1: the I think the difference obviously, like back then I
Speaker 1: was a kid, I didn't know what was good for me. Now,
Speaker 1: that I'm at this level and I have a family
Speaker 1: to feed. I know myself, Hey, I can't spend too
Speaker 1: much time doing this because I have to do that.
Speaker 1: I have to go train, I have to go to practice.
Speaker 1: I have to eat the right things, little things like that.
Speaker 1: You know. I have to make those decisions because I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a job. It's you know, no longer, Hey, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go play football with my friends out in the park.
Speaker 1: I have This is a living now. So you know,
Speaker 1: the young kids that are hearing this, you know, do
Speaker 1: listen to your parents. And when they do say hey,
Speaker 1: get off the game, it's because they know what is
Speaker 1: good for you. You don't know yet because you're so young.
Speaker 1: You won't know until you graduate from college. Because even
Speaker 1: in college, I wasn't having the right decisions right. You
Speaker 1: and I did a story last year on radio for
Speaker 1: a short little segment I do, and we talked about
Speaker 1: your dad, Howard, and how he got you up crack
Speaker 1: of dawn every day. That story reminded me exactly what
Speaker 1: that was all about. What aged he started doing that
Speaker 1: to you, and what impact ultimately is that made on you.
Speaker 1: Being a guy who likes to be in the gym
Speaker 1: and get yourself right. So my dad our first year
Speaker 1: moving to Texas, it wasn't really going on, just because
Speaker 1: we were still trying to get used to moving and
Speaker 1: moving into the house and finding where we're gonna go
Speaker 1: to school, things like that. Going into my freshman year,
Speaker 1: he bought a set of weights for me for Christmas,
Speaker 1: and I looked. I was like, okay, you know this
Speaker 1: is cool. You know we lift a little bit. No,
Speaker 1: this was like boot camp, Like we're getting up five
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning. He comes in my room and
Speaker 1: flips my lights like, hey, get up. It ain't not
Speaker 1: like hey, many, let's go. Man, We're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: go work out real quick, and hey get up. I'm
Speaker 1: looking like, okay, all right, we'll see how this goes.
Speaker 1: We'll go downstairs to a bunch of cores and then
Speaker 1: we'll lift, and then around our neighborhood. I think it's
Speaker 1: a mile and a half. So he would make me
Speaker 1: run the mom I thought he was gonna do with me.
Speaker 1: From time to time he would, but he would follow
Speaker 1: me in his car and I'd have to run the
Speaker 1: whole neighborhood, which was a mile and a half. That
Speaker 1: was before school. I would still have to go to practice.
Speaker 1: I still have to Yeah, I'd go to practice later
Speaker 1: that day spring ball. I'd get home and then i'd
Speaker 1: have to run again all the way to my swimming
Speaker 1: pool at my school. Then that I think they call
Speaker 1: it the natatorium, and he'd make me swim. Was it
Speaker 1: twenty laps so like down and back was one so
Speaker 1: I don't have to do that. And then after that
Speaker 1: he'll take me to like Sonic. Can't get me the
Speaker 1: Sonic by my high school. They on Tuesdays they'd have
Speaker 1: like dollar burgers. So he gave me like three or
Speaker 1: four burgers, and I'm you know, he's trying to get
Speaker 1: me bigger. I'm still like two hundred pounds soaking wet.
Speaker 1: I'm still a skinny kid. And then um, we do
Speaker 1: either Sonic Burgers or we'll go to Popeye's and get
Speaker 1: the Tuesday special and two for two for one special.
Speaker 1: So um yeah, he'll work He worked me out. It's like, hey,
Speaker 1: you do good and you kill the workout, we'll go eat.
Speaker 1: And then I had a buddy of mine that yeah,
Speaker 1: and that was that was what we did. We we're
Speaker 1: grind and then we'll go eat. You know, every single day,
Speaker 1: I'd love to eat big and if I if I
Speaker 1: worked my tail off, that was my reward. How bigger
Speaker 1: man is he? My dad is six to five, he's uh,
Speaker 1: we don't wait, he's a big he's a big guy.
Speaker 1: He's he's lost weight over time. He's son to get
Speaker 1: back in the gym. He's working a lot, so he
Speaker 1: rarely gets that time. But he's he's constantly working. He
Speaker 1: works his tale off, take care of my moms. So
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. He's the reason why it works so hard.
Speaker 1: You know, he's taught me how to be a man
Speaker 1: and how to take care of your family. Awesome stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you definitely you're digging being a dad too. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that when we come back. Our final segment. Well,
Speaker 1: Roy Robertson Harris here on Bears All Access on Chicago
Speaker 1: Sports Radio six seventy to score. This segment of Bears
Speaker 1: All Access is orchestrated by CDW. CDW people who get it,
Speaker 1: Tom There, Jeff Joniac, and our guest Roy Robertson Harris.
Speaker 1: Outstanding hour of conversation here. We really enjoyed it. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your time. Love hearing about your journey.
Speaker 1: And it's the first day of school around these parts.
Speaker 1: So your son, Jalen was was entered back into the
Speaker 1: mix into school, and I've seen pictures and really hearing
Speaker 1: also about what you feel about being a dad. I
Speaker 1: think you got married right right as football started, right
Speaker 1: in your pro career, so you're a family man right
Speaker 1: from the jump. I'm all about family. Um. I prefer
Speaker 1: to have family barbecues instead of going out in the
Speaker 1: late night. Um, that's just my thing. That's how I've
Speaker 1: always been. My beautiful wife, Crystal. We have a son, Jalen,
Speaker 1: Jalen Adonis. I wanted a Donnas to be his first name,
Speaker 1: but uh, you know how it goes, happy wife, happy life. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah, he started school today. Is Um he's in
Speaker 1: a monastery school learning how to communicate and you know,
Speaker 1: work on social skills with other kids. And UM, so far,
Speaker 1: so good. We'll see how it goes and they come
Speaker 1: pick me up to the All right now, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put you a lot of text, but you and that's
Speaker 1: that's hard to talk about hypothetical, But do you see
Speaker 1: yourself being like your dad in the mornings when you
Speaker 1: are an influence in the person and that your young
Speaker 1: son's future. UM well, I'm definitely gonna let him choose
Speaker 1: if he wants to play sports. Um once well more
Speaker 1: just the encouraging of getting up in the morning, let's
Speaker 1: get the day start. I want to I want to
Speaker 1: encourage him if it's not with football or any sport
Speaker 1: in general. Whatever he chooses to do, we're gonna do
Speaker 1: it to our full potential. The way that my dad
Speaker 1: pushed me to play football, I'm gonna push my son
Speaker 1: to do whatever it is that he wants to do. Um.
Speaker 1: What I am gonna not let him do is play football.
Speaker 1: That's that's what I don't want it unless he chooses
Speaker 1: he wants to. UM but with just the injuries that
Speaker 1: you see, I prefer him to be in uh in baseball,
Speaker 1: and in my choice, I would love him to play
Speaker 1: baseball or basketball. I say, now he grows into a
Speaker 1: six six five and a half six six offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: he's gonna make fifteen million. You know. I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a little bit leaner than so he I
Speaker 1: think if he does play football, he'll he'll be a
Speaker 1: defensive end. Um if he if he takes to his
Speaker 1: mom's side, he'll be a little bit smaller and wait,
Speaker 1: he might be a receiver. Well that's what I love
Speaker 1: about your dad. You know, from from weightlifting to swimming, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a big gap of sports opportunities. And you know,
Speaker 1: swimming is one of the most difficult individual sports because
Speaker 1: it's just not easy to do. So I think next
Speaker 1: to boxing, swimming would be my next most difficult training
Speaker 1: um that I've ever done. Boxing is fun, is good,
Speaker 1: you know, everyone wants to, you know, see what you
Speaker 1: put the dukes up, things like that. But U but
Speaker 1: swim twenty laps and see how you feel. You can't
Speaker 1: even feel yourself sweating obviously because you're wet. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: swimming is one of the toughest workouts I've ever done
Speaker 1: in my life. Your first cousin played for the Saints,
Speaker 1: and time certainly knows. Carl Nix, Oh yeah, two time
Speaker 1: pro bowler, outstanding player, and boy talk about a tough
Speaker 1: man as a day is long as a nasty offensive
Speaker 1: lineman right there? How close were you guys? Or are
Speaker 1: you guys? And as he giving you any during the
Speaker 1: process of getting to where you are today has helped
Speaker 1: you in any way. Oh, I'll talk to Carl every
Speaker 1: now and then. Um, he's in he's in California with
Speaker 1: his family, so um, it's rare that we do talk.
Speaker 1: When we do, it's hey, you're you're doing what you
Speaker 1: gotta do to take care of your family, enjoy the
Speaker 1: moments and train your butt off. I trained with his dad,
Speaker 1: my uncle. He trained me when I was in high
Speaker 1: school getting ready for my junior year, so I got
Speaker 1: to spend some time with him, and he's another reason
Speaker 1: why I was able to to elevate my game going
Speaker 1: into going in the varsity because I was coming from JV.
Speaker 1: So he did help me a lot when it came
Speaker 1: to coming up and getting ready to talk to schools
Speaker 1: that were coming to visit me. You know, Tom, when
Speaker 1: we've painted this picture, thanks to you talking to us
Speaker 1: this way about your life and be so willing to
Speaker 1: explain everything all your journey. I'm sitting here evaluating and
Speaker 1: putting all together and I've painted this picture. How many
Speaker 1: people have really touched you and helped you get and
Speaker 1: take this big bodied individual and help craft him into
Speaker 1: an NFL football player. Do you feel that do you
Speaker 1: realize that that you know people? Because maybe of you,
Speaker 1: of your size. They don't want it to go to waste.
Speaker 1: They've helped you become the man you are as a
Speaker 1: football player and as a human being. Yeah, there's definitely, Uh,
Speaker 1: there's definitely people out there. Um. I can name a
Speaker 1: long list of names that people that's just been out
Speaker 1: there's been there. Just hey, you're a big dude. You
Speaker 1: don't realize your potential that that word potential has been
Speaker 1: thrown at me since high school. You're my head coach
Speaker 1: used to call me mister potential. Um. So it was
Speaker 1: just like, hey, you know, you don't want this big
Speaker 1: body to go to waste. You know you have a
Speaker 1: lot of talent, you have a lot of this, You
Speaker 1: have a lot of that. Don't don't let it go
Speaker 1: to waste. Um. And I feel like I've done, you know,
Speaker 1: the things necessary, but there's also more that I can do.
Speaker 1: There's always more. Um. Another thing. Now, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: back to Jay Rogers. The one thing that I do
Speaker 1: love about him is he'll tell me, Hey, make as
Speaker 1: many mistakes as you can so you only know the
Speaker 1: right way to do it. And that has been one
Speaker 1: thing that help has helped me um along this way. Well,
Speaker 1: all those people would help you. That's why you say
Speaker 1: I'd rather go to a family barbecue than I would
Speaker 1: to a club, which is nice. Have you ever been
Speaker 1: threatened by a three point stance on the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball. Well, no, that's the thing about it is,
Speaker 1: it seems like every good defensive lineman, you know, they
Speaker 1: they're going home, and I'm so glad they don't put
Speaker 1: me in a three point stance to be an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: Was there any you know some coach maybe looked in saying, oh, Roy,
Speaker 1: you could be a heck of an offensive tackle. Or
Speaker 1: I've heard that a few times a year ago, whenever
Speaker 1: I started to put a little more weight on I've
Speaker 1: heard a couple of guys tell me, oh, yeah, you
Speaker 1: look like you could play tackle. You'll be a real
Speaker 1: athletic tackle them. I played offensive line my first year
Speaker 1: playing football, and it was I mean, I can't I
Speaker 1: hate to say big guys have that fighting line. It
Speaker 1: sucks to say, but I didn't enjoy that. I'd rather
Speaker 1: play defense, defense a lot more fun. Sack the quarterback,
Speaker 1: make everybody happy, Well continued to You're off to a
Speaker 1: great start this season, so Roy Robertson Harris our guest
Speaker 1: this week on Inside the Bears, Joel Eway, Booneyway looks
Speaker 1: back at his emotional draft night, and Spice Adams catch
Speaker 1: us up with his former teammate Johnny Knox. Inside the
Speaker 1: Bears airs Saturdays six pm on CW fifty Chicago and
Speaker 1: Sundays at ten thirty five on Fox thirty two Chicago.
Speaker 1: You can also watch show segments online at Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: dot com or on the Chicago Bears official app. That's
Speaker 1: Gonna do it for us? Tonight All Access brought to
Speaker 1: you by IGS Energy Thanks to Roy Robertson, Harris, Dan Barelli,
Speaker 1: pauls Range and four time There, I'm Jeff, Johnny Ak,
Speaker 1: Kurt Lawrence and Tony Killh helping us out as well.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, everybody, have a great night. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access.
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