Speaker 1: Welcome in to the New Orleans Saints Podcast, present a
Speaker 1: buy seacake. You'll hear from players, coaches, broadcasters and writers
Speaker 1: that cover the NFL on a daily basis. The New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints Podcast starts right now. Here's your host, Aaron Summers.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the New Orleans Saints Podcast. Aaron Summers here
Speaker 2: today we are getting some more insight on the defensive
Speaker 2: picks in the Saints twenty twenty five draft. To kick
Speaker 2: things off, they again went with a longhorn to start
Speaker 2: things on the defensive side, third round pick defensive tackle
Speaker 2: Vernon Broughton. Broughton started fifteen games in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 2: recorded a career best thirty nine tackles and had four sacks.
Speaker 2: Broughton reunites with his former defensive line coach Joe Davis,
Speaker 2: who is now with the Saints.
Speaker 3: Heyvern, what up, Chicken leaves? How you doing? You're doing
Speaker 3: all right? Yeah, don't let me down, bro. We're gonna
Speaker 3: take you brough here in New Orleans. Brother, you may
Speaker 3: use the basket. Hi, Iman man, congratulations brother, Coach Calvin,
Speaker 3: I want to talk to you man, he's coach cal.
Speaker 4: Congrats man.
Speaker 5: We are fired up.
Speaker 6: To have you cost your family, have fun with them.
Speaker 5: Man, enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Later in the third round of Virginia safety Yonah Sanker
Speaker 2: heard his name called. Virginia defensive backs coach and defensive
Speaker 2: passing game coordinator Caron Cox joined me for some insight
Speaker 2: into the pick. Coach, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 2: me on the New Orleans Saints podcast. I know it's
Speaker 2: a busy time of year for you, and it was
Speaker 2: an exciting weekend as you saw a lot of players
Speaker 2: go in the NFL Draft and one of them, Jonah Sanker,
Speaker 2: is going to be with the Saints. How are you
Speaker 2: doing after seeing him reach this milestone in his career.
Speaker 6: Oh, man, it's it's it's a great feeling just of
Speaker 6: known him, known him for a long time, probably sophomore
Speaker 6: year in high school, and we've always talked about it
Speaker 6: and just to see the maturation to get to this
Speaker 6: point and now he just gets to start doing it
Speaker 6: all over again. And uh, he called me. We spoke
Speaker 6: on draft night, and now I had a little chuck
Speaker 6: on a second. Grads, you finally had a better college
Speaker 6: career than me. Now you got to beat my NFL career.
Speaker 6: So it's been great to see him there with his
Speaker 6: parents and stuff like that, and we're all excited myself,
Speaker 6: the staff and his friends, your uba.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jonah's a safety coming in here, going to be
Speaker 2: playing under Brandon Staley's new defense with the Saints. How
Speaker 2: do you think he's going to fit in?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 6: I think you'll just well, that's something we've talked about
Speaker 6: for a while and obviously something coach spoke about there
Speaker 6: when they took him. It's just I'll to allow him
Speaker 6: to do a lot of things, so the multiplicity will
Speaker 6: be something that he's not gonna have to be mind
Speaker 6: blown on.
Speaker 4: He'll make the adjustment.
Speaker 6: Something I harped and we harped his special teams and
Speaker 6: he was a key contributed for us and as something
Speaker 6: else that they liked for it, you know, and just
Speaker 6: kind of just with anybody, just the way that they
Speaker 6: adapt is how fast they eliminate distractions and adjust. So
Speaker 6: I think I think the great opportunity going in and
Speaker 6: what you got, what they do there is fantastic, And
Speaker 6: you know, he's a great coordinator and a great system,
Speaker 6: so I think he'll be able to translate it at
Speaker 6: some point and we'll see the success downline.
Speaker 2: He was able to achieve consistent success there at Virginia,
Speaker 2: especially the last two seasons, leading the calves and tackles
Speaker 2: each year. What led to the type of production he
Speaker 2: was able to have on the field.
Speaker 6: I'd probably say just off the field growth and just
Speaker 6: his dedications to just trying to change his best day
Speaker 6: in the day out. And you know when I came
Speaker 6: in and nicknamed him to the side, and he thought
Speaker 6: he came to save UVA football from eight and man football,
Speaker 6: But he just tremendous just a film study, the buying
Speaker 6: in the weight room, the off the field nutrition, and
Speaker 6: then just the mindset. He just wanted to attack everything
Speaker 6: and be the best that he could. So it's competitive nature.
