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Speaker 1: at one Jets Drive, joined by Jets defensive end or
Speaker 1: should I say linebacker because the number changed.
Speaker 2: Johnson, Great to see it, Nice to see you man.
Speaker 1: What was it like the past weekend because typically at
Speaker 1: this point of the year you're playing on Sundays.
Speaker 2: You had center and Sunday off.
Speaker 3: It was great. Man.
Speaker 4: I got a lot of family in town, so you know,
Speaker 4: I felt kind of bad just always jetting off and
Speaker 4: no handling this stuff, and they're just kind of twilling
Speaker 4: as lungs.
Speaker 3: But it was all right. They understand that's what I do.
Speaker 4: But it was definitely good to get home, you know,
Speaker 4: enjoy time with them, enjoy some time with my girl,
Speaker 4: you know, just chill out.
Speaker 1: When did you have the opportunity to actually celebrate Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: because Thursday was a big workday in preparation of Friday,
Speaker 1: you guys actually stated at the team hotel the night
Speaker 1: before the game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I just told my mom actually the night
Speaker 4: before Thanksgiving, I was like, Okay, we're not gonna do
Speaker 4: it tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Let's just do it Friday night.
Speaker 4: After the game, just have the food ready kind of
Speaker 4: we'll do it Friday night after games.
Speaker 3: So we did.
Speaker 4: I got home and then yeah, we started eating. We prayed,
Speaker 4: we ate and played some games and enjoyed each other.
Speaker 3: It was dope.
Speaker 2: How many people in town.
Speaker 4: I don't have any open bedrooms, I'll say that. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I don't have any open bedrooms anymore.
Speaker 2: So north of twenty you would.
Speaker 3: Say, probably like twelve to sixteen.
Speaker 2: Okay, now who handled the cooker?
Speaker 3: My mom and my sister and my girl.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you guys say? What's your favorite Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3: Everything?
Speaker 4: Like anything you can think of, bake magan, cheese, greens,
Speaker 4: corn bread, curry, shrimp, curry, chicken.
Speaker 3: Ham. We did hens. We didn't do turkey. Actually, oh
Speaker 3: really yeah, because.
Speaker 4: No one eats the turkey. Yeah, I'm gonna go straight
Speaker 4: for the him and then the other stuff. And then
Speaker 4: it's like you feel bad, so you got to take
Speaker 4: a little slice of turkey, you know what I'm saying. Like,
Speaker 4: I think turkey like no offense to turkey on Thanksgiving,
Speaker 4: but I feel like I just move around the turkey.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: I think it's overrated because it's not a lot of
Speaker 1: times just sitting at home saying, Hey, what are we
Speaker 1: gonna have for dinner?
Speaker 2: Let's pull out turkey exactly.
Speaker 1: All right, So Saturday and Sunday, what did you actually
Speaker 1: do with the family?
Speaker 3: Chill?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Jill sat at home watch TV Christmas movie, decorated
Speaker 4: my house for Christmas.
Speaker 3: You got the lights on?
Speaker 4: Got actually they one of those you know there's inflatable,
Speaker 4: big inflatable things that.
Speaker 3: Are like usually on the front lawn.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, my mom and my sister decided to put
Speaker 4: it in the house.
Speaker 3: So now I have.
Speaker 4: Just like six foot inflatable thing just floating in the house,
Speaker 4: just sitting up in the house. And I was like,
Speaker 4: I mean, it's room for it, but it's like, why
Speaker 4: is this that's supposed to go on? Anyway, they have
Speaker 4: fun with the because my niece and nephews are in town,
Speaker 4: and you know, they have fun doing all the decorating stuff.
Speaker 4: But it's definitely good Man to enjoy the family, enjoy
Speaker 4: the people that you know helped you get here and
Speaker 4: you know, just love supporting you so much. You know,
Speaker 4: it feels good to kind of give some time back
Speaker 4: to them and you know, some some make some memories
Speaker 4: with them.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 2: You got a nine month old daughter. Now, how much
Speaker 2: attention she get from the fan.
Speaker 4: Oh, my god, a lot. She's she's a centerpiece, one
Speaker 4: hundred percent. I mean, she's she's the best thing that
Speaker 4: ever happened to me. Definitely just gets you on the
Speaker 4: straight and arrow for sure, right because you can you
Speaker 4: can afford kind of like live a little reckless here
Speaker 4: and there when it's just you gotta worry about, right, right.
Speaker 4: But now, so as soon as she came, I was
Speaker 4: not that I was never on a straight arrow. But
Speaker 4: it's just like, I'm not going to ever let myself
Speaker 4: not be on a straight and narrow because you know,
Speaker 4: I got a little girl, and no, even when she's forty,
Speaker 4: she's gonna be my little girl, so right, gotta make
Speaker 4: sure everything's straight for her.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 1: It's awesome because he's going to see her develop every
Speaker 1: day and something new every day that you're able to celebrate.
