WEBVTT - A Conversation with Jets OC Mike LaFleur (2/8) 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:10.040 Welcome to the official Pod. We are down here Mobile, Labama. 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.520 By this time, the Senior Bowl is over. But I'm 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.520 joined by Mike La Fleur. We were presented by wind 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:19.680 bet Bet into the team sport but together at win Bet. 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:25.480 You made an entrance here today. How different is your 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:29.640 role now as the offensive coordinators of the New York 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.040 Jets compared to the last time you were here working 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.800 for Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco for much, you know, 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.839 And it's but it's uh, it's coming full circle a 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:40.639 little bit, you know. I mean when we came down here, 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:43.199 it was it was a really good experience. Obviously the 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.120 first two years in San Francisco, um I was a 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:48.760 receiver coach and pass game coordinator and did a lot 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.440 of stuff still with the quarterbacks because Kyle was floating 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.479 around as a head coach when we came down to 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:55.760 the Senior Bowls, like it's your show, you know, so 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.640 there was gonna be no interaction and and basically he 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.120 worked in two thousand eleven. Uh, when he was with 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.880 the Redskins, they worked down here, and they put a 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.080 lot of offense and I guess absolutely overloaded the players 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:11.720 and so the only piece of vice the game. He's like, 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:13.640 you're not gonna make the same mistake I did. So 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:15.600 we came in with a very simple plan. Just allow 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:17.920 these guys to play fast. Um. I thought we had 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.000 a really good week when we came down here. It 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.360 was really good for myself and all the other young 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.720 coaches just to kind of run the room while some 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.360 of the other guys took a step back. And then, um, 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.520 you know, and then I get down here and there's 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:31.280 I don't know where to stand out there right now. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.400 I'm just trying to watch but also not getting the way. 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.800 But you're trying to coach, you know, so um, but 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.160 it's uh, it's cool. It's cool to watch Rob Calvaries 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.280 and all the other guys get a crack at it. 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.520 Yeah you're young, dude, but you're talking about Rob Calabrie's 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:47.280 who's I believe thirty one year thirty five? What's it 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.680 like when you go in that quarterbacks meeting room and 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.640 watch him orches straight, I'm thirty four. I got one more. 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.480 The only reason Eric I'm gonna say that is because 0:01:57.480 --> 0:01:59.520 my wife just turned thirty five. So we always have 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.040 that little six week buffer where I get to be 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.480 the okay, so I jumping on right there? No, it's UM, 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:11.400 it's cool. You know Rob, Rob's a very intelligent, smart guy. Um, 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.679 he knows how to communicate with the quarterbacks. Um, I 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.160 had never worked with them before, obviously, And even though 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.400 he was in this system before in Denver with Rich Gangarrello, 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.960 there's still nuances and differences, you know, so that you're one, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.519 you're still trying to get UM on the same page 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.400 with everything. And UM, he's ready to take off, you know, 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.600 and it this is a great experience for him, but 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.280 he's he's ready for this experience. I'm more fired up 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.320 for guys like Mac Brown, Billy Vanderberg, Jake Morland running 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.280 an offensive line. UM, just guys that haven't ran in 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:47.120 NFL room before and where they get to just coach 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:48.840 that whole thing up for the week. How did you 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:50.919 prepare for it when Kyle said you were going to 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:54.120 be the guy down here? How did you get ready 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.640 for it? And with that being said, what did you 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.600 say to Rob? Because I know you don't want to 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.400 psyche these guys out put too much on their shoulders 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.480 where it's like they're making more of it than maybe 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:10.520 they should. Where you have over preparations. When when we 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.880 came down here in eighteen, they did not have any 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.320 of the documents from seven years ago in Washington when 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.040 my brother was the quarterback coach. No one had any 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.400 of those documents. So we did somewhat have to start 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.760 from scratch. Um, and again I got the piece of 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.840 advice from Kyle, Hey, keep this thing simple. Uh. The 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.640 the whole deal for everyone in this league is to, 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:31.720 you know, just see these guys play as fast as 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.320 humanly possible. Give a little bit of stuff in to 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.040 them where you can see their brains working, adding a 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.840 few things and switching up a few things every single day. Um, 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.440 when we found out we were coming here, they are. 