Speaker 6: So I think that all put together, you know, it
Speaker 6: was a great recipe for success, and just the cars
Speaker 6: lined up and it was in his cards, and I mean,
Speaker 6: he had a tremendous career that helped propel get that
Speaker 6: opportunity now to go there and translate it.
Speaker 2: He received the Heart Award embodies the core values of
Speaker 2: the program. Can you explain a little bit more about
Speaker 2: that award and what it is about Jonus that made
Speaker 2: him the selection for it?
Speaker 6: Of course, yes, so Heart is kind of just the
Speaker 6: academics that stand for our core values, something we speak
Speaker 6: about here day in and day out as we're trying
Speaker 6: to look to build champion then and we choose to
Speaker 6: do that by serving their heart, not the talent, and
Speaker 6: the academics for humility, effort, accountability, respect, and toughness. And
Speaker 6: you know, just as that spoke on just his resiliency
Speaker 6: to do that and something that you guys may be
Speaker 6: aware of. It's just he was able to achieve that,
Speaker 6: be a leader, do great in that classroom set. Is
Speaker 6: never missed anything all while, you know, helping battle. You know,
Speaker 6: his father's condition being at home. He was there at home,
Speaker 6: taking his little brothers and sisters anywhere he needed to go,
Speaker 6: and never missed a beat here and what he did
Speaker 6: so he just kind of embodied what we're trying to
Speaker 6: build as a program and what type of young men
Speaker 6: we'd like in our program to be successful on and
Speaker 6: off the field, and how he did anything. So he
Speaker 6: did everything. So he was a heart and soul of
Speaker 6: our defense and our team and that's kind of why
Speaker 6: he got that pro that award for us.
Speaker 2: You mentioned his eight man football stardom in high school,
Speaker 2: but coming from that background. How impressive is it what
Speaker 2: he's been able to achieve.
Speaker 6: Because honestly, already, you know, you just look back and
Speaker 6: you look out and you're like, wow, you just saw him.
Speaker 6: You know, a couple of years ago, you know, he
Speaker 6: just he was battling some injuries. Just we fixed just
Speaker 6: the mechanical pieces of his tackling. And then, like I said,
Speaker 6: he just put on twenty pounds and a straight muscle,
Speaker 6: and just there was no way you couldn't tell him
Speaker 6: he couldn't do anything. And you look up and it
Speaker 6: you know, when you work for I was, I'm a
Speaker 6: true believer work wins, and if you put in the work,
Speaker 6: you're not guaranteed to be the best, but you'll be
Speaker 6: the best at whatever you're trying to achieve. And it's
Speaker 6: a true testament that he went from playing eight man
Speaker 6: football battling injuries to not one injury to no miss games.
Speaker 6: He's playing one hundred snaps of game and you couldn't
Speaker 6: tell and you couldn't get him off the field, and
Speaker 6: there wasn't anything that he didn't do or that we
Speaker 6: asked him.
Speaker 2: You mentioned his competitive nature, and I thought it was
Speaker 2: funny at the combine, he ran a four four eight,
Speaker 2: and he was disappointed in his time and his performance
Speaker 2: there pretty fast for a safety But I think that
Speaker 2: speaks to what you said about how competitive he is
Speaker 2: and the work that he puts in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt right.
Speaker 6: It's I always stayed on celebrate the small victors man,
Speaker 6: feed the positive dog. But with him, it was he
Speaker 6: had been testing and just in numbers were just a
Speaker 6: lot different than what he was expecting, and so he
Speaker 6: just had a mindset that he's going to go out
Speaker 6: and get a little bit better. But when he looked
Speaker 6: at it and thought about it, it was just like, Okay,
Speaker 6: that compared to what my uh, the rest of my
Speaker 6: teammager doing or what everybody else is trying to accomplish.
Speaker 4: Is that that?
Speaker 6: But you could tell he kind of was frustrated, more
Speaker 6: so because he's kind of you know, he hadn't breath
Speaker 6: reading cycle wasn't right. He always wants to do better.
Speaker 6: But you know, I'm glad that he ran that because
Speaker 6: that also got showed a lot of people some of
Speaker 6: the questions they may have had for film and gave
Speaker 6: him the opportunity as now there.