Speaker 4: I mean, she's she's definitely her her daddy's daughter. She's
Speaker 4: she's this is me too, my whole horn a little bit,
Speaker 4: but she's she's like past every milestone. But I mean
Speaker 4: she she's being brought up in an amazing way. But
Speaker 4: she's she's passing every milestone that she's even supposed to hit. Crawling,
Speaker 4: She's already crawling eight months. She's she's saying her first words,
Speaker 4: like she's just doing everything so fast, and she's just
Speaker 4: so dope, bro, Like it's so cool, so cool.
Speaker 1: It's gonna get better every single day. What's it been
Speaker 1: like for you year two?
Speaker 2: Overall? You're with the Jets?
Speaker 4: Man, Like I said, I don't know if it was
Speaker 4: my daughter, you know, or if I got my girl now,
Speaker 4: so I don't know what it is, bro. I mean
Speaker 4: give some credit to myself now. I work my butt
Speaker 4: off in the off season, but just locked in and
Speaker 4: you know, I hold myself to a super extremely high
Speaker 4: standard like this, you can't critique me and criticize me
Speaker 4: more than I do myself. So obviously individually, it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, which I can have places back here, place
Speaker 4: back there? As a team obviously, you know, obviously we
Speaker 4: just want to We're not in a position that we
Speaker 4: saw ourselves in and doesn't sit well with me, but
Speaker 4: you know, we got six weeks left. You never know,
Speaker 4: and I know the guys, the character of the guys.
Speaker 4: We haven't here. You know, we're gonna bust our tails
Speaker 4: and you know, do what we need to do. So
Speaker 4: I'm just excited for the opportunity. I'm excited for the
Speaker 4: adversity that we have to face because at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, you find out who you truly are
Speaker 4: and who's around you. You know, when when things aren't
Speaker 4: looking good in your back's on the wall, right, you
Speaker 4: either got to punch out or curl up. So you know,
Speaker 4: I'm very confident these guys are gonna punch out.
Speaker 1: How did you attack your first professional off season? Because
Speaker 1: I don't really think that you have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: have an off season after you get drafted, you know,
Speaker 1: you're just kind of like thrown in the next here
Speaker 1: we go.
Speaker 4: It's crazy like after as a rookie, cause you're going, okay,
Speaker 4: so you're done playing college. If you're just like I say,
Speaker 4: you just did the regular season, you're done around late November.
Speaker 4: Right after that, you got maybe that month of December
Speaker 4: to spend with your family for the holidays, whatever have you.
Speaker 4: And then as soon as that's over, you're going to
Speaker 4: train for the combine. And then you got the combine
Speaker 4: and then you got your pro day. So that's by
Speaker 4: like March Area and then then you got to like
Speaker 4: travel to all these teams that want to visit with you,
Speaker 4: and then you get drafted, and then you get drafted,
Speaker 4: you fly. I actually have to fly here. The night
Speaker 4: I got drafted, I couldn't even celebrate in Vegas with
Speaker 4: my family, and then we got here, I had to
Speaker 4: fly back, pack up my stuff, fly back, come for
Speaker 4: rookie mini camp OTAs like it's just like I couldn't
Speaker 4: catch my breath, and then you know, it's like it
Speaker 4: was crazy. So I actually got to do my first
Speaker 4: off season, my first real off season. So I just
Speaker 4: told my myself, because if your mind's not right, you're
Speaker 4: not going to be able to get the most of yourself.
Speaker 4: So I gave myself a little time to relax, and
Speaker 4: I was working out lightly here and there. But then
Speaker 4: I want to say, I turned it on, turned it
Speaker 4: on really in June. And then in June it's pretty
Speaker 4: much doing like two workouts to day for four days
Speaker 4: a week up until I had to come.
Speaker 3: For camping and kind of got here. In camping, it
Speaker 3: was just like it was a breeze. I was ready.
Speaker 3: I was like just strong, like throwing everyone out of
Speaker 3: the way.
Speaker 4: So I was I was like, all right, I did
Speaker 4: something right, because it's kind of reassuring because you don't
Speaker 4: know you like freestyle. It's not like college where you're like,
Speaker 4: you got to come here, you got workouts at six
Speaker 4: in the morning, you gotta do this, you gotta do that.
Speaker 3: It was like, all right, you're on your own pretty
Speaker 3: much for all.
Speaker 4: These months, and then you know you can only I
Speaker 4: didn't know if I was doing it right or if
Speaker 4: I was doing it wrong, and obviously when I got
Speaker 4: here for camp, I was like, I must have did
Speaker 4: something right.
Speaker 1: Who would you train with their off season and what
Speaker 1: specific part you're doing Did you say, hey, listen, this
Speaker 1: is what I really want.
Speaker 3: To hold in.
Speaker 4: Most important thing to me was just explosiveness, because if
Speaker 4: you're an explosive If I'm an explosive player at two
Speaker 4: sixty and I'm explosive fast, obviously I have'n't always been
Speaker 4: naturally strong. And then technique just pass rushing, because you know,
Speaker 4: that's what I could paint to do right.
Speaker 3: On top of other things.