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.119 He had they are. He had the test because I 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.320 had all the files. So I'm like, hey, we just 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.600 basically got to switch this over to our terminology now, 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:51.960 which was basically the same terminology. So they got a 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.760 lot of a lot of the hard work out of 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:56.240 the way. They just had to make the cut ups 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.000 and get these guys prepared, rescripted on out, get it 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.800 out to the guys. Now. These guys are so prepared, 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.640 The players are so prepared with all the different trainers 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.200 and stuff that they're working with. They get the information 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:09.960 even faster than they did three three years ago. I 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.320 mean they're asking for the information two weeks in advance, 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.560 and that's good and all. You'd almost get bored because 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:19.120 there's not enough offense to like, you know, you'll learn 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:20.600 it in two days if you're going to study it. 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:22.400 You know what I'm saying. It's not our whole playbook 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.640 by any means. It's five percent and it's dummy down. 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.760 So so so five percent you said, probably, yeah, five 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:29.880 teen percent, But I mean there's so many rules with this. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:31.960 I mean, you can't get in three by one formations. 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.600 It's uh, you know, you're you're you're stuck in two 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.839 by two, um, stuff like that, so that you can't motion. 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:39.560 So I mean there's you're you're so limited in what 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:41.760 you can do anyways, you know. So that's where I 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.440 like to give out the playbook. But then you keep 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:46.960 a couple of things on the side so that it 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.000 doesn't get old and stale. And then you also want 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.320 to see how fast guys can learn, you know, because 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.599 that's part of you know, the the unique advantage that 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:55.200 we get is we get to be in the meetings 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.159 with them. Everyone gets to watch them out there, but 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.200 we get a little bit closer and we get the 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.000 meetings and so you get to kind of see how 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.800 they process information. What are the challenges with the terminology 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.560 in such a short amount of time. Um, just that 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.960 it's new, you know, UM a lot of these guys 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.680 and this isn't new this year or last year. I mean, 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.200 this is college football. What seems like over the last 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.640 ten fifteen years, they're not even in huddles anymore. So 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.080 it's sometimes if they didn't do it in high school 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:24.839 and they didn't do in college, they've never been in 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.800 a huddle here, and not only a play call for 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:29.479 the first time, but a play call that might have 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:31.880 ten eleven words in it, you know, and it's telling 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.719 everyone where to line up, what kind of split the take, 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.000 what's going on in the protection. If I'm a receiver, 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.320 I don't need to worry about the protection until I 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.800 have to, because there might be one word where I'm 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.080 I'm a part of that protection. Uh So it's just 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.640 being able to process that information. If you know, uh, 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:48.880 kind of split those play calls up in your head. 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:50.720 Everyone's gonna hear it a little bit different, but you 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.320 try to give them a couple of uh coaching points 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.919 to to how to hear it, and then um, you know. 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:57.880 It's one thing to be in the meeting get it 0:05:58.080 --> 0:05:59.960 UH coached you, but it's another thing in real time 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:01.240 because you want to be able to break the huddle 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.159 and not look back like what do I got? You know, 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.360 because again we're we're all out there and if you're 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:07.960 doing that too often, then there's something that's uh maybe 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:09.520 a little bit off on how you're hearing it, and 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:11.640 we'll get you coached up. But uh you know. So 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:13.400 it's a challenge for him because it's a lot of 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.000 a lot of it's new for these guys. Can you 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.560 talk about the advantages for the staff to not only 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.880 get these guys on the field, but get them behind 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:25.760 closed doors watch them absorb the concepts, look at the film, 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:31.280 talk about um you know, but basically recite what you 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.000 guys are telling. Now, yeah, no, it's you get it. 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.200 You get a um, you know, up close view of 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:41.320 these guys and and how they're digesting the information that 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.400 you give them, and not only digesting it and be 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.520 able to recite it back to you, but then after 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.160 practice come back and you know you're coaching them up 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:51.640 see if you know, you can ask him a question, Hey, 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:53.040 what do you think you could do better here? And 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:54.920 it might be something you've never even coach, but hey, 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.080 there's a receiver I could have you know, attacked an 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:58.480 edge a little bit more and got a little bit 0:06:58.480 --> 0:06:59.760 more of a re stammer. I was a little bit 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.520 short to my router, whatever have you. So it's stuff 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.840 that even at the combine you don't you don't get. 