Speaker 5: For you guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely I'm looking forward to having him here and
Speaker 2: got to talk to him a little bit the night
Speaker 2: that he was drafted. He seemed really excited, fired up
Speaker 2: for the opportunity here. What are you going to miss
Speaker 2: about having him there with you guys.
Speaker 6: Probably justice the daily day interactions and I've got to
Speaker 6: know him and obviously we're meant to turn him throughout.
Speaker 6: But he became not just a young man I was
Speaker 6: working with, but a guy that became a close friend
Speaker 6: of mine. I'll miss from day to day just from
Speaker 6: being a part of his life, but also won't mess
Speaker 6: some defensively. I mean, you know, two time back back
Speaker 6: first team on conference guy, he was our eraser back there,
Speaker 6: and now we're going to move forward and hopefully develop
Speaker 6: another person do that for us defensively.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much for the time. I know
Speaker 2: you're out on the road right now looking for somebody
Speaker 2: to fill his shoes, right.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, so you guys, trust me. I wish I
Speaker 6: could just draft him back from you guys. You guys
Speaker 6: have for now. Hopefully this this trip has another person
Speaker 6: just like Jonas.
Speaker 2: There you go. Thank you so much, coach. I appreciate
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 5: All right, take care, Thank you.
Speaker 2: On Day three, the Saints went with linebacker Danny Stutsman
Speaker 2: out of Oklahoma. Stutsman was a consensus All American and
Speaker 2: Buckut Award finalist. He finished ninth in school history with
Speaker 2: three hundred and seventy six career tackles. Oklahoma head coach
Speaker 2: Brent Bennables was so excited to talk to me about
Speaker 2: Stutsman that he got going before I could even start recording,
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna have to set up this interview a
Speaker 2: little bit. He was asking me about Brian Brazzee because
Speaker 2: he coached Brizzye at Clemson, and then immediately went in
Speaker 2: on Stutsman and how Stutsman was one of the highest
Speaker 2: paid nil earners there at Oklahoma and with some of
Speaker 2: that money that he got, he went to coach Venables
Speaker 2: and asked him if he could give that money to
Speaker 2: the walk Ons.
Speaker 5: Hey, I want to give the eighteen walk Homes. I
Speaker 5: want to give you some money and some of my
Speaker 5: anil money.
Speaker 6: So he's.
Speaker 5: A lot of money, and a byproduct of that is
Speaker 5: the restaurant walk On. They reach out to me and
Speaker 5: they want in honor of Danny and just basically the
Speaker 5: partner with Danny stance that he took and just in
Speaker 5: this space that it's all about what I get, you know,
Speaker 5: Danny being in the opposite. They were really endeared by that.
Speaker 5: So they asked me to tuesday walk on to put
Speaker 5: on full scholarship and they would pay for it. So
Speaker 5: I put one of the best friends, a fellow linebacker
Speaker 5: on the scholarship. So anyway, he's amazing.
Speaker 2: That's an awesome story. I loved his reaction when he
Speaker 2: got drafted. He seems like he just has so much energy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he loves he just he loves life. He's he
Speaker 5: cares about people. He is he's a jokester, likes to
Speaker 5: have fun, but man, when it comes to football, he
Speaker 5: is ultra serious about being great and understands what you know,
Speaker 5: non negotiable standards look like. And he lives in the
Speaker 5: building and super humble. He's a guy that's a lot
Speaker 5: of success. But he he took notes all the way
Speaker 5: to the you know, a very last you know game
Speaker 5: that he played in. He's taken notes, you know, like
Speaker 5: he's a you know, first year freshman, and just he's
Speaker 5: super respectful for the work that it takes and the diligence,
Speaker 5: the commitment and the standards. So he's going to immediately
Speaker 5: just bring value, you know, to the locker room. He'll
Speaker 5: elevate I'll be one of the best qualities that he
Speaker 5: has as people love to play alongside with him. He's
Speaker 5: super passionate, He's got a unique way of competing and
Speaker 5: and just creating a nurtures an environment where he gets
Speaker 5: everybody hungry to chase excellence around him and just as
Speaker 5: a multiplying the type of effect. And I think the
Speaker 5: really special leaders that I've been around through the years
Speaker 5: have this unique ability without without getting somebody's face quote unquote, it's.