Speaker 4: But now it was just important to me that I
Speaker 4: became extremely explosive and then I got you know, I
Speaker 4: got on my technique in terms of pass rushing and
Speaker 4: get off and just optimizing what my body can give
Speaker 4: to me because I'm an athletic individual. But it doesn't
Speaker 4: mean anything if you're not getting that out of your
Speaker 4: body because your technique's not right. So just focus on
Speaker 4: my technique, become explosive, and just be discipline, be diligent
Speaker 4: in my work. Because I knew you know this, I
Speaker 4: wanted to make a statement this year. Yeah, that was
Speaker 4: a you know what you've seen first year. No, I
Speaker 4: appreciate gratitude to myself for getting getting there, but that
Speaker 4: wasn't who I am, And shoot, I challenge myself. I'm
Speaker 4: still not even close to where I want to be,
Speaker 4: so but I mean just taking steps was important and
Speaker 4: just busting my butt.
Speaker 3: So I had so I had no regrets. You know,
Speaker 3: during the season.
Speaker 1: As a pass rusher, what's the importance of the get off?
Speaker 1: And like you said, that was something that you stressed.
Speaker 1: You emphasize an off season and you can see that
Speaker 1: out on Sundays. What goes into that because you've always
Speaker 1: been athletic, but having that first step off the snap.
Speaker 4: I mean, definitely the first step off the snap. But
Speaker 4: I think more than anything, especially in today's game. I mean,
Speaker 4: guys don't really want to be physical. Yeah they don't.
Speaker 4: They got paid already. So you know, why would I
Speaker 4: grind is like I did in college to get to
Speaker 4: this point. Why would I be physical like that anymore?
Speaker 4: I got paid. That's how I think a lot of
Speaker 4: those guys think. So I was like, Okay, well, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna be physical. I don't care. That's that's that's who
Speaker 4: I am. And be physical, I'm explosive. I'm gonna punch
Speaker 4: you in your face until you tap out. And it's
Speaker 4: kind of how I go about it. And then obviously
Speaker 4: I got the speed and the athleticism to do all
Speaker 4: the other stuff too. But nah, I'm coming to punch
Speaker 4: you in your face and you know, check your temperature
Speaker 4: and see how you take it for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's always been an element of your game,
Speaker 1: as far as you stand it up or maybe going
Speaker 1: down in your stance.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: How much freedom do you have?
Speaker 4: All the freedom in the world. Yeah, And let's just
Speaker 4: a tribute to you know, my coaching staff. They trust me.
Speaker 4: It's pretty much all right, Jermaine, But definitely operating the
Speaker 4: framework of the defense and and.
Speaker 3: Do it like that. So I definitely appreciate it.
Speaker 4: And you know, they let me apply my game to
Speaker 4: the defense and not the other way around, which I
Speaker 4: think can put some players in a box. But I
Speaker 4: mean the staff does a great job of taking individual
Speaker 4: players and understanding that they do some things really good
Speaker 4: and you know, playing the scheme of defense to those strengths.
Speaker 4: And in this case, it's like standing up, you know,
Speaker 4: letting me use my athleticism and kind of like my
Speaker 4: football like you, I can see more. I think I
Speaker 4: can identify things better when I can get up and
Speaker 4: kind of see as a ball snap and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: So yeah, they just give me a lot of a
Speaker 4: lot of kind of freedom on that end, but they
Speaker 4: trust me to operate within the framework of the defense
Speaker 4: for sure.
Speaker 1: I've always liked to added tode you've had as far
Speaker 1: as rushing pass or you said you got to earn
Speaker 1: the right to rush the pass, or can you talk
Speaker 1: about the mentality you have against the run, because that's
Speaker 1: something that you've excelled in day one even entered the
Speaker 1: National Football League.
Speaker 4: Right it actually it actually started. I think it was
Speaker 4: after my twenty nineteen season at Georgia. Because I've always
Speaker 4: been physical, obvious thought I played the run pretty good.
Speaker 4: But when I was designing to come out for that
Speaker 4: draft instead of the twenty twenty one draft, I came
Speaker 4: out for it got my fileback because you know, the league,
Speaker 4: the scouts, whatever, they have a file on you. I
Speaker 4: was reading my file and kind of said, like I
Speaker 4: was a good pass rusher or whatever, but he's not
Speaker 4: physical and he doesn't play the run. Well, I was like,
Speaker 4: all right, that was pretty much it. So I went
Speaker 4: to ended up transferring to Florida State, and yeah, you know,
Speaker 4: I shut all that down and then came into the
Speaker 4: league my first year, I shut all that down. And
Speaker 4: then it's just I mean, it's part of my pedigree.
Speaker 4: Like I said, no, like I'm gonna out physical you.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna make you quit before I do. And that's
Speaker 4: in the run game, Like I'm gonna hit you in
Speaker 4: your face. That's a perfect opportunity.
Speaker 3: Thank you. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Like it because the thing about this is it's about
Speaker 4: who gets who gets someone to break first, because we're
Speaker 4: all very gifted athletically.
Speaker 3: It's about what's in here and what's in here?