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.840 I mean, this is this is real football. And that's why, um, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.160 you know, just having the one experience with the Senior Bowl, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.040 it's in my opinion, way more beneficial than the Combine 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.080 because you get the full interaction, you get the practice, 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.520 and then you know culmination with the game. Win bet 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.360 is now live in New Jersey and they're bringing the 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.960 excitement of win Las Vegas to online sports betting. Get 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.000 in on all your favorite teams, players and sports from 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.960 boostedt barlays to live in game odds on every major sport. 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.040 They have what you need to win. 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My senior year I got moved to safety. 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:03.360 Actually are snowline coach Jake Moreland, his best friends Tim 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:05.960 Lester was now the head coach at Western Michigan. He U, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.120 he came in my senior ye and we're going to 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.640 run more of a pro style offense at Elmer's College. 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.360 So being a five eight dude that I wasn't gonna 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:15.600 be able to see very well. Uh, and we had 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:17.400 a very good quarterback was one of my best friends, 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:19.800 you know, in front of me. So um he started 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.800 at quarterback and I moved over to safety my senior 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.200 year and started at free safety all year. So it 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.760 was it was I'd never played defense before. I was 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:29.960 always a quarterback all through high school. That we didn't. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.240 We didn't go two ways. So I was always a quarterback. 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.960 So what was your what's that? What were weighing in 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.560 at I was in high school? In college, Well you 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.360 played you played safety only in college? Yeah, right. I 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:46.280 got up to one eight seven my senior year at 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.880 five eight. It was like carrying a ton of bricks 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.480 on your feet. It was. It was one of the 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.600 dumbest moves I made because I thought, you know, hey, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:54.760 my first year playing defense, I gotta be able to 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.640 I gotta be able to have some sturdiness and hit 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.360 some So I gained a bunch of weight, and now 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.880 I couldn't run like I could as a quarterback, you know. 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:03.560 So I always looked back at that like that was 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.800 so dumb, Like, but how much did your quarterback background 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:10.160 help you when you go back to place I started because, 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.640 like I said, I mean, it wasn't I'd never played defense. 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.120 You know, being a quarterback, you're gonna know kind of 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.920 everything that's going on. So that was the easy transition. 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:20.800 It was, Hey, at the moment of truth, am I 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.560 gonna go stick my face in there? And I felt 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:25.480 like I would. But the problem was I wasn't getting 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.320 from point a to point defense enough because I was 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.840 in probably twelve pounds overweight, because I thought I had 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.679 to get nice and for playing defense. So anyway, I 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.040 played played defense that senior year. But before that, I 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.400 was a quarterback for three years. Started one year and 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.040 it was a good experience and we went to it 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.320 was a D three school in Chicago. I'm from small 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.840 town Michigan, so that was a whole just the school 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.160 experience being you know, in the summers of Chicago was different. Um, 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.520 it was cool. It was really cool. Where the coaching 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.760 bug come from? Because your your older brother now Matt 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.600 is what seven years older than you, a little over seven? Yeah, 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.160 where did it come from? So it goes, I mean 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.480 it goes pretty far back to my grandpa, my mom's dad. Uh. 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.320 He was a high school head coach in Michigan for 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:09.240 for twenty five plus years. Um. He played at Western Michigan. Um, 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.360 so he started it. My mom loved football because that's 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:13.920 what she knew growing up. She was at chew it 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.480 or she goes to Central Michigan, meets my dad who's 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:18.640 a player there. He was a he was a linebacker there. 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.360 Um and then d line is senior year he gets 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.240 into coaching. He coaches at Central Michigan for twenty three years. 