Speaker 1: Welcome in to the Ravens Press Pass podcast. The Ravens
Speaker 1: selected safety Malachi Starks in the first round of the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five NFL Draft, and he was in Baltimore
Speaker 1: on Friday to officially meet with the local media make
Speaker 1: his introduction to Ravens fans. Ravens are certainly excited about
Speaker 1: getting Malachi Starks and feel like he could be a
Speaker 1: real asset for this defense. Today, the Ravens had a
Speaker 1: press conference to introduce Malachi along with defensive coordinator Zach Orr.
Speaker 2: Everybody doing all right. I appreciate you guys coming out.
Speaker 2: Obviously you could tell that we're excited last night we
Speaker 2: drafted Malachi Starks out of Georgia. First and foremost, just
Speaker 2: wanted to thank Eric and his staff man all the
Speaker 2: work they do to provide us coaches the information to
Speaker 2: evaluate the players. And it became real clear when we
Speaker 2: started evaluate some process as coaches that Malachi Starks is
Speaker 2: one of the top players in his draft. And when
Speaker 2: you come by his on the field talent, his on
Speaker 2: the field production combined with his character, his work ethic,
Speaker 2: and his mindset that we look for in Baltimore, he
Speaker 2: was a clear cut number one defensive player for us
Speaker 2: as coaches, So we were a static when we got him,
Speaker 2: not just not just me as a coordinator, not just
Speaker 2: a secondary coaches, A linebacker coaches were excited. Defensive line
Speaker 2: coach is excited because we know what type of player
Speaker 2: and what type of person we're bringing to Baltimore. Man
Speaker 2: and I know you got Eric and Harvis talked about
Speaker 2: his interview process.
Speaker 3: It was a great interview at the combine.
Speaker 2: I was there, went to the pro day, one of
Speaker 2: the best workouts I've seen, not just from a dB,
Speaker 2: just from a football player in general. And then when
Speaker 2: you cut on the film, it's very evident that not
Speaker 2: a lot of people can do what Malachot Stars could
Speaker 2: do on the football field. So we're static to add
Speaker 2: him to our defense, to add him to our team.
Speaker 2: We played with a lot of DB's in the secondary.
Speaker 2: He has very he's very familiar. We're playing all over
Speaker 2: the secondary, which was appeasing us. He's a playmaker, he's
Speaker 2: a ball hawk, and the most importantly, he's a dog
Speaker 2: man in the classroom, off the field and on the field.
Speaker 2: Loves ball. That's what we're looking for in Baltimore. So
Speaker 2: we're excited to add him to our defense. He's gonna
Speaker 2: be a great piece for us, and we're excited to
Speaker 2: get to work with him.
Speaker 4: It was kind of hard to follow up after that.
Speaker 4: I just want to say thank you to the whole
Speaker 4: staff and Erican and the whole staff is just believing
Speaker 4: in me and taking a shot on me, and just
Speaker 4: the history that runs here. I think when I chose
Speaker 4: to go to University of Georgia as a freshman, the
Speaker 4: history that ran in the defensive room and the history
Speaker 4: that I want to be a part of, the type
Speaker 4: of program that I wanted to be a part of
Speaker 4: is very similar to what they've built here. And there's
Speaker 4: a lot of elite guys that I can't wait to,
Speaker 4: you know, learn from and be a sponge. And I'm
Speaker 4: ready to you know, get here and be a raven.
Speaker 4: I'm ready to get to work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, ma'am, you can't touched find the history. I mean,
Speaker 3: this is a team that had read it safety now
Speaker 3: has called.
Speaker 5: How much does that mean to kind of be in
Speaker 5: kind of that legacy at that position.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's huge, and I take I take
Speaker 4: part of it. You know. A really big thing for
Speaker 4: me is showing respect for the guys who came before
Speaker 4: you and paving a way for the ones who's going
Speaker 4: to come after you. So just being able to, you know,
Speaker 4: be in that room and learn from those guys and
Speaker 4: just the history that runs here, like I said earlier,
Speaker 4: just really type into that and you know, learn what
Speaker 4: it means to be a raven. I'm excited.
Speaker 6: Does your mind starts spending immediately when you think about
Speaker 6: him and Kyle Hamilton and all the other dbs about
Speaker 6: what you can do with his talent now at a
Speaker 6: duty definitely.
Speaker 3: I ran the coach this morning. We were in the
Speaker 3: weight room.
Speaker 2: We were already talking about our different ways how we
Speaker 2: add to our defense man and we talk about the
Speaker 2: advantage that we feel like we have here in Baltimore
Speaker 2: is being positionless and that that's that's all over the field,
Speaker 2: but especially with our secondary and he helps create an
Speaker 2: advantage for us and a disadvantage to the offense because
Speaker 2: he can line up all over the field for us
Speaker 2: and be productive along with the other dbs we have
Speaker 2: in the room. So we're excited to continue to add
Speaker 2: to that and it's gonna be great for us.