Speaker 1: So what's it like on the pro level dealing with
Speaker 1: the chips. It's just not okay, I'm one on one
Speaker 1: with the tackle that a lot of times, especially the
Speaker 1: more successful you are, the more tension you're gonna get.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like you just said, I kind of take it
Speaker 4: as a compliment because all the best pass rushers are
Speaker 4: getting chipped. They're not just gonna, you know, let you
Speaker 4: tee off, right, So I mean, but that's a that's
Speaker 4: a tribute to our whole defensive line. Everybody in there
Speaker 4: is a dog and gets sit a quarterback at a
Speaker 4: high rate. And you know, offenses aren't just gonna let
Speaker 4: us tee off on their offensive line. So yeah, chips come,
Speaker 4: and you take it as a compliment, and then you know,
Speaker 4: you figure out to work your way through because nobody cares.
Speaker 4: The end of the day, you see a statue and
Speaker 4: you see the New York Jets d line how many
Speaker 4: sacks they had, said, well, they.
Speaker 3: Had some chips too, So now I don't nobody care.
Speaker 4: So take it as you know, take it as it is,
Speaker 4: and you know, figure out to get through it.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about how close you guys are. I mean,
Speaker 1: you and Bryce are always together in the locker room.
Speaker 1: You got JFM. I like to call the gray beard.
Speaker 1: Even though he's in maybe maybe his late twenties, he's
Speaker 1: only been in the league for a few years, but
Speaker 1: he's the vecher in the megs.
Speaker 3: You got.
Speaker 1: Carl's still there obviously, Will McDonald much like yourself, a
Speaker 1: first round pick who's going through his first steps in
Speaker 1: the National Football League.
Speaker 3: It's a family. It makes it makes it really makes
Speaker 3: the time.
Speaker 4: It makes the experience because I mean before I came
Speaker 4: in the league, I always heard about these rooms that
Speaker 4: weren't great rooms. They call him or you know, it's
Speaker 4: not a good room, and that usually mean all right,
Speaker 4: like you got some some a holes in the room,
Speaker 4: some selfish guys in the room, but you know the
Speaker 4: good players so deal with the kind of thing. But
Speaker 4: we have none of those guys. It's really a family.
Speaker 4: We're all selfless and we all help each other. We
Speaker 4: all want to see each other win. Like we make
Speaker 4: joke here and they're like, oh no, I got a
Speaker 4: point five of that half that sack. You know, I
Speaker 4: got a whole sack. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: it's all love and nobody's like hating on each other.
Speaker 4: That's why we're all you know, we're all excited when
Speaker 4: whenever somebody gets a sack, like we're all celebrating within
Speaker 4: each other because there's no there's no like hating or
Speaker 4: anything like, we're all just showing love and we all
Speaker 4: want each other to win, which is you know, I'm
Speaker 4: extremely grateful for because I could have easily, you know,
Speaker 4: got drafted to a room and everybody's like, oh, this
Speaker 4: guy got drafted, you know, try to replace me or
Speaker 4: something like I'm not going to help this kid out.
Speaker 4: But that wasn't the case. The guys kind of brought
Speaker 4: me under the wing and helped me out, just like we're.
Speaker 3: Doing with Will. Like nobody's like, oh, Will's here, like
Speaker 3: da da D. Don't help it, Like no, we're helping.
Speaker 4: Like this's just how we are, and we're all very
Speaker 4: kind and loving and you know, we just want to
Speaker 4: see each other win.
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Speaker 1: You guys have different body shapes and you're different players,
Speaker 1: but do you see similarities between you and jfam as
Speaker 1: far as the pad level and the sheer power.
Speaker 2: That you guys bring to the position.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4: When I first got here, I was just you know,
Speaker 4: John is, like you said at gray Beard, Like he
Speaker 4: says the standards in terms of, you know, kind of
Speaker 4: the physicality and edge set in and stuff like that,
Speaker 4: and it shows on film and in game, like guys
Speaker 4: don't want to run his way because he's just gonna
Speaker 4: punch your tackle in the face and then the run's
Speaker 4: gonna not be worth it worth anything anyway. So one
Speaker 4: hundred percent I kind of was watching that and you know,
Speaker 4: like I said, I'm critical. I'm more critical of myself
Speaker 4: than anybody will ever be. So I'm just I was
Speaker 4: kind of watching that and I'm just like it was
Speaker 4: compared to my game, Like, yeah, I was good against
Speaker 4: the run, but like you know, I didn't like I
Speaker 4: didn't like instilled kind of fearing the people, Like I
Speaker 4: didn't like hit people that hard, Like I didn't do
Speaker 4: that and I wanted to. So, like I said, I
Speaker 4: just and a lot of it comes from just strength
Speaker 4: and explosion.
Speaker 3: And JFM is very strong. He's very explosive.
Speaker 4: So that's like it goes in hand in hand and
Speaker 4: why I worked on what I worked on the offseason.
Speaker 4: I mean when I came in camp, it was just
Speaker 4: like I felt it like I didn't care who was
Speaker 4: in front of me, like I'm gonna You're either gonna
Speaker 4: be on your back or I'm gonna move you from
Speaker 4: in front of me kind of thing. And yeah, like
Speaker 4: I said, it's a tribute to who we have in
Speaker 4: our room. Those guys set a good example and we
Speaker 4: all have a standard, like we all hold each other
Speaker 4: to the same standard.