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:26.800 And then you know, my brother gets into it. And 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.760 I'm the one that I tried to get away from 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.360 it when I was at Elmhurst because it was a 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.120 it was a Division three school. There's no scholarships, so 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.040 you had, you know, I had had a pace some 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.920 money to go to school there. My mom's like, if 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:41.880 you're going to school in Chicago, and my brother tried 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.080 talking me into it, We're gonna go school in Chicago, 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.880 you might as well going to economics, go go going 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:48.960 to finance something like that and work down in the city, 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:50.720 makes some money. Said, you know what, You're right, And 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:52.680 I took about one week of classes and that and 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.280 I'm like, I called my mom's waiting and I got 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.760 out and went into into education and got my degree 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.319 there and and yeah, I just got into coaching and 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:03.439 I kind of work my way up. What about the 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:08.720 gap between you and Matt seven years? Was it when 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.400 you guys were growing up? With it? Every competitive between 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.559 you two, because that's a pretty wide discrepancy. But with 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.040 that being said to you both are competitive guys. Probably 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.000 competitive because I wanted time with him and I was 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.080 the little brother that was always trying to linger around 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.559 so as I was growing up, No, it was not 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.640 competitive because he just was so much older. I was 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:32.840 always the ball boy and stuff like that, and you know, 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.040 the annoying little brother, always just trying to be around everything. Um, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.200 we're probably got competitive, was what I was just saying. 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.640 When I got into college and you know, you're in college, 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.480 you're thinking, you're finally a man. He's still seven years 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.560 you're you're you know, older than you. He's working out 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.960 with Solid every day, and they got they ballooned up 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.800 and got huge when they were gas like, oh my god, 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.880 they got who. I got stories for days on that. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.040 Maybe we get into it and um and Solid can 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.120 back it up later. But uh No, when I got 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.120 into college, I felt, you know what, I'm I'm in 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.720 a college program. Now I'm lifting, I'm I'm gaining away, 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:06.160 I'm getting stronger, Like let's go. You know. So when 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.640 we're on our summer vacations on the beach, you know, 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.480 all of a sudden, you get a little challenge, and 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:12.600 that's where the competition would come. We get we get 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.120 down there on the beach and go after it a 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:18.640 little bit you mentioned Salah and your brother obviously started 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:23.480 out together as g as. Um. He always talks that 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:25.920 he was around your family quite a bit there in 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.720 those days. Can can you elaborate on that? Yeah, he's so. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.720 Um they were at Central Michigan and that's I mean 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:34.720 Mount Pleasants a small town. I mean there's not much 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.000 going on there. There's the university and then it's just 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.280 a small town America right there. So um, again, not 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.640 much to do. And uh, then they were GA's not 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.200 making any money, kind of going to class I guess 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:48.080 if you want to call it that as gas and 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.760 they and they lived only a mile and a half 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:52.440 down the street because again, my moult Pleasant is not 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.319 that big. They had no cable, they had hardly any furniture. 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.319 So what are they gonna do in the piston? Detroit 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.480 Pistons are in the playoffs, They're gonna come over and 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:01.840 you know, so you're just gonna naturally hang with them. 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:05.400 And um crazy enough, My my wife we were dating 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.600 at the time too. We started dating in high school. 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.000 So Lauren got to know, uh to no solemn. You know, 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.640 my brother obviously at an early age, and so it 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.040 was kind of us for hanging out watching playoff games 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.439 and stuff like that, and uh, yeah, they were always over. 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:21.440 Then they come over in the summer. We had a pool, 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:23.560 so they would lather up and kind of you know, 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:25.680 get a little sun tan there and then head off 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:29.000 to to the more the adult closer to the university 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:31.960 as the day went on, did you think early on, 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.760 when you're looking up at those guys that hey, they're 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.880 gonna do this for a long time? You know? I mean, 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:39.800 I you know you did? You just never know? Um, 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.440 we knew what we knew. You know, my dad again, 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:48.319 he coached at Central Michigan. We thought Mid American Conference football, 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.000 Like wow, like if if I could ever be a 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.960 coach in the Mid American Conference, Like how cool that being? 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.240 Just growing up? How fun it was to go to 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.280 those games, particularly I was a little bit younger. Um, 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:01.240 Central was a a good football team and then kind 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:04.079 of faded a little bit off later in the nineties 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:05.920 and then my dad got let go, but but a 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.000 twenty three year run. Um, they obviously did some pretty 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.520 good stuff there. So um, everyone asked me, you know Michigan, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.640 Michigan State. I like Central Michigan. That's what I That's 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.360 what I thought football was you know, I mean there 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.480 was the Mid American Conference and um, so seeing them 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:22.840 as Gas had at a Division one school was a 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.320 huge deal, you know, and uh obviously solid. Uh kind 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.400 of moved on and got to the Texans and somehow, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.760 some way as a as a QC, got my brother 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.000 in in the door as a QC with Kyle Shanahan, 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.360 and then they they just kind of took off from there. 