Speaker 6: I'm sure you've be for a while to get beat
Speaker 6: drafted into.
Speaker 2: The NFL and taking time to kind of, you know, with.
Speaker 1: A slow time.
Speaker 2: Bawn for second and just think about what legends at
Speaker 2: this point today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I did last night. And it's been
Speaker 4: it's been quick, you know. Uh, you know, you get
Speaker 4: that call and you walk on stage, and it's quick.
Speaker 4: You in interviews, you go to sleep next morning, you're
Speaker 4: on the flight. Uh. But I think, you know, after
Speaker 4: I got done with the interviews and I got back
Speaker 4: and I was with my family, just being able to
Speaker 4: you know, sell on a couch and just kind of
Speaker 4: talk about it, uh, and just really be grateful for
Speaker 4: the whole moment. A lot of guys dream of this day.
Speaker 4: I mean a lot of guys don't make it to
Speaker 4: it as well. Uh So just really appreciating the little
Speaker 4: things that took get here and uh all the people who,
Speaker 4: uh who've helped me get in this position today. Uh,
Speaker 4: what's really huge for me.
Speaker 5: Like the Ravens talked about how impressive you were in
Speaker 5: the Combine interview. What impressed you about the Ravens organization
Speaker 5: when you interviewed with them?
Speaker 4: You can just feel it, uh, I think uh I
Speaker 4: kind of talked about this earlier with coach. Like when
Speaker 4: you watch when you watch Raven football, you can you
Speaker 4: can feel it. Uh like when someone says Raven football,
Speaker 4: like you know what they're talking about, like as soon
Speaker 4: as they say it. So like as soon as I
Speaker 4: walked in the room, I felt like that that presence,
Speaker 4: that that energy uh of football. And at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, I'm a guy who loves football, but
Speaker 4: also like surrounding myself with good people, uh, good men,
Speaker 4: uh cause I'm still young and I'm still learning. Uh
Speaker 4: So just being able to be at a place like this,
Speaker 4: I mean it's huge for me and my family.
Speaker 5: Well, I would just go back to what you were
Speaker 5: saying about the journey.
Speaker 4: Uh what what is that journey been?
Speaker 5: Lay back you know, thinking back to you all back
Speaker 5: to your childhood. You know, third fourth is sixth grade
Speaker 5: and you you know, hard times and all that to
Speaker 5: this point and and what is it?
Speaker 4: How would you know?
Speaker 5: I just described what it needs to you to God
Speaker 5: from that.
Speaker 4: To this, it's a blessing. Uh.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: I come from a very you know, faithful background and
Speaker 4: something that me and my parents and my fans I
Speaker 4: talked about uh a lot this week, but a lot
Speaker 4: of process as well as you know, God has already
Speaker 4: written my story for me. So just being able to
Speaker 4: have faith in Him and stay true to myself and
Speaker 4: I compromise that for anybody. I think when you look
Speaker 4: back on the things that you know me and my
Speaker 4: family has been through. Uh, just being able to stay
Speaker 4: true to ourself but also keep God first. You know,
Speaker 4: things happen for a reason and you may never know,
Speaker 4: and you know you may know right away, but uh,
Speaker 4: just having faith in that and you know, staying true
Speaker 4: to ourselves is what really got me to my point today.
Speaker 1: Uh, how do you feel like?
Speaker 6: Do you wait a lit over too long and have
Speaker 6: a name you motivation? You go ahead and board playing
Speaker 6: with a little the corners or cans, the teams and
Speaker 6: maybe asking.
Speaker 4: About Nah, I'm in a perfect spot. Uh, I'm I'm
Speaker 4: right where I need to be. I'm ready to get
Speaker 4: to work.
Speaker 6: Now. Kind of At Georgia, you practice against some great
Speaker 6: players you have brought byland coming here. How much are
Speaker 6: you looking.
Speaker 2: Forward to prizing against some of the Ragan's weapons and
Speaker 2: how much you think that will help you?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think you know iron sharpers aren't And I'm the
Speaker 4: guy who loves to compete. So at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, you know, as much as I want to
Speaker 4: learn from the defense side, I want to learn from
Speaker 4: the offensive side too. So I'm excited to really get
Speaker 4: out there and you know, be a sponge to you know,
Speaker 4: all the league guys that they have on the team.
Speaker 3: So you mentioned that now the top, top guy that
Speaker 3: you guys are able to get.
Speaker 1: We saw the clip of you celebrating the defensive coaches
Speaker 1: and just what was kind of the emotion of that
Speaker 1: moment and what led to that excitement that you had
Speaker 1: in the moment.
