Speaker 1: The following is a presentation of the Chicago Bears Network
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Speaker 1: day and now welcome to Bears All Access. Your all
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Speaker 1: with you from Halla Saw, Jeff, Johnny Eck and Tom
Speaker 1: Fair from News Radio seven eighty one to five point
Speaker 1: m WBBM, the broadcast crew with Pause Oranger, Engineer Dan Billy,
Speaker 1: Our producer and Herb Lawrence and Chris Dickens helping us
Speaker 1: out at the score of studios. The three and one
Speaker 1: Bears out of the bye week, and we are pleased
Speaker 1: to be joined by one of the guys who is
Speaker 1: making the most of his snaps, the rookie from Delaware,
Speaker 1: Belal Nichols. Good evening, thanks for joining us. You're ready
Speaker 1: for the next hour? Oh yes, I am. I would
Speaker 1: like thank you guys for having It's been our it's
Speaker 1: been our pleasure to have you. It's our pleasure to
Speaker 1: talk to you, and it's been our pleasure to watch
Speaker 1: you play. I know Tom loves the World's the way
Speaker 1: you're playing too. You know, I want to talk about
Speaker 1: your first name a little bit because I'm not familiar
Speaker 1: with it, and I don't think a lot of people
Speaker 1: are either, because you kind of burst out on the scene. Now.
Speaker 1: I have a national broadcaster message me yesterday how do
Speaker 1: I say your name? And it's kind of funny because blah,
Speaker 1: and how do you say it to me? So? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you said it right? Okay, Okay, It's It's interesting. I've
Speaker 1: never seen the name, and I always admire Jeff because
Speaker 1: after being in the broadcasting for twenty years, the names
Speaker 1: have changed so much in the difficulty of memorizing each
Speaker 1: of them, but I do. I still find it amazing
Speaker 1: that you burst out of the scene. Now national broadcasters
Speaker 1: are trying to figure out how to say your name,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's what happens when you make play.
Speaker 1: Well blow, what happened to John and Jim and Joe?
Speaker 1: We got blah, We got all kind of different names
Speaker 1: out there right in the focus. Is there a background
Speaker 1: to that name? Um? I'm not really not really sure
Speaker 1: too much. I just know that it is a Muslim name.
Speaker 1: I'm not Muslim, though. My mother just kind of liked
Speaker 1: the name as she thought it was unique. She tried
Speaker 1: to go for a unique name. And you know, I
Speaker 1: actually have an older cousin name Balaoun. He's about ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen years older than me, and she just, I
Speaker 1: guess she just loved the name, and you know, decided
Speaker 1: to say, so, is he still with us? Walking around
Speaker 1: with a little bit of extra Priday because now you're
Speaker 1: kind of making You're gonna make that first name famous
Speaker 1: people across the country. The first time they'll hear that
Speaker 1: name is when it comes across a national and broadcasting
Speaker 1: football game. Yeah, so, you know, yeah, so I'm kind
Speaker 1: of still in his shine a little bit. I guess
Speaker 1: you could say, you know, before the start of the year,
Speaker 1: watching your combine, watching your forty at the combine, before
Speaker 1: you got into the blocks, the broadcasters I kind of talk, oh,
Speaker 1: who is this guy? Where is he from? What? We
Speaker 1: don't know much about him? All he looks good and stuff.
Speaker 1: And then you're on a sub five forty. Now all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you're on the radar. Did that four
Speaker 1: point whatever seconds change the outlook of the way people
Speaker 1: reacted to you, Oh, yeah, I definitely think it did. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I knew a lot of people didn't really
Speaker 1: know about me, you know, coming from you know, the
Speaker 1: University of Delaware, which is considered the small school, which
Speaker 1: I don't consider the small school, but you know it's
Speaker 1: the FCS school, and you know it's it doesn't get
Speaker 1: the attention that those FBS schools get. And you know
Speaker 1: that was something I had that I had to battle with.
Speaker 1: And um, you know, I knew my athletic abilities, I
Speaker 1: knew my strengths and things like that, so you know
Speaker 1: I knew once I got to the Combine, now I
Speaker 1: will open up a lot of eyes. Um. I also
Speaker 1: realized that, you know, I was a lot more athletic
Speaker 1: than you know I was showing on film. Just because
Speaker 1: of the schemes that we played. You know, I was
Speaker 1: asked to do certain things that you know, really didn't
Speaker 1: complement my athletic abilities, but you know, anything to help
Speaker 1: us win. What kind of crowds did your play in
Speaker 1: front of it? And then when you were at the
Speaker 1: Combine that that stadium seem enormous to you because I
Speaker 1: just don't know what kind of stadiums you've you've been
Speaker 1: through throughout your career. Yeah. So, um, you know, each
Speaker 1: year in college we played a FBS program ACC school, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, my my my freshman year we played pitt
Speaker 1: at pit um So more year at University of North Carolina,
Speaker 1: North Carolina, my junior year we played UM we played
Speaker 1: Wake four s and then my senior year we played
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech. So you know, I was I was kind
Speaker 1: of familiar with playing in bigger stadium, so you know,
Speaker 1: when I got to the combine, I embraced it. I
Speaker 1: felt like I belonged, and you know, I felt like it.
Speaker 1: You know, it was my time to show everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: what I got. So you would have you played Mitch
Speaker 1: and that's sophomore year I did, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: it was funny. Um, I haven't had this conversation with
Speaker 1: Mitch yet, but it was the first time that I
Speaker 1: believe he got in like and I remember it was
Speaker 1: like the second game of the year my junior season,
Speaker 1: the twenty sixteen season. Um, the starting quarterback was actually
Speaker 1: a guy named Marquis Williams. Um. You know he was
Speaker 1: he was tearing it up and uh, you know it
Speaker 1: was a close game. I think it was like it
Speaker 1: was like tie like seven to seven between us and
Speaker 1: like the first half, and he went down with the
Speaker 1: injury and then they put Mitchen and h Mitchell let
Speaker 1: us up like and that, And I think that's when
Speaker 1: it really think it's really started to take off of Mitch.
Speaker 1: Like he came in and he picked us apart. I
Speaker 1: think he threw for like three hundred and something yards
Speaker 1: and you know, he really picked us apart. So I
Speaker 1: haven't had that conversation with him yet, so I think
Speaker 1: he should think he should. Yeah, there, you did you
Speaker 1: get a piece of him in that game. I gotta
Speaker 1: I gotta pressure. I wasn't able to get a sack.
Speaker 1: You know, you you referred to the scheme you played it?
Speaker 1: What help? What did they ask you to do? And
Speaker 1: what do you think what they asked you to do?
Speaker 1: Because you're gonna do what they ask you to do.