Speaker 7: By how they do what they do, you know, living
Speaker 7: in the building, showing up the practice, sitting in the
Speaker 7: tempo for what we're getting ready to go do at
Speaker 7: practice today, what it takes, and then he just he's
Speaker 7: just an amazing example of strain and commitment and over delivering,
Speaker 7: you know, and never gets tired of it.
Speaker 5: And so that's that's what I can tell you. He's
Speaker 5: gonna just elevate everybody else, you know, through hard work,
Speaker 5: blue collar mindset, and tremendous humility and respect for what
Speaker 5: it takes to play. He can beat at a high level.
Speaker 5: You know at an elite level.
Speaker 2: Is that mentality and the way he studies the game
Speaker 2: part of the reason why he seemed to just have
Speaker 2: a knack for forcing turnovers.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean he's big, and he's long, he's physical,
Speaker 5: he's got good instincts. But it's preparation, it's anticipation, is
Speaker 5: playing the game before you ever get to game day,
Speaker 5: you know, one hundred times over. He really he values
Speaker 5: that and has just holds that in incredibly high respect
Speaker 5: and regards. You know, how do I make game day
Speaker 5: going slow motion? Where I'm in fast motion, everybody else
Speaker 5: is in slow motion. It's just the preparation, you know,
Speaker 5: the countless hours of film and you know, very passionate,
Speaker 5: you know, focused intensity about himself when it comes to
Speaker 5: you know, walkthroughs and practice things like that.
Speaker 2: When he played in high school, he also played wide receiver,
Speaker 2: and I mean looking at the numbers, it looked like
Speaker 2: he did extremely well as an offensive player as well.
Speaker 2: When he was getting recruited, was that an option and
Speaker 2: why did he choose to be a linebacker.
Speaker 5: Well, then the funny story is I was that Clemson
Speaker 5: when he's coming out, he came to our camp. He's
Speaker 5: from Jacksonville, so it's not it's not that far up
Speaker 5: to Clemson. I told him ahead of time, I'd already
Speaker 5: evaluated him. I said, I really like you. I was
Speaker 5: only taking one linebacker and I had my guy committed already,
Speaker 5: Jeremiah Trotter. And I told him I was very honest.
Speaker 5: I say, you can come to camp right now. We're full.
Speaker 4: I got.
Speaker 5: I had room for one spot and that's all I got.
Speaker 5: But I'd love to work with you. You'll get really
Speaker 5: good work out of it, and I can help you.
Speaker 5: And I said, you never know, we might have somebody
Speaker 5: on our roster leave, you know, and then we end
Speaker 5: up opening the spot. But he was Paul, kind of
Speaker 5: skinny and rangey, but a super good players. What I
Speaker 5: saw right away was instincts, link speed, and he was
Speaker 5: just disruptive. I loved his I think the instincts and
Speaker 5: the same type of hips and fluidity and the ability
Speaker 5: to make catches and traffic and things like that all
Speaker 5: translate to you as a defensive player too, and so
Speaker 5: I was very attractive to that. And so he ended
Speaker 5: up going to Oklahoma anyway. He had a really good gamp.
Speaker 5: But so I don't know if there was anything told
Speaker 5: to him, you know, recruiting from that standpoint.
Speaker 2: At Oklahoma, I saw a quote from you after the
Speaker 2: draft saying that he had so much growth on and
Speaker 2: off the field while you were there. Can you you
Speaker 2: kind of started with the story about what he did
Speaker 2: with his nil money, But how did you see that growth?
Speaker 5: Was he was a little more silly and thought that
Speaker 5: you just showed up to games and that's how you
Speaker 5: played it at a high level. So just teaching them
Speaker 5: how to study the game, become a student, a true
Speaker 5: student of the game. Not a cliche, but and you
Speaker 5: know understand, like when you walk in the building, man,
Speaker 5: you're you should be the heart and soul every Blue
Speaker 5: coach thirty years at three different schools. Man, linebackers are
Speaker 5: heart sold the football team. You know, if that group
Speaker 5: ain't right, then the rest of the team going to
Speaker 5: be a reflection of it. In my my humble opinion
Speaker 5: of the linebacker coach a defensive coach. But I just
Speaker 5: I call it how I see it. And so I
Speaker 5: was there for almost two months and intentionally did not
Speaker 5: hand out a playbook. I want to see who would
Speaker 5: come asked for So finally one day ask even the
Speaker 5: hallway were going up the elevator, and I was pissed.