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:40.680 Kyle Shanahan, he already was an he did. Yeah. Um, 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.560 what did you think when you got your start under him? 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:51.760 And why is he's such I guess a brilliant football mind. 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.320 Uh we talked about his father, no doubt about that. 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.040 But what he's able to accomplish him the way he 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:02.280 sees the game. What did you see from him? And uh, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.600 why was that a great start for you? Well? It was. 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.400 It was an incredible start because I had had coached 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.200 um college football for four years at had a couple 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.360 of different small schools. Luckily all four of those years 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:16.560 right out of college, I was a coordinator, So I 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:18.880 got thrown right into it. Was not ready for it, 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.040 but you're never really ready for anything until you actually 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:22.400 get into it, you know. And so you kind of 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.600 learned through the fire and um. Because I didn't have 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.760 any foundation other than playing. I I took what I 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.080 could get from Kyle and my brother and I was 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.640 at their O t as in Washington and would just 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.560 listen to everything I could, you know, and then and 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.120 then dummy it down to get into a Division two 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.600 type offense. When I was in Davidson, I got a 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:43.880 call just late right after the signing day on a 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.040 Sunday night, and my brothers like, Hey, You're going to Cleveland. 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:48.000 I'm like, what do you mean? Why? Why? Why are 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.320 you going to Cleveland? You just going to Northday. He's like, no, dude, 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.600 you're going to Cleveland. He's like, Kyle just called. He's 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:54.680 got a he's got a QC spot for you, you know. 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:56.600 And I was like, all right, what am I going. 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.720 He's like, duding, like twelve hours, you're out. You know. 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.240 It was that quick. It was. It was ten o'clock 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.280 at night on a Sunday. My wife was sleeping, we 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.560 had no kids. She was sleeping on the couch. I 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.440 was watching some TV. I think we had that Monday 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.920 off or something like that, because we just got done 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.920 with the signing day and by eight am, I had 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:15.760 my car packed and I was out the door. So 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.480 you get to Cleveland, had to Cleveland, you know. And Uh, 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.440 I didn't really know where, what room I was gonna 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.840 be in, didn't know anything. I just had a got 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:24.840 a chance to get in, and I just wanted to 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.160 to to get in. Obviously with Kyle, he's really the 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.040 only one I knew. So UM got in there. They 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.840 put me an offensive line room, which was, to to 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.720 this day the most beneficial year I've had. I was 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.000 in the offensive line room with guys like Joe Thomas, 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.440 Alex mac Mitchell, Sward Shol Betonio, John Greco. I mean, 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.760 just like dudes, like you know, veteran dudes. And then 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.480 on top of it, a rookie that we just drafted 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.680 in Betonio, who got to learn from those guys. Um. 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:53.040 So that was the most beneficial year to day as 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.560 a coach because you saw it from advantage point that 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.680 you've never seen it before. Uh. And then the answer 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.320 your next question, just obviously getting in with Kyle, it's 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.680 what you learned through him is the importance of detail 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:10.359 and the important importance of urgency, Like how detailed he 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.159 was from the moment I met him too. How it 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:16.080 never stops and how to it never stops in front 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.320 of the coaches, and it never stops in front of 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.200 the player. He never assumes that you just got it, 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:23.680 and he's going to make sure that the players are 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.600 altra detailed and it it's he'll even say it's going 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:28.440 to get annoying at times, but I'm not gonna stop 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:30.760 until we get it done, you know. And so that's 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.919 where you just see that detail and that that commitment 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.280 to the detail, and you see it when you pop 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.240 on their tape. They're extremely detailed team. They play really tough, 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.720 but their details are are are through the roof. And 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.200 then on top of it, um is just the urgency 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.200 of this league that he teaches you like you don't 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.879 you don't have time. You gotta get better now. It 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:53.639 doesn't mean you gotta win a super Bowl in year one, 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:55.280 doesn't mean you gotta win a super Bowl. And it 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.359 means you've got to get better every single day. And 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.399 it's got a show and if you don't, then the 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.600