Speaker 1: Held you back a little bit and showing who who
Speaker 1: you truly are as an athletic defensive lineman. Yeah, well, um,
Speaker 1: you know I played I played a lot of notes there. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I played every position there, but you know,
Speaker 1: mainly I played notes because I was one of the
Speaker 1: you know more bigger and more athletic guys. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was better on taking double teams and blocked straight
Speaker 1: on and you know, I was really just asked it,
Speaker 1: you know, just just take on blockers so that our
Speaker 1: linebackers can rolling free, so you know, and then passing situations,
Speaker 1: we always rushed three, so I never really got a
Speaker 1: chance to show what I could do from like you know,
Speaker 1: a three technique or well five five offensive lineman against
Speaker 1: three rushing defensive linemen. Yeah. Wow, it's tough. And that
Speaker 1: was difficult too because you know, you know, it's five
Speaker 1: of them, three of us, and then it would be
Speaker 1: times where you know they might keep six you know,
Speaker 1: um six in the block. So you know, that was
Speaker 1: kind of difficult to really show show you your pass
Speaker 1: rushing abilities. Um, you know. And plus um, I really
Speaker 1: didn't get the opportunity to rush a whole lot from
Speaker 1: the edge, which I really wanted to do to show
Speaker 1: how I could bend and show you know, my versatility.
Speaker 1: So you know, when a combine came around and the
Speaker 1: All Star Games came around, I really tried to make
Speaker 1: that emphasis to show people that you know, I can
Speaker 1: do these things. You know, I'm just doing what you know,
Speaker 1: what was best for my team. You know, it's nice
Speaker 1: to see them expand on your versatility because I think
Speaker 1: playing a consistent diet a nose guard, you're always going
Speaker 1: to be hit by at least two guys every play.
Speaker 1: Now you stretch your versatility and why you can get
Speaker 1: that one on one. We saw the results of it
Speaker 1: last week where you get a one on one, an
Speaker 1: inefficient step and you're in the backfield almost taking the handoff.
Speaker 1: So it's it's nicely when you when you moved away
Speaker 1: from the nose guard, because initially, when you came here
Speaker 1: at the beginning of training camp, that's where you're playing.
Speaker 1: Then you start expanding your role. Did it feel did
Speaker 1: you feel like you're all of a sudden starting to
Speaker 1: get more space to work within or did it change
Speaker 1: the way you're feeling from noose ground outside? Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Did you feel free to encumbered? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a lot different when you and that nose
Speaker 1: you have limited space. You have to be smart with
Speaker 1: you know, the way you rush, you know, just the
Speaker 1: way you go about things in there, because your space
Speaker 1: is very limited and you have to be more of
Speaker 1: a technician. When you're on the outside, you could get
Speaker 1: away with a lot more things because you have a
Speaker 1: lot more space to work with. So you know that
Speaker 1: that was the biggest difference that I noticed. Um, and
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, guys like a kam Eddie Goldman,
Speaker 1: they really helped me with that understanding the difference between
Speaker 1: you know, being inside, knowing how much space you have,
Speaker 1: normal moves you can make, normal moves you can't make,
Speaker 1: and then you know, going outside and you know, giving
Speaker 1: you more lead way to you know, do your thing.
Speaker 1: You're trying to make the tackle for loss against Taffa.
Speaker 1: Did you even have time to think about it? Or
Speaker 1: did it happen so quickly you're just saying, okay, now, fundamental,
Speaker 1: let's make the tackle. Yeah, it just happened so quickly.
Speaker 1: Like um, like you know, I was able to get
Speaker 1: a good step on the guard and you know, I
Speaker 1: just you know, just try to make sure I made
Speaker 1: a nice form tackle. Um. The worst thing is getting
Speaker 1: there and not making the play. Well, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Some of those there's there's years of footage of people
Speaker 1: being in that opportunity, and you know, you think of
Speaker 1: the play last in the playoffs when the dB got
Speaker 1: his head down in the Minnesota games, you know, the
Speaker 1: playoff game, and like I said, you you you burst
Speaker 1: out and you don't have a time to think about it.
Speaker 1: It is about just making sure you get the tackle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just about you know, just knowing your technique. You
Speaker 1: know things we practice all the time. We always practice,
Speaker 1: you know, tackling, fundamental, fundamentally tackling, so you know, just
Speaker 1: trusting your technique and you know, just just trying to
Speaker 1: make the play. I don't know if you know this
Speaker 1: or not, but that guard you beat, Ali Marpett in
Speaker 1: Tampa just got a fifty five million dollar extension yesterday.
Speaker 1: I heard about that actually, and he was a good player.
Speaker 1: He's a good player. But that you must take pride
Speaker 1: in that that guy is considered one of the premier
Speaker 1: guards in football. You smoked him. He got fifty five
Speaker 1: million dollars extension. You're just from Delaware, don know him.
Speaker 1: That is Nichols. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite
Speaker 1: players on this team. I love the way he plays.
Speaker 1: He plays with a very specific mindset. And we'll talk
Speaker 1: about that when we come back with Tom there. I'm
Speaker 1: Jeff Joniac. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports
Speaker 1: Radio six seventy The Score. Welcome back to Bears All
Speaker 1: Access brought to you by IGS Energy, a proud partner
Speaker 1: of the Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural gas, and home
Speaker 1: warranty products to over one million customers across the country.
Speaker 1: Learn more about IGS Energy at igs dot com. Jeff
Speaker 1: and Tim with you, but All Nichols is our guest
Speaker 1: heading into the break. I talked about mindset and just
Speaker 1: listening to you from the moment you were drafted to
Speaker 1: you sitting here right now. Is that that belief, that
Speaker 1: sacrifice that you made over the course of your life
Speaker 1: to get to where you are. It kind of makes
Speaker 1: you who you are on the field, doesn't it. Yes, Yes,
Speaker 1: it does. You know. I put a lot of hard
Speaker 1: work into, you know, you know, my career and getting
Speaker 1: better and better each each time I step out there
Speaker 1: on the field, And you know, I was just trying
Speaker 1: to make sure that, you know, once I came here
Speaker 1: to people understood that, you know, I'm always going to
Speaker 1: make my best effort to get better. I'm never going
Speaker 1: to be the same player each day. I'm gonna always
Speaker 1: get better, you know. And you know, I just I
Speaker 1: just work hard and just try to strive to be
Speaker 1: the best. What made you different today at practice? Um?
Speaker 1: Today I got better at technique. You know that's that's
Speaker 1: something that you know, a king works with me with
Speaker 1: you know, continuously he owes me to that standard. And
Speaker 1: you know my other my other veteran D lineman and
Speaker 1: my D line coach. You know, as as a defensive linement,
Speaker 1: your technique can never be too perfect. You know you
Speaker 1: could you could always work on that. Yeah, that positive
Speaker 1: reinforcement every day for offense and defensive linement is so important. Um.
Speaker 1: Jeff talked about the mindset. Ever, when we came back
Speaker 1: from commercial, how did this week fit into you personally?
Speaker 1: Because you're word talking to a rookie, a young guy.
Speaker 1: This has really been a long season so far since
Speaker 1: you've been here, from July in the Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: game all that kind of stuff and your mindset. Was
Speaker 1: this a good time for you to have the buy?
Speaker 1: Or Man, you're a young guy filled with energy. Could
Speaker 1: you have gone, you know, gone the stretch? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: could have kept going. Um, you know I could have
Speaker 1: kept going, but it also was good to have the
Speaker 1: buy just because you know, I'm a guy who likes
Speaker 1: to reevaluate things, So you know, having this buy gave
Speaker 1: me an opportunity to mentally and physically recharge and for
Speaker 1: me to sit down and because I'm always looking at
Speaker 1: things I could do better, for me to sit down
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, you know I played in these games,
Speaker 1: this is what I need to work on, this is
Speaker 1: what I need to work on. This is what I
Speaker 1: need to work on. And I'm a guy who likes
Speaker 1: to turn my weaknesses into strengths. So you know, this
Speaker 1: whole week in practice so far, the things that I
Speaker 1: sat down and evaluated about myself, I made an extra effort,
Speaker 1: you know, to try and correct and turn them into strength.
Speaker 1: Did you have the experience in college where they had
Speaker 1: a fall break but you guys had to stay there
Speaker 1: because you guys were still in the process of football season.
Speaker 1: Because when I went to Notre Dame, there was a
Speaker 1: fall break and it was kind of nice when dude,
Speaker 1: we didn't have classes, there was no students on campus,
Speaker 1: and it was just football kind of exclusive for that week.
Speaker 1: And it's like, I just say, there's kind of similarities
Speaker 1: to the bye week because you're not going to school Um,
Speaker 1: you get a time off and it is just time
Speaker 1: for self evaluation. Did you have that experience in college
Speaker 1: or is this the first time you really experienced time
Speaker 1: off in the middle of a season. Um. I mean
Speaker 1: we had a buy in college, but you know, we
Speaker 1: never had like a fall break. Um. You know, the
Speaker 1: break that we did have would be like a winter break. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, right at the spring ball in the spring.
Speaker 1: So you know this this was like, uh you know,
Speaker 1: so it kind of had me used to it because
Speaker 1: I did the same thing in college when we had
Speaker 1: to buy um you know, but but you know, here
Speaker 1: it's a little bit different because we actually had more
Speaker 1: time time to ourselves. You know, in college, you might
Speaker 1: have like a day or two off and then you know,
Speaker 1: all the other days you still on the end the facility. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, but everything is just you know, limited, like
Speaker 1: it's very light. Um, we're here. You know, we were
Speaker 1: able to have the whole week off, so you know,
Speaker 1: UM that that was different from me. But but I
Speaker 1: enjoyed it just because I was able to really sit
Speaker 1: down and pick apart like my whole game, you know,
Speaker 1: And you know, I really enjoyed that because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm always trying to get better. It's interesting to be
Speaker 1: on a team. It's a young team, but it also
Speaker 1: has a lot of veteran players. As a twenty just
Speaker 1: turned twenty two year old. Happy belated birthday in September, right, Yeah?
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it an adjustment to come into a
Speaker 1: locker room. I'm speaking more of off the field where
Speaker 1: guys have families, wives, girlfriends, et cetera. And while you
Speaker 1: got guys your age on the team, finding that time
Speaker 1: to hang out. What's the challenge of that as a
Speaker 1: young man. Yeah, it's definitely different. Um, you know, like
Speaker 1: you said, like guys on the team have like kids
Speaker 1: and like whys Like it's like crazy, Like you know,
Speaker 1: it's crazy because in college, uh, you know, the biggest
Speaker 1: thing was like if somebody had had one child. You know,
Speaker 1: Now you come here, you know, guys have family. So
Speaker 1: that was kind of weird for me at first. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, but after a while you kind of get
Speaker 1: used to it. I think me and all all the
Speaker 1: rookies kind of had to you know, you guys all
Speaker 1: that the rookies hand together or is it unit specific
Speaker 1: all the rookies hand together? Yeah? Yeah, we do a
Speaker 1: lot together. We we stick real, real close to each other.
Speaker 1: And you know, through this whole process we leaned on
Speaker 1: each other to get each other through, you know, because
Speaker 1: because everything is different, Um, you know, you had to
Speaker 1: be uh, you know, you had to be mentally strong.
Speaker 1: So you know, we were lean on each other, use
Speaker 1: each other as crutches, you know, to make sure that
Speaker 1: you know we were still here. You know, honestly, at
Speaker 1: time would you say, I would say that it's maybe
Speaker 1: the underrated aspect of the game. I mean, obviously what
Speaker 1: happens between the White Lions would happen a practice every day.
Speaker 1: It's paramount. But from a mental point of view, relaxation
Speaker 1: or whatever, you know, having some time together with with
Speaker 1: folks like minded and so forth. There's also an es
Speaker 1: sessional part of this, because you have your work day
Speaker 1: and then you have you know, your your downtime. But
Speaker 1: you know, too is like when does a click for you? Okay?
Speaker 1: You know, you come here from a bigger school, so
Speaker 1: you have you've you've been around it all, you've seen
Speaker 1: it all, and there are certain expectations. You come here
Speaker 1: from a smaller school in the NFL, So when does
Speaker 1: a click for you? Going? Okay, I'm an OTA's training
Speaker 1: camp after a couple of months, saying, Okay, I belong here,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a transition. You got rookies that
Speaker 1: you can lean on, but it's about your job. It's
Speaker 1: not about the rookie classes job. So when did it
Speaker 1: click for you? Um? It really clicked for me when
Speaker 1: training camp came. You know, you know, I always believed
Speaker 1: in myself, but you know, once we put the paths
Speaker 1: on and we really started to get outter it. Um,
Speaker 1: you know I knew I belonged here. You know, it
Speaker 1: was just it was just a question to me working
Speaker 1: on things to make sure, you know, I have opportunity
Speaker 1: to be able to stay here. Um. You know, so,
Speaker 1: like like you said, it's not the rookie class jobs,
Speaker 1: it's your job. You know, you gotta be honed into
Speaker 1: the things that you know it's going to allow you
Speaker 1: to stay on the field. What was a bigger transition
Speaker 1: that your defensive responsibilities because they're multiple, or the way
Speaker 1: what you are seeing in front of you from the offense,
Speaker 1: you know, because the different speed that can the variations
Speaker 1: of formations and everything. But now you're not one guy
Speaker 1: that's lining up in the nose every play. And being
Speaker 1: a big strong guy. You're you know three technique, five technique,
Speaker 1: zero technique, Blitzer's next to you. Yeah, that's a tough
Speaker 1: one because you know, learning the different positions. Uh, that
Speaker 1: was definitely a challenge because you know, you want to
Speaker 1: show everybody that you had a versatility, but you know
Speaker 1: a lot comes with that mentally. You know, you gotta
Speaker 1: be sharp on every play, and it's it's no time
Speaker 1: to be out there second guessing yourself, you know, because
Speaker 1: that's just slowing you down. But I would have to
Speaker 1: say it would be um, you know, just just getting
Speaker 1: adjusted to the speed of the game. You know, that
Speaker 1: was I would say that that was the biggest challenge.
Speaker 1: You know, you know, I'll be blessing enough to go
Speaker 1: against Kyle Longer every day, right, Um, you know, you
Speaker 1: know Bobby, all those guys. So that was like a
Speaker 1: you know the first time, it was like these these
Speaker 1: guys good and you know, the two coaches there, they
Speaker 1: got a little personality that they in put you know,
Speaker 1: Rogers on one side of Harry he staid on the
Speaker 1: other end. Yeah, they're willing to challenge eat of you guys.
Speaker 1: You know, to do your best to work your hardest,
Speaker 1: which is cool. Yeah, so that was that was the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. You know, Kyle, Kyle helps me out of
Speaker 1: him go at it. We make practice fund for each other.
Speaker 1: A big strong guys. Oh yeah yeah. Can you feel
Speaker 1: his strength? Oh yeah, most definitely. He's very very strong,
Speaker 1: very physical. But it helps me out in so many
Speaker 1: ways that you know, I only think he realizes, like,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the plays that you know
Speaker 1: I've been able to make, um, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: compliment to him. Uh, just because you know he's working
Speaker 1: me every day. You know, he's in my eyes, the
Speaker 1: best guard in NFL right now. So you know, me
Speaker 1: younger guy being able to get the was reps against him,
Speaker 1: it's just making me better and better each day. All Right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a break here on Bears All Access,
Speaker 1: but all Nichols kind enough to join us up until
Speaker 1: seven o'clock tonight with Tom There. I'm Jeff Joniak, and
Speaker 1: this is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. To score. This
Speaker 1: segment of Bears All Access is orchestrated by CDW CDW
Speaker 1: people who get at Jeff and time with you here
Speaker 1: on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The score, but all Nichols,
Speaker 1: our guests, the rookie out of the University of Delaware
Speaker 1: we beat. Did you go back to school this break
Speaker 1: or did you just stay here? No? I actually was
Speaker 1: able to go back to school. I really went back
Speaker 1: home to see my grandparents. But you know, my school
Speaker 1: was only about twenty twenty five minutes away, so I
Speaker 1: was able to go to a practice and you know,
Speaker 1: chop it up with a few of my former teammates
Speaker 1: because that week in their game was away, so I
Speaker 1: know I wasn't gonna be able to, you know, make
Speaker 1: the game, so I just wanted to go see them
Speaker 1: and just let them know I'm still supporting. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: very supportive, I think from the videos you shot with
Speaker 1: the school, and they've done a very nice job documenting
Speaker 1: your your history at that school, really really good program.
Speaker 1: They're putting together videos about your journey and so forth.
Speaker 1: But they give back that you are also providing, Uh,
Speaker 1: is really substantial. What resonates with you about what that
Speaker 1: coaching staff, what the people, what that culture there did
Speaker 1: for Balo Nickels, And they've done so much. You know,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be here sitting here today if it wasn't
Speaker 1: for those people. Um, you know, it's it's so many
Speaker 1: people that helped me get to where I'm at there. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's been times where you know, those
Speaker 1: people really sacrifice their time with their family and things
Speaker 1: like that just to make sure that I was successful. Um,
Speaker 1: you know it was. It was countless nice where I
Speaker 1: was up with tutors or update with coach watching film
Speaker 1: and you know those people just you know, they've seen
Speaker 1: something in me, and you know they they they felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, they had to do those things with me,
Speaker 1: and you know, I always try to let them know, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I appreciate everything you guys have done for me.
Speaker 1: And you know, in any way I can get back,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm always going to. You gotta know, from our
Speaker 1: seats sitting in here, it's rare to hear that from
Speaker 1: a guy, honestly, to be that appreciative. It's nice to
Speaker 1: be able to give back by example. And that's the
Speaker 1: thing about it, because you give a lot of kids
Speaker 1: belief that if they work hard and give the effort,
Speaker 1: they're not necessarily going to make it the NFL, but
Speaker 1: something they're going to be successful. How about the academic
Speaker 1: side of afford to you, did it go according to
Speaker 1: your plan? Are you? Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied
Speaker 1: with the way you came out of college, because I
Speaker 1: think that's as important to talk about as your academic
Speaker 1: or your athletic accomplishments, because the two in order them
Speaker 1: for the mesh successfully in college, it's got to be
Speaker 1: an equal side commitment. Oh yes, most definitely the academic
Speaker 1: side of it. Oh my god, my school had you know,
Speaker 1: they gave me tremendous support. I was actually able to
Speaker 1: graduate in three and a half years for you you know,
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't have been able to do that without
Speaker 1: the support from you know, the academic advisors, my coaches.
Speaker 1: You got to take the support though. I think that's
Speaker 1: the message here. You know, there's a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: that we've seen guys all throughout our life, but that
Speaker 1: they had offerings, but it's about the way you accepted them. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: School was huge to me. You know, I was one
Speaker 1: of the first people in my in my in my
Speaker 1: family to receive a college degree, so you know that
Speaker 1: that always is huge, you know, one of my biggest goals.
Speaker 1: So you know, I always told myself that I was
Speaker 1: never going to sure change myself. And if people out
Speaker 1: there willing to you know, give up their time and
Speaker 1: their energy to help me, um, you know, I would
Speaker 1: never make them regret it, you know. So you know
Speaker 1: that was very huge for me being able to graduating
Speaker 1: three and a half years because it gave me an
Speaker 1: opportunity to you know, be done with school. And didn't
Speaker 1: you know taking oh man, I was. I was taking
Speaker 1: because because I did it four years with no summer school,
Speaker 1: and it was fifteen hours of semester every semester, I mean,
Speaker 1: which and you sweated it out every day, didn't you.
Speaker 1: It was an academic side of it was harder than
Speaker 1: the football side of it, but it's still it's equally
Speaker 1: as important. Far. Yeah, it was a lot um. You know.
Speaker 1: I was taking a almost fifteen credits you know, every semester,
Speaker 1: and then in the summer and winter, I was taking
Speaker 1: a class um. And then towards like my junior and
Speaker 1: senior year, in the summer and winter, I started taking
Speaker 1: like one Instead of taking one class, sometimes I picked
Speaker 1: up two classes, you know. So I was kind of
Speaker 1: grinding through that because you know, school was very important
Speaker 1: to me. And then I also wanted to be able to,
Speaker 1: you know, fulfill my dream and you know, be ready
Speaker 1: to train for the NFL. So your second semester senior year,
Speaker 1: did you just get to concentrate. I'm getting prepared for
Speaker 1: your your senior day to combine and everything that light
Speaker 1: in front of you. Yep, I was just preparing for that.
Speaker 1: I was away training. Um you know, already had graduated,
Speaker 1: and then I came back to school and and made
Speaker 1: just to walk. But I had already had my degree,
Speaker 1: so theology major. Any long term plans for yourself? Um, yes,
Speaker 1: I actually I actually want to you know, when when
Speaker 1: football is all said and done, you know, going to
Speaker 1: a school and then be some type of guy in
Speaker 1: this counselor you know, some type of guy that you
Speaker 1: know kids can talk to and look up to, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just just try to use um, you know
Speaker 1: what I've been through, you know, to help kids. You know,
Speaker 1: if if it's some things that I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: I could save them from going through, I'm going to
Speaker 1: try to do that. So you know, those are those
Speaker 1: are my plans. You know, after football is over and
Speaker 1: you went through a lot, there's no question, right every
Speaker 1: everybody's got a story. Everybody's got a journey. But you
Speaker 1: mentioned that academics and how important it appears to me
Speaker 1: your grandparents, who you moved in with as a young child,
Speaker 1: really laid that base. I saw one of the videos
Speaker 1: with all the decorated academic excellence that you put forth
Speaker 1: in high school. There's a lot of great stuff there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my grandmother, my grandparents, but my grandmother in particular. You know,
Speaker 1: you wasn't doing anything unless your grades were good. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: you know, if I had a basketball game, football game,
Speaker 1: basketball practice, football practice, if my grades weren't looking right,
Speaker 1: she was not letting me participate. So you know, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate her for that because you know, education meant
Speaker 1: the world to her, you know, and I wouldn't. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to do that without her. Is
Speaker 1: it is that a big part of what they did
Speaker 1: for you now that you will do for others and
Speaker 1: you almost seek out, you know, even in your own
Speaker 1: locker room. We'll talk about specifics about that, but is
Speaker 1: that did that have such an impact on you or
Speaker 1: were you five? Yes? I would have five? Yeah, and yes,
Speaker 1: like like you said, yeah, that played the huge impact. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't be here without them, like they
Speaker 1: they really like you know, gave me hope and gave me,
Speaker 1: you know, belief and the opportunity, you know, and and
Speaker 1: I was blessing enough to have them because you know,
Speaker 1: not everybody has grandparents like that, you know, to to
Speaker 1: to give them support and give them, give them love
Speaker 1: and things like that. You know, a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't have grandparents, their grandparents passed away, things of that nature.
Speaker 1: So you know, that's that's kind of why I want
Speaker 1: to get back. I want to be somebody that you know,
Speaker 1: people can lean on, because you know, everybody don't have
Speaker 1: it the way I did. Well, When did you know
Speaker 1: just to FA sported all the stuff that you work through?
Speaker 1: When did Ryan pay show up on your radar? Or
Speaker 1: when did you know any type of Chicago recognition show
Speaker 1: up to you? At my pro day? Uh coach coach
Speaker 1: j Rogers was at my pro day. Um, you know
Speaker 1: he was. He was wanting the defensive line coaches that
Speaker 1: worked me out, And that was like the first road
Speaker 1: encounter I had with Chicago. Did you I mean, did
Speaker 1: you know he was the Bears defensive line coach? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I knew. I knew I had, I had talked to
Speaker 1: him Um before he had came down. Was there any
Speaker 1: other teams out there showing a great deal of interest
Speaker 1: in you that maybe confused you a little bit in
Speaker 1: terms of you didn't know what to think on draft Day? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers d line coach was
Speaker 1: there just think lastly playing against Kyle Um. He was there. Um.
Speaker 1: And also he was there in the Tennessee Titans defensive
Speaker 1: line coach was there. Um And then also I believe
Speaker 1: the general manager for the Houston Texas was there and
Speaker 1: uh and and you know a bunch of other people
Speaker 1: were also there. So you know, I really I really
Speaker 1: didn't know like where I was going to go. I
Speaker 1: was really like, you know, I've been talking to a
Speaker 1: bunch of different teams at that time, and you know
Speaker 1: a lot of teams I said they liked me, But
Speaker 1: you know, I just you just never know during that
Speaker 1: whole process. It's it's nea the investment that your grandparents
Speaker 1: put into You had people from the national football landscape
Speaker 1: coming to see you. It's a great reward for them,
Speaker 1: and it's a tribute to you for what you invested
Speaker 1: back in your grandparents. Yes, yes it is. I would
Speaker 1: not be there, be here without them. I mean, oh
Speaker 1: my god. There there my number one supporters, Dolores Bolton
Speaker 1: and how do you pronounce your grandfathers Adova? Adova? Very good?
Speaker 1: Keep people in a man's life, right there, Nichols our
Speaker 1: guest here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio
Speaker 1: six seventy to score this sweet gut. Inside the Bears,
Speaker 1: Roy Robertson Harris goes for a ride with Spice, Adams
Speaker 1: and another edition of Big Guy in a Ben's Bellah,
Speaker 1: you you experienced the double a experience A Yeah, how
Speaker 1: was it? Jeff? Goodtime? What are you talking about with Spice? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh no, I haven't actually won two. Oh I'm very interested. Well,
Speaker 1: Dan BURRELLI, our producer here, is in charge of that.
Speaker 1: So get on it, my friend, get on it. Inside
Speaker 1: the Bears brought to you by Verizon as Saturday six
Speaker 1: pm on C fifty Chicago and Sundays at eleven o
Speaker 1: five on Fox thirty two Chicago. You can also watch
Speaker 1: show segments online at Chicago Bears dot com around the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears Official app. Anytime you know sidetrack a little bit,
Speaker 1: because that particular feature you know, we all we loved
Speaker 1: double A. We loved him as a player too. To me,
Speaker 1: one of the most underrated, uh smaller defensive tackles. Yeah,
Speaker 1: specifically he had roots right right. But I remember when
Speaker 1: he was in that draft and scouts that we were
Speaker 1: talking to and so forth. You know, it was a
Speaker 1: guy named Jimmy Kennedy who played briefly here for the Bears.
Speaker 1: I forgot his nickname. Oh who's a nickname back then? Anyway,
Speaker 1: Jimmy was the highly thought of one from Penn State.
Speaker 1: And they said, you know, how about this Anthony Adams guy,
Speaker 1: And they said, this guy will have a better career
Speaker 1: than Jimmy Kennedy who got the first round. And sure enough,
Speaker 1: Anthony Adams had a long career and played for the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers and the Bears and had had a
Speaker 1: great career and now he's got a second career. He's funny, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's funny. Do you got you as players like to
Speaker 1: show that side of your life a little bit, the
Speaker 1: the fun side of your life. Yeah, we do. We
Speaker 1: try to show people that, you know, it's more than
Speaker 1: just you know, on the field. You know, we're people too,
Speaker 1: you know, so we try to show that side of
Speaker 1: us and you know, get let people get to know us.
Speaker 1: You got some funny guys in that locker room, but
Speaker 1: allowed us to this day. I mean, Tarik's non stop
Speaker 1: oh stop trek is hilarious. Oh my god. I go
Speaker 1: to Tarik every day and just mess with him just
Speaker 1: so I get a good laugh. Well, you know, we
Speaker 1: soft footage of the whole disco ball thing in the
Speaker 1: locker room after the games, and I asked one of
Speaker 1: our guests here, have you seen anybody that should never
Speaker 1: dance again? Number one? And what is your post game,
Speaker 1: you know, dealing with with the disco ball? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be in there just just enjoying it
Speaker 1: with my teammates. We'd be all jumping around. Isn't allow.
Speaker 1: It's jumping, not necessarily jump, it's jumping. We just excited,
Speaker 1: just hugging each other, just you know, just just expressing
Speaker 1: how much we care for each other, and you know
Speaker 1: how much we appreciate each other for you know, coming
Speaker 1: in and work every day and working hard. I got
Speaker 1: one of my living room now because of it, I do.
Speaker 1: I'll take a picture of it. Even I don't even
Speaker 1: know what I don't have a background on that. It's yeah,
Speaker 1: well what are you doing with that? Somebody gave it
Speaker 1: to me because I saw it on the Bears using,
Speaker 1: so I took it and I had a plant hanger
Speaker 1: in the corner of my living room. Well it is.
Speaker 1: It is fun to see. It's fun to see a
Speaker 1: bunch of young guys coming together. And even this week
Speaker 1: Danny Trevisan in the locker room said, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: a bunch of us veterans we're sitting around talking, Which
Speaker 1: I love that right away, right because they weren't just
Speaker 1: talking about like they're talking about focus. They're talking abo
Speaker 1: about the length of the season, the journey, and spreading
Speaker 1: that information and knowledge their own experiences to the rest
Speaker 1: of you. Guys. I can't tell you how invaluable that is,
Speaker 1: you know, to a team, and it's a team that
Speaker 1: clearly respects each other. Do you get that feeling and
Speaker 1: are you intuitive enough to see that as a young man? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: most definitely. Um, you know, these guys here are some
Speaker 1: of the most you know, selfless guys I ever met. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're they're all always about just making
Speaker 1: the team better and just just helping out us younger guys, Um.
Speaker 1: You know, guys like like Danny and and A Kim
Speaker 1: and Khalil like those are guys who bring it every day.
Speaker 1: But you know they aren't selfish with knowledge. You know
Speaker 1: they're always passing it along. You know. I can go
Speaker 1: to Danny and asking asking anything about how to get better.
Speaker 1: I can go to Khalil asking anything. And of course
Speaker 1: a Kam tell us the A Kiem story. You told
Speaker 1: me the other day because I was doing a feature
Speaker 1: on you for for WBBM, and it's it's a wonderful
Speaker 1: thing what he's doing. Tell him, yeah, so um so Keim,
Speaker 1: he's he's been tremendous for me. Um. You know, in
Speaker 1: practice in camp when we first got there, he told me, uh,
Speaker 1: a rook, You're gonna always be my partner, so you
Speaker 1: know when we do drills and an individual, he me
Speaker 1: and him are always partners always and he's always helping me. Um.
Speaker 1: But then he told me it was one day he said, uh,
Speaker 1: for now and every time, you know, at the preseason game,
Speaker 1: when we're on a plane right back, I want you
Speaker 1: to come up there and watch film with me. So
Speaker 1: you know, every game, you know, I watched film when
Speaker 1: we watched the whole game. We go through each player
Speaker 1: on the D line and he'd be like, now, tell
Speaker 1: me where he could have done better, or tell me
Speaker 1: how does this look to you? Or you know things
Speaker 1: like that, and words can't explain how much that means
Speaker 1: to me, right, you know, getting that getting that type
Speaker 1: of one on one from a from a player of
Speaker 1: his caliber. Um, you know, that's that's that's a guy
Speaker 1: that you know, I want to be just as good
Speaker 1: as one day. So you know, he's meant He's meant
Speaker 1: so much to me. I don't even think he understands.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, and even outside of football with
Speaker 1: you know, regular life stuff, he's he's helping me with
Speaker 1: and you know he's I look at him like a
Speaker 1: big brother. I appreciate it. It's a great line you use,
Speaker 1: and I hope I remember that these veterans are not
Speaker 1: selfish with knowledge. Yeah, And I think that's a great line,
Speaker 1: and that should be one of the lines that's up
Speaker 1: in the hallway up there, because those veterans being a
Speaker 1: lot and you know, there's not a lot of veterans
Speaker 1: that will take a young guy and t give them
Speaker 1: those experiences because they're so we're also it's I'm including myself.
Speaker 1: I'm self contained in my own career. Yeah, so you didn't.
Speaker 1: Would you have done the same thing for him back
Speaker 1: when you played? Just be honest? Probably you know it's
Speaker 1: different now because before when I was here, you had
Speaker 1: to go out and you had to get the beta,
Speaker 1: you had to wait for it to be made, then
Speaker 1: you had to get the room to be able to
Speaker 1: use the projector. It was a lot different. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I would have probably been I would have
Speaker 1: probably been my selfish self as a player, even have
Speaker 1: an act us to the modern day technology, we weren't
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to have it. But but I think also,
Speaker 1: you know, he played for a coach that put the
Speaker 1: fear of God in you about keeping your job every day,
Speaker 1: So maybe that was part of your mindset. I think
Speaker 1: that's you know, as much as my mindset is balal
Speaker 1: the fear of losing your job. That is one of
Speaker 1: the greatest motivators for anybody of any pursued business, sports
Speaker 1: or whatever. It's an interesting discussion because I believe it
Speaker 1: weaves a fabric for a team to help each other
Speaker 1: and be selfless like that. I really do. I think
Speaker 1: it's a wonderful thing that a keeps doing. And he
Speaker 1: went through something with himself. You know, hearing him today
Speaker 1: for the first time about being disqualified from the game
Speaker 1: the other day, first time in his entire athletic life
Speaker 1: that he ever been kicked out of a game, and
Speaker 1: it was a lesson learned for him, even as he
Speaker 1: hits the age of thirty and he's been a veteran
Speaker 1: in this league. And he said he talked to the team,
Speaker 1: he apologized to the team. You being so close to him,
Speaker 1: how how was he through that whole process here in
Speaker 1: the last week and a half or so, He handled
Speaker 1: it actually pretty well. Um, you know, he handled it
Speaker 1: better than I probably would have. Um. You know, the
Speaker 1: team is one of those guys who you know, his
Speaker 1: his word me and everything. So you know when he
Speaker 1: when he preaches to the team in the defense about
Speaker 1: you know, not not making mistakes and not making dumb
Speaker 1: mistakes rather and you know, just just just being a
Speaker 1: team player. Um, you know, he didn't want anybody to
Speaker 1: feel like he was being hypocritical. Um, you know by
Speaker 1: going out there and you know, getting dismissed from the game.
Speaker 1: So you know, um, you know, it really felt good,
Speaker 1: you know, to hear him talk to the team and
Speaker 1: you know, just just to let just let everybody know,
Speaker 1: like you know, how he felt and things like that,
Speaker 1: and everybody knows a team like he's a He's a
Speaker 1: bubbly guy, walks in every day, you know, keeps a
Speaker 1: smile on his face. You know, as has good, positive,
Speaker 1: contagious energy. So you ever notice how what a violent
Speaker 1: tackler he is. I was watching some highlights, some footages
Speaker 1: of US today in preparation for stuff Jeff and I
Speaker 1: are going to do this weekend. Ye, I'm telling you, man,
Speaker 1: whether it's catching or running back, get unforded getting a
Speaker 1: quarterback that's unfortunate. He's violent at the end. He's very violent.
Speaker 1: It's funny you said that because we were actually talking
Speaker 1: about that. I believe it was yesterday. In films, he's
Speaker 1: always slamming of running back if you look like he's
Speaker 1: really slamming them, and if you're an unfortunate offensive garden,
Speaker 1: he realizes that you got a one on one. He's
Speaker 1: really violent against those guys too, And my gosh, but
Speaker 1: you know, I guess it's the finished product when he
Speaker 1: gets the chance to tackle strip whatever. But mat Remember
Speaker 1: last year in New Orleans with Drew Brees. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know right, ragged on them all right. We'll talk more
Speaker 1: with Below Nichols as we wind down here on Bears
Speaker 1: All Access with Tom there. I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks for listening, Everyboddy.
Speaker 1: This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score this
Speaker 1: week Gut Inside the Bears, Roy Robertson Harris goes for
Speaker 1: a ride with Spice, Adams and another edition of Big
Speaker 1: Guys in the Ben's below you you experienced the double
Speaker 1: a experiencing Yeah, how was it, Jeff? Goodtime? What are
Speaker 1: you talking about with Spice? Yeah? Oh no, I haven't.
Speaker 1: I actually won two. I'm very interested. Well, Dan Burrelly,
Speaker 1: our producer here, is in charge of that. So get
Speaker 1: on it, my friend, get on it. Inside the Bears
Speaker 1: brought to you by Verizon as Saturday six pm on
Speaker 1: c W fifty Chicago and Sundays at eleven o five
Speaker 1: on Fox thirty two Chicago. You can also watch show
Speaker 1: segments online at Chicago Bears dot com. Round the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears Official app. Anytime you know sidetrack a little bit,
Speaker 1: because that particular feature, you know, we all we loved
Speaker 1: double A. We loved him as a player too. To me,
Speaker 1: one of the most underrated, uh smaller defensive tackle specifically,
Speaker 1: he had roots right right. But I remember when he
Speaker 1: was in that draft and Scots that we were talking
Speaker 1: to and so forth. You know, was a guy named
Speaker 1: Jimmy Kennedy who played briefly here for the Bears. I
Speaker 1: forgot his nickname. Oh he's a nickname back then. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Jimmy was the highly thought of one from Penn State.
Speaker 1: And they said, you know, how about this Anthony Adams guy,
Speaker 1: And they said, this guy will have a better career
Speaker 1: than Jimmy Kennedy who got the first round or enough.
Speaker 1: Anthony Adams had a long career and played for the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers and the Bears and had had a
Speaker 1: great career and now he's got a second career. He's funny, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's funny. You got you as players like to show
Speaker 1: that side of your life a little bit, the the
Speaker 1: fun side of your life. Yeah, we do. We try
Speaker 1: to show people, you know, it's more than just you
Speaker 1: know on the field. You know, we're people too, you know,
Speaker 1: so we try to show that side of us, you know,
Speaker 1: get let people get to know us. You got some
Speaker 1: funny guys in that locker room, but allowed us to
Speaker 1: this day. I mean Tarik's non stop, oh stop. Tarrik
Speaker 1: is hilarious. Oh my god. I go to trick every
Speaker 1: day and just mess with him just so I could
Speaker 1: get a good laugh. Well, you know, we saw footage
Speaker 1: of the whole disco ball thing in the locker room
Speaker 1: after the games, and I asked one of our guests here,
Speaker 1: or have you seen anybody that should never dance again?
Speaker 1: Number one? And what what is your post game, you know,
Speaker 1: dealing with the with the disco ball. Oh man, I'll
Speaker 1: be I'll be in there just just enjoying it with
Speaker 1: my teammates. We'd be all jumping around. Isn't allowed to
Speaker 1: it's jump, not necessarily jump, it's jumping. We just excited,
Speaker 1: just hugging each other, just you know, just just expressing
Speaker 1: how much we care for each other, and you know
Speaker 1: how much we appreciate each other for you know, coming
Speaker 1: in and work every day and working hard. I got
Speaker 1: one of my living room now because of it. I do.
Speaker 1: I'll take a picture of it. I don't even know what.
Speaker 1: I don't have a background on it. It's yes, Well,
Speaker 1: what are you doing with that. Somebody gave it to
Speaker 1: me because I saw it on the Bears using it,
Speaker 1: so I took it and I had a plant hanger
Speaker 1: in the corner of my living room. Well it is.
Speaker 1: It is fun to see. It's fun to see a
Speaker 1: bunch of young guys coming together. And even this week,
Speaker 1: Danny Trevisan in the locker room said, Hey, you know,
Speaker 1: a bunch of us veterans we're sitting around talking, which
Speaker 1: I love that right away because they weren't just talking
Speaker 1: about like they're talking about focus. They're talking about the
Speaker 1: length of the season, the journey, and spreading that information
Speaker 1: and knowledge their own experiences to the rest of you. Guys.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how invaluable that is, you know,
Speaker 1: to a team, and it's a team that clearly respects
Speaker 1: each other. Do you get that feeling and are you
Speaker 1: intuitive enough to see that as a young man? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: most definitely. Um, you know, these guys here are some
Speaker 1: of the most you know, selfless guys I ever met. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, they're they're they're all always about just making
Speaker 1: the team better and just just helping out us younger guys. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, guys like like Danny and and a Kim
Speaker 1: and Khalil like those are guys who bring it every day.
Speaker 1: But you know they aren't selfish with knowledge. You know,
Speaker 1: they're always passing it along. You know. I can go
Speaker 1: to Danny and asking asking anything about how to get better.
Speaker 1: I can go to Kalil asking anything. And of course
Speaker 1: a Kim tell us a Kim story. You told me
Speaker 1: the other day because I was doing a feature on
Speaker 1: you for for WBBM, and it's it's a wonderful thing
Speaker 1: what he's doing. Tell him. Yeah, so, um so a Kim,
Speaker 1: he's he's been tremendous for me. Um. You know, um
Speaker 1: in practice in camp when we first got there, he
Speaker 1: told me, uh, a rook, You're gonna always be my partner,
Speaker 1: so you know when we do drills and an individual,
Speaker 1: he me and him are always partners always and he's
Speaker 1: always helping me. Um. But then he told me it
Speaker 1: was one day he said, uh, for now, and every time,
Speaker 1: you know, at the preseason game, when we're on the
Speaker 1: plane right back, I want you to come up there
Speaker 1: and watch film with me. So you know every game,
Speaker 1: you know, I watched film. When we watched the whole game,
Speaker 1: we go through each player on the D line and
Speaker 1: he'd be like, now, tell me where he could have
Speaker 1: done better, or tell me how does this look to you?
Speaker 1: Or you know things like that, and worriors can't explain
Speaker 1: how much that means to me, right, you know, getting
Speaker 1: that getting that type of one on one from a
Speaker 1: from a player of his caliber. Um, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's that's a guy that you know, I want to
Speaker 1: be just as good as one day. So you know,
Speaker 1: he's meant He's meant so much to me. I don't
Speaker 1: even think he understands. And um, you know, and even
Speaker 1: outside of football with you know, regular life stuff, he's
Speaker 1: he's helping me with and you know he's he's I
Speaker 1: look at him like a big brother. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: It's a great line you use, and I hope I
Speaker 1: remember that these veterans are not selfish with knowledge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think that's a great line, and that should
Speaker 1: be one of the lines that's up in the hallway
Speaker 1: up there, because those veterans being a lot and you know,
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of veterans that will take a
Speaker 1: young guy and give them those experiences because they're so
Speaker 1: we're also it's I'm including myself I'm self contained in
Speaker 1: my own career. Yeah, so you didn't. Would you have
Speaker 1: done the same thing for him back when you played?
Speaker 1: Just be honest. Probably? You know it's different now because
Speaker 1: before when I was here, you had to go out
Speaker 1: and you had to get the beta, you had to
Speaker 1: wait for it to be made, then you had to
Speaker 1: get the room to be able to use the projector.
Speaker 1: It was a lot different. Um, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: would have probably been I would have probably been myselfish
Speaker 1: self as a player, even having access to the modern
Speaker 1: day technology, we weren't fortunate enough to have it. But
Speaker 1: but I think also, you know, he played for a
Speaker 1: coach that had put the fear of gut in you
Speaker 1: about keeping your job every day, So maybe that was
Speaker 1: part of your mindset. I think that's you know, as
Speaker 1: much as my mindset is balal the fear of losing
Speaker 1: your job. That is one of the greatest motivators for
Speaker 1: for anybody of any pursuit, business, sports or whatever. It's
Speaker 1: an interesting discussion because I believe it weaves a fabric
Speaker 1: for a team to help each other and be selfless
Speaker 1: like that. I really do. I think it's a wonderful
Speaker 1: thing that a Keem's doing, and he went through something
Speaker 1: with himself. You know, hearing for him today for the
Speaker 1: first time about being disqualified from the game the other day,
Speaker 1: first time in his entire athletic life that he ever
Speaker 1: been kicked out of a game. And it was a
Speaker 1: lesson learned from him, even as he hits the age
Speaker 1: of thirty and he's been a veteran in this league.
Speaker 1: And he said he talked to the team, he apologized
Speaker 1: to the team. You being so close to him, how
Speaker 1: how was he through that whole process here in the
Speaker 1: last week and a half or so. Um, he handled
Speaker 1: it actually pretty well. Um, you know, he handled it
Speaker 1: better than I probably would have. UM. You know, a
Speaker 1: team is one of those guys who know his word,
Speaker 1: me and everything. So you know when he when he
Speaker 1: preaches to the team in the defense about you know,
Speaker 1: not not making mistakes and not making dumb mistakes rather
Speaker 1: and you know, just just just being a team player. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, he didn't want anybody to feel like he
Speaker 1: was being hypocritical. Um, you know by going out there
Speaker 1: and you know, getting dismissed from the game. So you know,
Speaker 1: you know, it really felt good, you know to hear
Speaker 1: him talk to the team and you know, just just
Speaker 1: to let just let everybody know, like you know, how
Speaker 1: he felt and things like that, and everybody knows a
Speaker 1: team like he's a He's a bubbly guy, walks in
Speaker 1: every day, you know, keeps a smile on his face.
Speaker 1: You know, has has good, positive, contagious energy. So you
Speaker 1: ever notice how what a violent tackler he is. I
Speaker 1: was watching some highlights, some footages of US today in
Speaker 1: preparation for stuff Jeff and I are going to do
Speaker 1: this weekend. Yeah, I'm telling you, man, whether it's catching
Speaker 1: or running back, get unfortunate getting a quarterback, that's unfortunate.
Speaker 1: He's violent at the end. He's very violent. It's funny
Speaker 1: you said that because we were actually talking about that.
Speaker 1: I believe it was yesterday. In films, he's always slamming
Speaker 1: a running back. If you look at like, he's really
Speaker 1: slamming them. And if you're an unfortunate offensive garden, he
Speaker 1: realizes that you got a one on one. He's really
Speaker 1: violent against those guys too, And my gosh, but you know,
Speaker 1: I guess it's the finished product when he gets the
Speaker 1: chance to tackle strip whatever. But Matt, I remember last
Speaker 1: year in New Orleans with Drew Brees. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: rag do right, ragged down them all right. We'll talk
Speaker 1: more with Below Nichols as we wind down here on
Speaker 1: Bears All Access with Tom There, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, everybody. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy
Speaker 1: to score. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network
Speaker 1: presentation of Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago
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Speaker 1: Therapy and forty