Speaker 5: I'm like, hey, when is your ask going to get
Speaker 5: serious about being great and come up and get a
Speaker 5: freaking playbook? Is that, like every going to be important
Speaker 5: to you? And just that we had a really I
Speaker 5: had a really it was one sided conversation, but in
Speaker 5: passionate about you know, what we're trying to do and
Speaker 5: what it's going to take and if you don't, nobody
Speaker 5: else will and and uh, he received it really well.
Speaker 5: I think he was a little bit kind of shocked
Speaker 5: and everything had been great and uh, you know, so
Speaker 5: I parted up to that point, trying to develop relationships
Speaker 5: and things like that. But in the back of me,
Speaker 5: I just I'm like, I don't want to I don't
Speaker 5: want it more than he wants it for himself. But he,
Speaker 5: at the end of the day, he just didn't know.
Speaker 5: He's like, oh, I didn't know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: I hadn't had to do that maybe in high school,
Speaker 5: and so just learning the depth of you know, how
Speaker 5: to be a leader and how to be the example
Speaker 5: and things like that, and you know, from there, he
Speaker 5: just he took it and ran with it and he's
Speaker 5: a pleaser. He wants to do well by his teammates
Speaker 5: and his coaches, and he really cares about doing a
Speaker 5: good job and his role. You know. I just think
Speaker 5: it takes a lot of humility, you know, a lot
Speaker 5: of you know, self awareness, and so he's very you know,
Speaker 5: he's hard on himself. He pulls himself to really high standards,
Speaker 5: and you know, he's confident himself that he also have
Speaker 5: this tremendous you know, hunger and humility to him that
Speaker 5: to me are just in viable traits to have.
Speaker 2: Well, when you look at the fact that he's able
Speaker 2: to make thirty seven straight starts, what do you attribute
Speaker 2: that to? Is it how he took care of himself.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, he took care of himself. He's you know,
Speaker 5: big into you know, the his body and just you
Speaker 5: know all the things that you know that looks like
Speaker 5: from a recovery module to sleep and hydration. He's just
Speaker 5: a very disciplined guy, you know, and off the field
Speaker 5: and on the field, he was in he was up
Speaker 5: in our offices every night after practice during the season,
Speaker 5: you know, and he'd come back in the next day
Speaker 5: and watch tape two on his own, and uh, you know,
Speaker 5: most guys trying to get out of the building, and
Speaker 5: he brings his stake up in there and he'd sit
Speaker 5: right down next to the coaches and let's go through practice,
Speaker 5: and you know that we're grading it. We're pretty tough
Speaker 5: on ourselves when we're going through practice. And uh, but
Speaker 5: he you know, when we first got to Oklahoma, that
Speaker 5: wasn't the case. And so we and you know what
Speaker 5: he did. If you saw that and you go up
Speaker 5: to the defensive staff room, you know, now after after
Speaker 5: a practice and during the season, they'll be there'll be
Speaker 5: thirty five forty guys in there at all the different positions.
Speaker 5: And so that was all started by by Danny and
Speaker 5: and the other linebackers that we had in the group,
Speaker 5: you know, David Awaiboo and Deshaun White and Danny those
Speaker 5: those are the guys that kind of flipped the skip
Speaker 5: that they weren't even coming up on the third floor
Speaker 5: when we first got to Oklahoma though. But Danny was
Speaker 5: one of those pioneers and like, Okay, this is what
Speaker 5: it's supposed to look like and we're going to do it.
Speaker 5: So yeah, yeah, but he's got great dor building. He's
Speaker 5: physically and mentally incredibly tough man. Uh, he's just got
Speaker 5: great endurance and durability and didn't take care of his body.
Speaker 2: So I saw the story about him having a samurai
Speaker 2: sword in his locker and obviously heard his take on it.
Speaker 5: What was yours. I don't get into all the theatrics props.
Speaker 5: I'm not going to get into all that, you know,
Speaker 5: end up, but he he would. That is his way
Speaker 5: of having some fun but also being if he didn't
Speaker 5: practice as hard as he did, if he didn't come
Speaker 5: to the meetings and be on the edge of the
Speaker 5: seat and taking note anything that came out of my mouth,
Speaker 5: he was writing it down. And then the things that
Speaker 5: he had to get our guys ready this day, to
Speaker 5: get our guys every single day, he'd bring that defense up.