Speaker 3: It's really cool actually.
Speaker 4: So like they operate that way and I'm over here,
Speaker 4: like you know, I can't let these guys down, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying like, if I'm going to be
Speaker 4: on the field, like I have to uphold the same standard, right,
Speaker 4: Like I have to go out there and it's got
Speaker 4: to look the same. It's got to be the same attitude.
Speaker 4: Like you know, our d line is feared. I really
Speaker 4: believe that, and it's a standard at the end of
Speaker 4: the day.
Speaker 1: I told you this before earlier the season. One of
Speaker 1: my favorite Jermaine plays this year came in Dallas.
Speaker 2: Paton and Zach Martin Paul and you met it head on.
Speaker 1: It took not only Martin out but an additional cowboy
Speaker 1: and then Mosley comes in and makes the play. How
Speaker 1: much did you enjoy not only that play, but any
Speaker 1: of those plays like that, which is okay, here's a
Speaker 1: fierce collision. I'm bringing the violence to the game and
Speaker 1: one of my teammates is making the final play.
Speaker 4: It's actually funny. I knew that play was coming then.
Speaker 4: I told you that already. But I only knew that
Speaker 4: play was coming was because they ran the same play
Speaker 4: and the opposite end zone. At that time, I like
Speaker 4: didn't really feel it as good. I mean, I still
Speaker 4: sat it down and like, you know, hit Zach, but
Speaker 4: he kind of got in.
Speaker 3: My ear hole a little bit.
Speaker 4: He hit me a little hard, which is good, great,
Speaker 4: but I was like, okay, like I just kind of like,
Speaker 4: you know, did that kind of thing, like all right,
Speaker 4: let's do it. Let's do it again next opportunity. I'm
Speaker 4: I'm gonna mess you up. So it's perfect, Like it's
Speaker 4: the same layout, same everything, same motions, whatever. And I
Speaker 4: seen it and I was like, he's about to pull
Speaker 4: so I ain't on my body right at where he
Speaker 4: was gonna be.
Speaker 3: And like you said, I just ran straight at him.
Speaker 4: And at the end of the day, it's just there's
Speaker 4: like you got to make that decision, like what kind
Speaker 4: of man at.
Speaker 3: The end of the day are you going to be?
Speaker 4: Are you gonna puint something in the face, you know,
Speaker 4: after you get hit in the face, or are you
Speaker 4: gonna be like you know, you felt it before because
Speaker 4: Zach is a good football player, he's strong whatever, right,
Speaker 4: so I felt it. By the end of the day,
Speaker 4: he was gonna have to feel me too. So that's
Speaker 4: what it came down to. And I knew it was coming,
Speaker 4: and you know, like you said, I hit it and
Speaker 4: it was a CJ cjkme Scott Free and it made
Speaker 4: the play, and then after I kind of looked at
Speaker 4: the sideline like, I don't try to don't try to
Speaker 4: get over here again.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's a good, good transition right there, because
Speaker 1: I watch you and watch the way you interact with
Speaker 1: your team. Man's feel like, man, Jermaine's a guy. I'm
Speaker 1: one on my team, but if I'm playing against him,
Speaker 1: I can't stand him because your motor and you're not
Speaker 1: afraid to tell people, hey, what's up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean one hundred percent at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, Like it really, it's bigger than football. You know,
Speaker 4: who you are on the field is kind of who
Speaker 4: you are off the field. If you shire away from
Speaker 4: certain things, you're gonna shire away from certain problems you
Speaker 4: have else in your life. So I mean it's perfect.
Speaker 4: It just works hand in hand. So I'm never gonna
Speaker 4: be one to shy away from a problem or fight.
Speaker 4: After I get punched, I'm always going to be the
Speaker 4: one that you know, I'm always gonna hit back. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and you better you better hope you can keep hitting
Speaker 4: with me or else you're going down.
Speaker 1: Have you and Bryce had a competition here as far
Speaker 1: as who's gonna end up having the more sacks.
Speaker 2: Because you're at five right now, he's at six.
Speaker 1: I know you guys are gonna celebrate no matter who
Speaker 1: has the team league right at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: Now, to be honest, one hundred percent honest, I don't
Speaker 4: think any of us is like, oh, I'm gonna end
Speaker 4: up with more sacks than you. We always just joke though,
Speaker 4: like cause we all kind of it's very rarely only
Speaker 4: one of us just gets the quarterback.
Speaker 3: Right, you know what I'm saying, So we all kind
Speaker 3: of get there at the same time. We are like
Speaker 3: like who got it? Like it's at a forty five,
Speaker 3: Like what is it that you know? We all just
Speaker 3: kind of joke like that, like nah, I got the
Speaker 3: whole thing, I got the whole thing. Stuff like that.
Speaker 4: But nah, it's never no, it's never like a competition
Speaker 4: like in terms of I'm gonna get more sacks than
Speaker 4: you at the end of the year. It's just like
Speaker 4: I'm getting sacked today and get two sacks today, like
Speaker 4: match me kind of thing. And then it just goes
Speaker 4: hand in hand with like it's a great room, like
Speaker 4: we hope each other that standard. It's like a healthy
Speaker 4: competition because if one of us gets exactly like, no,
Speaker 4: I'm about to get with you. But it comes from
Speaker 4: a place of love, and you know, a very healthy place.
Speaker 2: Who's got the best celebration?
Speaker 3: Oh I do?
Speaker 2: Come on, yeah, come on, come on, Okay, he'll come.
Speaker 3: Second. I don't know Quincy. Second. Yeah, are you talking
Speaker 3: about the whole team or yeah?
Speaker 2: I think I guess we include the all time Quincy.
Speaker 3: Second.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Quincy almost upper cut.
Speaker 3: Quincy almost has me. He almost has me. Just see
Speaker 3: it a little more because it's more of a big
Speaker 3: hit celebration. But he almost has me.
Speaker 4: But I still I think I have the best celebration
Speaker 4: because who doesn't like thor and and who doesn't like
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: All of it's dope. You can interact with the fans.
Speaker 3: It's dope. It's a great time. Bryce's is good. Yep,
Speaker 3: Brycius is good.
Speaker 4: I remember he told me he was gonna do it,
Speaker 4: Like when he decided like that was his I was like, yeah, like,
Speaker 4: it's nice.
Speaker 3: Think it's because I knew mine was better than a
Speaker 3: little bit. So nah, I'm joking. But and then quinnis.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like quinnis Okay.
Speaker 1: How challenging has this been for you? You love playing ball,
Speaker 1: you love them room. Yeah, you guys started four and three.
Speaker 1: We've lost four consecutive games. Just being in this position overall.
Speaker 2: How difficult is it.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's difficult, but you know it's not the
Speaker 4: first time I've been on the team. And then we
Speaker 4: have big expectations and then you kind of get punching
Speaker 4: them out a little bit like Florida State in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty one, like everybody was like, oh, they look good
Speaker 4: this year.
Speaker 3: They look good this year.
Speaker 4: Bro, we started off on four and and you ask
Speaker 4: anybody there, like you have a decision to make and
Speaker 4: I and I definitely could have just been like, well,
Speaker 4: I'm only here for one year. You know, I'm to
Speaker 4: make sure I play good and get up out of here.
Speaker 4: But NA, like, you still gotta you have you have
Speaker 4: a duty for your you know, for your teammates, everybody
Speaker 4: that poured into you, and that being this organization that
Speaker 4: you know now, I'm gonna still keep doing things the
Speaker 4: right way and if not, I'm gonna fix what I
Speaker 4: need to fix. And I think that's what we're all
Speaker 4: willing to do. And I think we're gonna fix what
Speaker 4: we're willing to fix or what we need to fix.
Speaker 4: And you know, we're gonna come up like we got
Speaker 4: a bunch of warriors, a bunch of good people, and
Speaker 4: it starts with, you know, people a good character and
Speaker 4: people that have the right kind of heart in terms
Speaker 4: of fighting. And I think that's what we got. So
Speaker 4: may just need to fix what we're fixing. And you know,
Speaker 4: I got all the all the faith in the world
Speaker 4: that we're gonna get this thing right.
Speaker 2: You are a young guy.
Speaker 1: How have you been able to do all these moves
Speaker 1: throughout throughout your life former the whole years when you're
Speaker 1: talking about Hey, I grew up in Dean Prairie, Minnesota.
Speaker 1: I go to Independence, Kansas and Independence Community College.
Speaker 2: I transfer to Georgia. You know, I want to get
Speaker 2: some I like it at Georgia.
Speaker 1: I want to get some more run, a little bit
Speaker 1: more run, because I think that's going to be better
Speaker 1: for me professionally down the line.
Speaker 2: I transfer to Florida State.
Speaker 1: I'm a best player in the ACC and then the
Speaker 1: next year, before you know it, you're up here in
Speaker 1: New York. I mean this, people treat you guys like robots.
Speaker 1: But that's a lot of moves for a young dude,
Speaker 1: it's like here, here, here, how have you been able
Speaker 1: to at every level? Like we've gotten a better Jermane.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's a life I chose. That's what
Speaker 3: I told myself, gard Where do you want to be?
Speaker 3: What do you want to do? Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no room for complaining because at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, nobody cares, and I want to I want
Speaker 4: to be.
Speaker 3: I want to be great man.
Speaker 4: And you know I told I made that decision a
Speaker 4: long time ago. So however many moves what I needed
Speaker 4: to do, you know what I had to go through.
Speaker 4: I just charged it to the game. You know, just
Speaker 4: kind of you gotta you gotta sacrifice what you want
Speaker 4: now and you know, be strong for how you want
Speaker 4: to live later and how you want to be remembered.
Speaker 4: So I kind of told myself that at a young
Speaker 4: age and the yeah, I went to work.
Speaker 2: What do you tell people about Eaton Prairie, Minnesota?
Speaker 3: Uh? Beautiful? Yeah, first off, and great football program.
Speaker 4: And winning football program, high expectations, stuff like that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's pretty much it.
Speaker 2: What do you tell people about Kansas?