Speaker 2: Like I said earlier in the process, man, just you know,
Speaker 2: like you said at the combine, watching the film, going
Speaker 2: down to the brode talking to the coaches and the
Speaker 2: staff at Georgia's, how much they raised about him, and
Speaker 2: that confirming with our own conversations and the film. Our
Speaker 2: football coaches, Man, we you know, we love football. We
Speaker 2: love guys who love football, and Malachi is one of
Speaker 2: those guys. And it was something that we talked about
Speaker 2: throughout the night. It was like, man, you know, hopefully
Speaker 2: Malachi is there. Hopefully he's there. So that was the
Speaker 2: guy we were focused on as coaches from a defense
Speaker 2: at a standpoint the whole time, and you know, as
Speaker 2: it gets close, you start getting a little bit more anxious.
Speaker 2: So when we found out that that's what's gonna that
Speaker 2: we were going to be able to get him here
Speaker 2: in Baltimore, it was just static and that that was
Speaker 2: just like all our coaches. They watch football, they watch
Speaker 2: the tape, they know what type of player he is,
Speaker 2: and we glad to have him.
Speaker 5: Alik, you, the goodness is you don't have to see
Speaker 5: them as an opponent on Sunday. The bad news is
Speaker 5: you've got to see him every day in practice. Lamar
Speaker 5: Jackson and Derrick Hemery thoughts on playing against guys you've
Speaker 5: probably been playing against. I'm mad for a lot of years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're not wrong. Uh, I'm excited, come of the
Speaker 4: piggyback off what I said earlier. I mean, these guys
Speaker 4: are elite. So just to be able to come to
Speaker 4: a place like this and you know, be able to
Speaker 4: sharpen my skills and learn from them, and also they
Speaker 4: can do the same for me as well. Uh So
Speaker 4: I'm excited to get to work.
Speaker 6: Malachai has some of your interviews, you mentioned your work
Speaker 6: ethic and how your family is helped shing that can
Speaker 6: you give us just can you go into more detail
Speaker 6: about that, your work ethic, how that's happened.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is as a kid,
Speaker 4: I was homeless, uh twice, I know, I kind of
Speaker 4: there was a period of time where I didn't really
Speaker 4: see my parents cause they were working, uh you know,
Speaker 4: day shifts, night shifts, whatever the case may be. But
Speaker 4: I've never seen them not work for anything, and that
Speaker 4: kind of I saw it in it. It turned me
Speaker 4: two I am today, Like when things don't go my way,
Speaker 4: when I don't know what to do, like, I put
Speaker 4: my head down and work, and it's it's always been
Speaker 4: what I do. It's a part of who I am.
Speaker 4: So I go about my business and just doing things
Speaker 4: the right way. Like I said earlier, just keeping your
Speaker 4: face up front and staying true to yourself. I mean
Speaker 4: I've seen that from my parents and then I've seen
Speaker 4: it from my sister as well. So like all the
Speaker 4: people who set a great example for me to follow,
Speaker 4: I just gotta follow their footsteps exact.
Speaker 3: Okay, you mentioned how impressed you were a boy his
Speaker 3: pro lay workout.
Speaker 2: Was there anything there that you saw that added to
Speaker 2: your evaluation that kind that maybe you didn't know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean you see it on film, but then just
Speaker 2: getting real close on the field where you can really
Speaker 2: see the movement skills and.
Speaker 3: The ball skills. I mean, he made a catch where
Speaker 3: he got deep, he.
Speaker 2: Pedaled, got deep, broke on the ball beautiful, made an
Speaker 2: acrobatic catch, and then jumped right over. They had like
Speaker 2: some tape and a rope and he saved himself and
Speaker 2: jumped over it all in one motion. I mean, and
Speaker 2: everybody intendance was just wild. And so after that workout,
Speaker 2: I honestly personally was saying, yeah, there's no way he's
Speaker 2: gonna get to twenty seven.
Speaker 3: Like there's no way.
Speaker 2: Like all the coaches, the gms and the head coaches
Speaker 2: were there were raving about him.
Speaker 3: But the pro theay was so impressive.
Speaker 2: Like I said, it was one of the best workouts
Speaker 2: I've seen, and it's good to see that because on
Speaker 2: film you can see movement skills, but seeing it up
Speaker 2: close kind of checked that box and he.
Speaker 3: Shoot, he obliberated the box. It was it was really impressive.
Speaker 3: Years have seen Georgia guys that drafted, and he impact.
Speaker 5: What is it, what's going on that?
Speaker 6: And that has led to a lot of really success.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's just how the programs ran. They
Speaker 4: try to run it like a pro type program. But
Speaker 4: also guys buy into the culture, the way that we
Speaker 4: do things, the way that things need to be done.
Speaker 4: I mean you see it like when people have success,
Speaker 4: why wouldn't you follow in their footsteps? Why would you
Speaker 4: not do the things has been working? So like we
Speaker 4: get a bunch of guys who really want to come
Speaker 4: in and be a part of that culture. When they
Speaker 4: buy in, they see at least to success.