Speaker 5: He was getting ready to go down in this next drill.
Speaker 5: Let's go, let's dominate it, you know, And he was,
Speaker 5: and then he would be about it. If he didn't
Speaker 5: do all that that I'd been pitched about having swords
Speaker 5: and stuff in the locker, So I'm not really big
Speaker 5: into that, but it's just his way of having fun
Speaker 5: and getting guys, you know, put a smile on their
Speaker 5: face to go do really hard things. And I think
Speaker 5: that's what the best leaders do. They get the people
Speaker 5: around them to do really hard stuff. Yeah, and I
Speaker 5: think that's Danny's way of kind of learning, you know,
Speaker 5: certain guys in.
Speaker 2: I am fascinated to see his relationship with Tomrio Davis
Speaker 2: here because to Mario's preparation at.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we watched him a lot in our team meetings.
Speaker 5: To Mario David, he's got a great testimony.
Speaker 2: It's going to be interesting to see their relationship because
Speaker 2: he's been doing it for a long time at a
Speaker 2: high level. And it sounds like Danny's going to be
Speaker 2: us like that.
Speaker 5: Well, and Daniel come in and respectfully, you know, find
Speaker 5: out how he can help the Mario. It won't That's
Speaker 5: who Danny is, and he'll come in with his head
Speaker 5: down and go to work. But he'll he'll value, you know,
Speaker 5: what he can learn from Tomorrio, you know what he's
Speaker 5: invested in the program.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate it. I'm sorry that you don't get
Speaker 2: to coach him anymore.
Speaker 5: Yeah. One of my funnest things of coaching, know is
Speaker 5: watching these guys live out their dreams beyond college. It's
Speaker 5: such a cool thing and you know, twenty years ago,
Speaker 5: you know, I had my team, I was religiously followed.
Speaker 5: And then as you've had more and more guys go
Speaker 5: to different teams across the NFL, you just become a
Speaker 5: fan of people and uh, you know, moments and things
Speaker 5: like that. So I'm really excited for him and for
Speaker 5: the sayings they're getting out a guy that is gonna
Speaker 5: and can bring a lot of value, you know, for
Speaker 5: that locker room. He's going to elevate it. So and
Speaker 5: I'm sure it's really good, healthy and he's going to
Speaker 5: just add to it, I can promise you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I look forward to getting to know him
Speaker 2: a little bit better and watching him on the field.
Speaker 2: Definitely appreciate you taking the.
Speaker 5: Time to share, you bet.
Speaker 2: The Saints circled back to another school they had already
Speaker 2: drafted out of, remember, Louisville quarterback Tyler Shuck going with
Speaker 2: the one hundred and thirty first pick and Louisville cornerback
Speaker 2: Quincy Riley. Riley led the Cards with thirteen PBUs and
Speaker 2: tied the team lead with two interceptions last season. With
Speaker 2: the Saints last pick, they selected Fideeld Diggs, defensive linemen
Speaker 2: out of Syracuse. Diggs transferred to Syracuse after graduating from
Speaker 2: Texas A and M. He was actually coached at both
Speaker 2: places by Syracuse defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson, who I was
Speaker 2: able to catch up with about Diggs. Coach Robinson, thanks
Speaker 2: for joining me on the New Orleans Saints podcast. It's
Speaker 2: all always good to talk about the coaches after the
Speaker 2: draft because you know, these players the best of anybody.
Speaker 2: How awesome was it for you to see some of
Speaker 2: the guys get drafted.
Speaker 4: I think it was really it was.
Speaker 8: It was really good to see, you know, just you
Speaker 8: know these kids, you know, their dreams are right from
Speaker 8: the recruiting process only to the ups and the downs
Speaker 8: of those guys through colleges through college. Just to see
Speaker 8: them with their dream out and especially when they get
Speaker 8: a chance to get their their name called.
Speaker 4: You know, it's special.
Speaker 8: From the parents to the to the grandparents, so all
Speaker 8: the family members they get a chance to watch that
Speaker 8: and watch that and enjoy it.
Speaker 4: It was unique.
Speaker 8: And I know where you talk about a gentleman that's
Speaker 8: kind a little bit more special to me because he's
Speaker 8: from the city. You get to see the little league
Speaker 8: coaches there, the high school coaches, there his teammates, so
Speaker 8: it's pretty special.
Speaker 2: Speaking of video, Diggs, he's somebody that you coached two
Speaker 2: different stops, so you definitely have a good background knowledge
Speaker 2: on him as a player. What are we getting here
Speaker 2: in New Orleans?
Speaker 8: Yeah, A smart player that loves football. He's gonna be selfless.
Speaker 8: He's gonna do his ass of him. He enjoys being
Speaker 8: coach star, he's his biggest critic, so he's gonna constantly
Speaker 8: look to get better. But you got to get a
Speaker 8: great human being, you know that's going want un locker
Speaker 8: room and two things the right way, you know, and
Speaker 8: he's going to listen and find out who the leaders
Speaker 8: are and fill their lead and do everything possible to be.
Speaker 4: A leader himself.
Speaker 2: He's somebody that transferred into Syracuse after graduating from Texas
Speaker 2: A and M and immediately was voted as a captain there.
Speaker 2: What does that say about him?
Speaker 4: Just the way he.
Speaker 8: Handles his everyday business, you know, just being detailed, accountable, relentless,
Speaker 8: and tough, which we talk about being dark, but he
Speaker 8: showed us those qualities of a person since Da Medy.
Speaker 4: You know, he was a captain in high school. When
Speaker 4: he got to A and M.
Speaker 8: At the part pretty much the sophomore year started to
Speaker 8: show that leadership role. So he handles his business the
Speaker 8: right ways before he can act lead. What he does
Speaker 8: is he takes control of the things he controls himself,
Speaker 8: his daily habits, and then that leaks over to the
Speaker 8: other guys. So one thing I think is important that
Speaker 8: he is that he learned how to follow before he
Speaker 8: learned how to lead, and it just naturally became the
Speaker 8: natural born leader.
Speaker 4: So I'm excited for him. I am.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he led the team and tackles for loss and
Speaker 2: sacks with seven and a half. How is he able
Speaker 2: to just come in and be so impactful in his
Speaker 2: first season there.
Speaker 8: Well, he's talented and we knew what type of player
Speaker 8: he was getting when he decided to make the move
Speaker 8: and come over with us.
Speaker 4: So we were excited to have ing.
Speaker 8: And I said, he's selfless as well, because we asked
Speaker 8: him to do a few different things. You know, we
Speaker 8: didn't just leave him at a traditional position that deepens in.
Speaker 8: Due to some injury, we had to play some much linebacker.
Speaker 8: So for him to go out there and say his
Speaker 8: my senior year, but I'm doing whatever was asked for
Speaker 8: from the team. I think he tells you a lot
Speaker 8: about who he is. We could let him rush the
Speaker 8: pass from the edge position the whole year, but we
Speaker 8: just we couldn't allow ourselves to do that due to
Speaker 8: we had some injuries at So I appreciate him making
Speaker 8: a sacrifice for the team and for his own career
Speaker 8: and doing those things, because those seven the half SATs
Speaker 8: could have easily been fourteen a half sacks, you know,
Speaker 8: but he did what was best for the team and
Speaker 8: it paid off for him. He's going to have an
Speaker 8: opportunity to go had a great organization like Nerles Sanson
Speaker 8: man hopefully make a great career for him.
Speaker 2: So I'm interested to see what this defense is going
Speaker 2: to look like under the new defensive coordinator, Brendan Staley.
Speaker 2: But versatility is something that he always likes in his players,
Speaker 2: and the fact that Diggs comes in here with that
Speaker 2: background of being able to kind of slide into a
Speaker 2: couple of different positions seems like I would benefit him
Speaker 2: a lot here.
Speaker 4: I think he's done a lot.
Speaker 8: We asked a lot of them since his freshman year
Speaker 8: from a him even over to say, because we asked
Speaker 8: a lot of them and had him play a bunch
Speaker 8: of different positions. So he's smart. He has knowledge of
Speaker 8: the defense. He's going to understand the basics of the
Speaker 8: offense and what they're trying to do to him.
Speaker 4: So this case, he studies. He studies ball.
Speaker 8: You know, he had his degree already, so spending a
Speaker 8: lot of time in this building just studying film and
Speaker 8: watching the something critiquing itself.
Speaker 4: I think it helps that he has the.
Speaker 8: Camden native on the team and sees that can the
Speaker 8: kount of help him from offensive perspective of what they're
Speaker 8: trying to do. So he has some guys over there,
Speaker 8: and he has another gentleman over there that was at
Speaker 8: ANEM as well, So he has some guys on the
Speaker 8: team that he can look to and lean on just
Speaker 8: to get some information and some feedback.
Speaker 2: He had a guy on the team at Syracuse that
Speaker 2: he knew pretty well and his brother. How does that
Speaker 2: happen with you guys moving over and then him coming
Speaker 2: there and his brother being there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think due the recruiting process.
Speaker 8: You know, I was myself being from Camping, New Jersey,
Speaker 8: that recruit the area coach fran and him being from Cambia,
Speaker 8: New Jersey.
Speaker 4: He recruits the area. So we knew of his brother
Speaker 4: for a long time.
Speaker 8: You know, I was from Texas A and M where
Speaker 8: I was at and coach fran from being at Rutgers
Speaker 8: and then Georgia and recruiting that area. Always had FA
Speaker 8: team on our radar and things just worked out, you know,
Speaker 8: for teaming up the side to come to Syracuse. And
Speaker 8: I think that made things will be more easier for
Speaker 8: Fordell and his decision process because he could have went
Speaker 8: wherever he wanted to go once he got in the portal.
Speaker 8: I'm glad to have both of those guys.
Speaker 2: What is video like off the field?
Speaker 4: He is laid back, kind of homebody, you know, hang
Speaker 4: out with his friends.
Speaker 8: But other than that, man, he's a guy you never
Speaker 8: got to worry about on the weekend because he's usually
Speaker 8: at home watching the table, just hanging out, chilling.
Speaker 4: So he's a low key guy.
Speaker 2: All right. So we're not gonna find him on Bourbon Street, right,
Speaker 2: Oh I don't think you will. That's awesome. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much for the time. If you could just kind
Speaker 2: of give me a summary or one thing that you'll
Speaker 2: just miss about having him as your player, man with
Speaker 2: all missed.
Speaker 8: About him, just our relationship and the constant reminders of
Speaker 8: where he wanted to be and where he wanted to
Speaker 8: go with his career, and just the constant reminders of
Speaker 8: what he had to do to get there. Just having
Speaker 8: a player that you respect the feedback that it gives you,
Speaker 8: because you know the work he puts in off the field,
Speaker 8: watching film and some things that he.
Speaker 4: May see that we don't see. You know, you you
Speaker 4: consider what he's saying.
Speaker 8: So just he created me to be a great listener
Speaker 8: to my players and look at some feedback and listen
Speaker 8: to the feedback that they give us. And man just
Speaker 8: is relentlessness in his leadership role that he played on
Speaker 8: the field. That's hard to replace. But man just, he's
Speaker 8: like a little brother, you know. And and I watched
Speaker 8: him achieve his goals and I watched him live his
Speaker 8: dream out and get his name called. So it was
Speaker 8: the emotional day for us, just from the time from
Speaker 8: where he's came from to where he is today. So
Speaker 8: gever grateful for him and I'm looking forward to watching
Speaker 8: him now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a lot of emotion when he was drafted.
Speaker 2: You know, you could see the reaction and how excited
Speaker 2: he was, so really cool happy to have him here
Speaker 2: and appreciate the time from you. Hopefully you can come
Speaker 2: check out again sometime.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna try to figure something out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know it's kind of a tough schedule with
Speaker 2: you guys having your own games, but yeah, it would
Speaker 2: be awesome if we can have you down here.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, Take care you too.
Speaker 2: In the conversations that I've had about all of the
Speaker 2: draft picks, there was one thing that really stood out,
Speaker 2: and it was the character of these players. There are
Speaker 2: high character guys who understand the work that it takes
Speaker 2: to be successful on the fields. They put in that
Speaker 2: work and they try to elevate everybody around them, and
Speaker 2: it's going to be really fun having them here in
Speaker 2: the building. It all starts Rookie Mini Camp next week
Speaker 2: May ninth through eleventh, So stay tuned to New Orleans
Speaker 2: Saints dot com for all of our coverage.
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