Speaker 4: I don't talk about it much, No, man, Like I said,
Speaker 4: I charged it to the game. It was, it was
Speaker 4: how it looked on Netflix. Nobody there.
Speaker 2: How many people still bring that up with you. Any
Speaker 2: of your teammates watched last ye.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure they did. I'm sure they did. But
Speaker 3: I wasn't really in it much.
Speaker 4: My choice kept asking me to do interviews and follow
Speaker 4: me here and there, and I'm like, nah, really no, Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was like no, no, no, thank you, because I
Speaker 4: didn't really I've seen kind of how some of the
Speaker 4: other guys, how that some of the other like from
Speaker 4: the other seasons were portrayed like some of the what
Speaker 4: you called feature guys, And I mean, it's a show
Speaker 4: at the end of today, right, so they're going to
Speaker 4: pay attention to anything good or bad.
Speaker 3: And I didn't want to be like, remember for that.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to be known for that because we're
Speaker 4: all human, right, And I didn't want to leave that
Speaker 4: perception of who I am up to a show that
Speaker 4: wasn't a good idea. So I want to be remembered
Speaker 4: for being, you know, a great person and a great
Speaker 4: football player. So I just felt like it was best
Speaker 4: for me to focus on my schoolwork and my football
Speaker 4: while I was there. And you know, I kind of
Speaker 4: gave the show permission to like use good plays and
Speaker 4: kind of speak about me well, but anything outside of that,
Speaker 4: I just kind of steer clear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you didn't want anything additionally featured, so you could
Speaker 2: have gone anywhere after what you did on the Juco scene.
Speaker 1: Yeah, why Georgia. What do you learn from Kirby and
Speaker 1: Dan Lanney?
Speaker 3: Yeah, d Dog. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So it was Georgia because I believed in what they
Speaker 4: were building and I believe that, you know, we could
Speaker 4: go win a national championship, and I wanted to compete
Speaker 4: against the best. I mean I've kind of always been
Speaker 4: like that, Like you could say you're one thing, but
Speaker 4: then you're never gonna really know what you are until
Speaker 4: you you're throwing in a fire and.
Speaker 3: Competing against the best, then you can.
Speaker 4: That gives me confidence at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: because now no one can say nothing about me, and
Speaker 4: I can't say nothing about myself in terms of doubt.
Speaker 4: I did it against the best. What am I gonna
Speaker 4: How am I gonna doubt myself? So it's kind of
Speaker 4: how I went about choosing Georgia. And then, like you said,
Speaker 4: kind of you know, didn't really see myself as the
Speaker 4: same player as they saw me a little bit kind
Speaker 4: of thing. So it's like all respect, you know, it's
Speaker 4: all good. And and I decided to go to Florida State.
Speaker 4: Well hold on, shout out, Dan, dance my dog.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about college here.
Speaker 3: Dance my dog. I just need to let that be
Speaker 3: know for sure. But uh, yeah, then I went to
Speaker 3: Florida State.
Speaker 1: And that was a cool thing because I talked to
Speaker 1: guys you played with at Georgia and everybody loved it.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like it not Jermaine d to get out
Speaker 1: of here whatever. You had a great relationship with people there.
Speaker 1: But for you, I imagine you talked to your family
Speaker 1: about this and said, you know what's best for me
Speaker 1: here is that we got to do something because I
Speaker 1: want to continue to grow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was one of the hardest decisions in
Speaker 3: my life.
Speaker 2: Man, because they go on and win a national championship.
Speaker 3: I mean not even that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, and those are my brothers, and you know,
Speaker 4: we all sacrifice bluss one tears to get to that point.
Speaker 3: And you know, shout out to those guys. They never
Speaker 3: made me feel left out or anything.
Speaker 4: You know, they always hit me up and let me
Speaker 4: know like you know, now, Bro, like you helped us
Speaker 4: and you know whatever. So you know, kudos to you know,
Speaker 4: my former teammates for that. But yeah, it was just
Speaker 4: it was a hard decision because obviously I love Georgia.
Speaker 3: Bro.
Speaker 4: I chose them out of anybody to go to and
Speaker 4: you know, I had a great time there and a
Speaker 4: lot of friends, family, you know that I made there.
Speaker 4: So it's a hard decision. But at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, like I told you earlier, it is like
Speaker 4: I had to charge the decision to the game, like
Speaker 4: I have a I have a vision of who I
Speaker 4: want to be and what I'm going to accomplished, and
Speaker 4: hard decision had to be made, and and I'm glad
Speaker 4: I made.
Speaker 2: It when you see what Florida State is right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you go back and say, you know what,
Speaker 1: Norvell looked at me as somebody that I'm a foundational piece.
Speaker 2: Did you know it at the time that this thing
Speaker 2: was going to turn?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I did.
Speaker 4: I believed in him because he believed in me, and
Speaker 4: you know kind of how I can lead those guys,
Speaker 4: and and it was reassuring. Yeah, it's just emotional thinking
Speaker 4: back on it, because.
Speaker 6: Really, yeah, I mean, he he had a tremendous belief
Speaker 6: in me, both as a person and a player. And
Speaker 6: and he never lets me forget kind of the the
Speaker 6: the change.
Speaker 3: That I had, you know, the hand and the change
Speaker 3: that happened there.
Speaker 4: And they never lets me forget, you know, kind of
Speaker 4: or anybody else for that matter, how strong that was
Speaker 4: for where they are now.
Speaker 3: And man, I.
Speaker 4: Love the guy for it because it's very easy, because
Speaker 4: it's easy for anybody just to be like, oh, like,
Speaker 4: you know, I did this and it's because of me.
Speaker 3: But I mean, he's not like that at all.
Speaker 4: And you know, he always reminds me like thank you,
Speaker 4: Like he'll just look me anytime.
Speaker 3: I go back. Yeah, he just tells me thank you.
Speaker 4: And it's like at a telepathic level, like like he's
Speaker 4: telling me thank you for all the things that I
Speaker 4: didn't have to do but I chose to do.
Speaker 2: And that's an incredibly deep connection, isn't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, that's my guy.
Speaker 2: What do you think about the college football landscape right now?
Speaker 1: So you got Kirby going for his third straight national
Speaker 1: championship with the Dogs. You got your guy Dan Lanning
Speaker 1: out there in Eugene. They're playing for the Pac twelve
Speaker 1: championship and they got a chance and then you got
Speaker 1: Florida State right there undefeated.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's crazy, but it's not surprising because obviously Kirby
Speaker 4: smart held me to an extremely high standard and you
Speaker 4: know didn't let me, you know, straight from that. Obviously,
Speaker 4: Coach Lanny was my position coach in the DC at
Speaker 4: the time. He did the same thing, operated the same way,
Speaker 4: expected greatness. And Coach Norvel did the same thing, operated
Speaker 4: the same way, and expected greatness from me, both on
Speaker 4: and off the field. So it's not surprising because all
Speaker 4: three of those guys are you know, they're cut from
Speaker 4: the same cloth. And it's funny. Coach Lane used to
Speaker 4: work for Novelle in Memphis, and then Landing used to
Speaker 4: work for Kirby, so it's like it's all kind of yeah,
Speaker 4: it's not surprising then, because it's like, yeah, those guys
Speaker 4: expect greatness and operate from from a framework that expects greatness,
Speaker 4: and you know, it's kind of how they operate.
Speaker 1: I can tell you this now we're at the end
Speaker 1: here the pod and said, I went to grad school
Speaker 1: at Florida so.
Speaker 2: I watch that game Saturday night. That's kind of disappointed.
Speaker 2: But hey, man, you guys gotta die.
Speaker 1: Final thoughts here, and you've been really gracious with your time.
Speaker 1: How much are you looking forward to not just Sunday,
Speaker 1: but whatever's ahead over.
Speaker 2: These final six games?
Speaker 1: Because I know the fans are frustrated right now. They
Speaker 1: look at it and say, four game lives, a straight
Speaker 1: four and seven, then probable to go to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: things like that. But for you, just and I think
Speaker 1: that anybody's gonna appreciate listening to you in this kind
Speaker 1: of setting, is that you love every time you had
Speaker 1: that opportunity to get out there in between the white lines.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Like I said earlier, man, it's a it's a great
Speaker 4: opportunity to show who we are, what kind of team
Speaker 4: we are. Yeah, Like the season isn't going at all,
Speaker 4: how any of us imagine from an injury standpoint, from
Speaker 4: wins and losses standpoint, But we're faced with a great
Speaker 4: opportunity to be able to become this adversity and I
Speaker 4: think we have the people in the fight and the
Speaker 4: talent to do so. So I mean we're gonna attack it.
Speaker 4: And we met as a team today. I think we're
Speaker 4: all on the same page. And I'm just excited to
Speaker 4: to uphold the standard that that I have for myself.
Speaker 1: All right, So you just celebrated Thanksgiving with their family,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna go out here in the community over
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks to help out kids with
Speaker 1: some of their wishes.
Speaker 2: Why are you doing that?
Speaker 4: I mean, it just kind of reminds me of of
Speaker 4: me as a kid. It's not to any detriment of
Speaker 4: my parents, but you know, there's some things that a
Speaker 4: lot of things that I wasn't able to have or
Speaker 4: partake it just because you know, it wasn't in the cards.
Speaker 4: But if I'm able to help, you know, kids out,
Speaker 4: especially around the holiday season, because that was a big,
Speaker 4: huge Christmas holiday head as a kid, Like as soon
Speaker 4: as it's November, like, I'm like, mom, we put the
Speaker 4: lights on, you know, can we watch Christmas movies? Mariah
Speaker 4: Carey's on the speaker like as soon as he can be.
Speaker 4: So I know there's a lot of other kids out
Speaker 4: there like that that just wish they had some help,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. And I'm in a position
Speaker 4: to do that. And if it's one kid, that's enough
Speaker 4: for me, you know what I'm saying. It just reminds
Speaker 4: me of where I was at and one hundred percent awesome.
Speaker 1: If your man really appreciate your time today, had fun,
Speaker 1: good luck the rest of the we appreciate you. B