Speaker 5: Okay, who do you consider some of your football managers
Speaker 5: and who did you lead on during the graft process
Speaker 5: and getting into this port.
Speaker 4: Yeah. The biggest guy Chris Smith who was with the Raiders.
Speaker 4: He was my mentor when I first got to college.
Speaker 4: He taught me a lot about ball, but also you know,
Speaker 4: just how to be a pro, how to go about
Speaker 4: my business. And then a lot of guys that I
Speaker 4: played with last year, Taki Smith, Javon Bullock, Kamario Lastner.
Speaker 4: Just leaning on guys like that who went through the
Speaker 4: process last year who were able to have success in
Speaker 4: the league early just out for advice. Uh, you know
Speaker 4: it's you never really know what's gonna happen. But you know,
Speaker 4: like I said, your story is already written out, So
Speaker 4: just having faith in that and just being ready when
Speaker 4: your name is called.
Speaker 6: How much do you think that they get experience has.
Speaker 3: Of how the.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's gonna be huge, and I'm not
Speaker 4: saying it's the same, but just being able to have
Speaker 4: the opportunity to be in those types of game and
Speaker 4: those environments, I think it's prepared me very well.
Speaker 3: The bit of rhyckways in the SEC com parallel to the.
Speaker 4: R and the ass Nor especially just just a little bit. Yes, sorry,
Speaker 4: what do you think those uh battles and how they'll
Speaker 4: translate to the battles and the ass North going forward
Speaker 4: your pro careers. Yeah, I think at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, it's it's football and it's passion.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: Uh, when you get when you get programs who really
Speaker 4: care about football, and that's that's what you get. So
Speaker 4: just being able to come to an organization like this
Speaker 4: who like has that passion about football and who is
Speaker 4: willing to take a shot on me, I think I
Speaker 4: think I'm gonna, you know, do the most some opportunity.
Speaker 5: Exact you watch the film, there are a lot of
Speaker 5: table a lot of reps work. He's maning guys up
Speaker 5: in the slot, which I think it's not something you
Speaker 5: see from a lot of safety prospects or what does
Speaker 5: that speak to?
Speaker 1: What from big in the NFL?
Speaker 3: And just like it's the trust that told you howpen
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just shows that the versatility that we that
Speaker 2: we talk about, Like you said, it's not a lot
Speaker 2: of safeties who can do the zone, come up and tackle,
Speaker 2: play in the deep part of the field, and then
Speaker 2: most importantly, play man not just on tight ends, but
Speaker 2: on receivers.
Speaker 3: And Malachi did that at a high level.
Speaker 2: So that that's a bonus and plus for us because
Speaker 2: we'll be able to use his skill set to the
Speaker 2: fullest and maximize his skill set that that he's worked
Speaker 2: at and he's been blessed with. So I don't anticipate
Speaker 2: that really changing here for us. So that's something that
Speaker 2: we value a lot. I think that if you look
Speaker 2: at our secondary room, you see that a lot of
Speaker 2: our guys can do everything.
Speaker 3: So that's why Malachi was so appealing to us. So
Speaker 3: I'm excited about it.
Speaker 4: Okay, I mean, you talk uh talk about your uh
Speaker 4: pool waiqu in your house with.
Speaker 6: Yeah what you serve your ass to?
Speaker 4: Chris Smith?
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: But also just h my coaches at Georgia uh so
Speaker 4: uh will Musch Champ kr uh Kirby Smart, UH coach Schumann,
Speaker 4: UH coach fran Dante Williams, uh t Robb who was
Speaker 4: at Bama last year. Just being able to be in
Speaker 4: a program like that and really dive into it. I
Speaker 4: think me being able to play different positions in college
Speaker 4: really open my mind to learning football and short of aspect.
Speaker 4: So just being able to be in a place like that,
Speaker 4: uh with guys who really care about football aout me
Speaker 4: to really open my vision and learn ball.
Speaker 5: How like how you just you know what number you're
Speaker 5: gonna wear?
Speaker 4: Twenty four?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 4: If if I can get uh get it? If not,
Speaker 4: it don't matter what number I got. As long as
Speaker 4: I'm on the field, it don't matter.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: The second and third round of the NFL Draft is
Speaker 1: Friday night. The Ravens have two picks on Friday and
Speaker 1: then they follow it up with eight picks on Saturday.
Speaker 1: So make sure that you are following us across all
Speaker 1: social media platforms. Make sure that you are subscribed to
Speaker 1: here to the Ravens Press Pass podcast feed as well
Speaker 1: as the Lounge feed. We'll have another episode for you
Speaker 1: later tonight, after the Ravens make their second and third
Speaker 1: round picks and we hear from GM Eric Tacosta. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening.