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Speaker 1: It's time to get inside the Giants Huddle on Giants

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Speaker 1: dot Com the Giants Podcast Network. Welcome to the latest

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Speaker 1: edition of the Giant Huttle Podcast. Lance medal with you

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Speaker 1: as we were continuing to break down the two thousand

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Speaker 1: twenty to draft class. The Giants had three fifth round picks,

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Speaker 1: and with the onety six overall selection, they took Indiana

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Speaker 1: linebacker Michael McFadden. To get more into McFadden, we're now

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Speaker 1: joined by the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers, the

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Speaker 1: headman Tom Allen. Coach. You got Lance Meadow here greatly

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Speaker 1: appreciate the time, Thanks so much, And let's start off

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Speaker 1: with a player who you really go way back with because,

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Speaker 1: from what I understand, your son played high school football

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Speaker 1: with Michael McFadden. They were both the interior linebackers. This

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Speaker 1: was when you were the South Florida defensive coordinators. So

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Speaker 1: if there's anybody that you had an opportunity to recruit

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Speaker 1: and see up close and personal, it certainly would be Mica.

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Speaker 1: How special has your relationship been with him, considering goes

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Speaker 1: all the way back to his high school days with

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Speaker 1: your son, it's really special, And Lance, I appreciate you

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Speaker 1: having me on your show. It's just, uh, just a

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Speaker 1: privilege to be able to talk about him, and uh,

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Speaker 1: it's a great story for sure. You know my son Thomas,

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Speaker 1: who played linebacker force here and a year older than Mica.

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Speaker 1: They played side by side. They're at Planted High School

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Speaker 1: when Thomas was a senior and Michael was a junior,

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Speaker 1: and they played for state championship that year, went underfeat

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Speaker 1: all the way to the state championship game and and

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Speaker 1: then lots of times Quiets there in the finals. But uh,

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Speaker 1: that that allowed me to to you know, as a dad.

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Speaker 1: You know, I could go there and watch and practice,

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Speaker 1: and so I would, you know, in that part of

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Speaker 1: the country when you when you coach in South Florida,

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Speaker 1: we pretty much stayed within the state of Ford to recruit.

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Speaker 1: So I would had that whole area of Tampa and

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Speaker 1: I would go out and recruit during the day in

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Speaker 1: the springtime, and then at night. They always practice at

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Speaker 1: night and Plant, I'd go there and stand on top

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Speaker 1: of the press box and watch your practice. And I

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Speaker 1: could do that legally because you're having a sun plan

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Speaker 1: for him and so, but obviously as you're there, you're

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Speaker 1: watching all these guys, and and he caught my eye.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's just a guy that uh uh, was

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Speaker 1: kind of a little bit of an unknown when he

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Speaker 1: when he came up through the ranks, and and even

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Speaker 1: into his junior year, he had remember a specific game

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Speaker 1: where against Armwould High School where he just bawled out,

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Speaker 1: I mean just all over the place, kickoff, cover making,

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Speaker 1: place blitz and sack in the quarterback. And you just

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Speaker 1: kind of saw the beginnings of what he could become.

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Speaker 1: And and he went on when so when Thomas graduated,

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Speaker 1: he took Thomas's place, They moved h into the middle

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Speaker 1: linebacker spot and had a great, great senior year and

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Speaker 1: and he was committed as prior to that year. And

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Speaker 1: he came to Indiana and has just been a great

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Speaker 1: play He's just gotten better every single year. Well speeding

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Speaker 1: of his evolution, let's go there. Two thousand eighteen, he

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Speaker 1: is considered the lowest ranked player in your recruiting class.

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Speaker 1: He then becomes a starter his sophomore year, and then

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden and All American is a junior.

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Speaker 1: So obviously I'm sure his playing time increased little by little,

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Speaker 1: But what do you attribute to coach why he made

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Speaker 1: such strong strides over his tenure at Indiana. Well, first

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Speaker 1: of all, you know, I think he's just a very

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Speaker 1: driven young man. Uh was a very very strong student

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Speaker 1: of the game and mentally study the game, understood the game.

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Speaker 1: I was able to anticipate things because of his mental

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Speaker 1: preparation and all the work he put in. Uh. He

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Speaker 1: he got physically better, you know, he got stronger, he

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Speaker 1: got a step faster. Sometimes guys don't always get a

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Speaker 1: lot faster once they come to college. I felt like

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Speaker 1: he did. He always had that great football speed where

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Speaker 1: his burst was was noticeable, which is what I which

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Speaker 1: kind of stuck out to me about him early on.

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Speaker 1: But he he physically got faster, and he's a he's

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Speaker 1: a guy that he shows up on film. He can run,

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Speaker 1: you know, and and he got bigger and stronger and

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Speaker 1: and was just able to you know, make a lot.

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Speaker 1: He's probably the best blitzing linebacker I've ever coached in

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Speaker 1: my thirty years of coach and football, and and just

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Speaker 1: so effective, uh pressure in the quarterback and just tackling

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Speaker 1: space and making plays. And so I just think the

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Speaker 1: special teams is probably where he first showed what he

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Speaker 1: was both in high school and then and college as well. Kickoff, cover, Punk, cover,

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Speaker 1: years to cover units were really where he where he

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Speaker 1: shined and and so but I just think it was

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Speaker 1: just his willingness to to buy into everything physically with

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Speaker 1: our program. We have a tremendous strength staff here that

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Speaker 1: developed him physically. And then I just think that the

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Speaker 1: scheme was a great master and we just kind of

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Speaker 1: try and keep it simple so we can make his

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Speaker 1: reads and play football and be able to read and

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Speaker 1: react and and have a great burst to the ball,

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Speaker 1: which he has naturally. So I just think the combinations

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Speaker 1: a lot of different things. Uh, he never missed practice, Uh,

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Speaker 1: wasn't injured. Uh, So durable, I guess another great quality

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Speaker 1: that he has. You know, you just kind of got

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Speaker 1: a lot of just natural tenacity to him. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: he's a guy that I just think just kept getting

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Speaker 1: better every single year. And it showed his production and

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Speaker 1: it showed in his off the field. Accolades. Giant season

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Speaker 1: dot com slash tickets for more information. Coach, you brought

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Speaker 1: up the scheme, and I want to piggyback off of

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Speaker 1: that because if you look at what the Giants are

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Speaker 1: going to run with their new defensive coordinator, Link Martindale,

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Speaker 1: a very heavy blitz scheme. So it seems as if

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Speaker 1: from a fit perspective, this is really a nice marriage

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Speaker 1: between Michael McFadden and what the Giants defense is going

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Speaker 1: to run. Why was he I know you went over

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Speaker 1: how he was a good fit for the scheme, but

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Speaker 1: twelve and a half sacks it's not something you always

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Speaker 1: see for an interior linebacker. Why did he have such

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Speaker 1: a knack for getting to the quarterback based on what

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Speaker 1: you asked him to do? Well, you know, we did

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Speaker 1: a lot of pressures where we we isolated him on

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Speaker 1: their interior alignment, you know, whether it's the center or

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Speaker 1: the guards, which, as you would know in in in

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Speaker 1: the in the world of offensive line play, those usually

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Speaker 1: aren't your best pass pro guys, you know, and the

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Speaker 1: tackles the ruin of the guys that you know kind

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Speaker 1: of make their living off of a pass pro you know,

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Speaker 1: And so I think, you know, we've developed a system

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Speaker 1: here in a scheme that allows us to take advantage

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Speaker 1: of that. And he has uh I think part of

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Speaker 1: it is his his core strength. He's able to you know, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, when he dips and rips under a big

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Speaker 1: offensive guard or a big center, and the big tent

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Speaker 1: obviously has a lot of future NFL offensive lineman that

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Speaker 1: he plays against every week. He's he's able to really

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Speaker 1: you know, maximize that the twitch. He has the ability

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Speaker 1: to you know, the headstick as we call it, you know,

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Speaker 1: for him to be able to get really close to

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Speaker 1: the offensive lineman and then at the last second be

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Speaker 1: able to maneuver, you know, with his his hands or

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Speaker 1: his head or whatever to be able to go. But

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Speaker 1: he's also strong enough to once he gets leverage on

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Speaker 1: that man, that offensive linement, he's able to really pry

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Speaker 1: through there and get penetration. And really, as we talked about,

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Speaker 1: punching holes in the offensive and he's tremendous that punching

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Speaker 1: holes in the offensive line. He's a great run blitzer

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Speaker 1: as well as a great path He's just a great finisher.

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Speaker 1: Some guys are great finishers. Mike is a great finisher,

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Speaker 1: which makes him you know, you make a lot of plays.

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Speaker 1: And if you make a lot of plays in the

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Speaker 1: Big ten and and and and have a bunch of tackles,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna have a chance to get recognized at a

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Speaker 1: high level. And that's what he did. And that's exactly

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Speaker 1: it came to fruition to your point, as he led

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Speaker 1: the team and tackles and tackles for a loss in

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Speaker 1: each of the last three seasons. The other aspect coach

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Speaker 1: that gets bred, that gets brought up with respect to

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Speaker 1: linebacker play is coverage. How much did you expose him

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Speaker 1: to that? And what's his upside perhaps of being a

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Speaker 1: three down linebacker on the NFL level. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: he truly can be, and I think that's very important

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Speaker 1: for him as well as special teams play butt. But

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Speaker 1: in his coverage, you know, he's just really really good.

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Speaker 1: You know, with back, he had several receptions you know,

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Speaker 1: as a as a defender. We would drop in and

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Speaker 1: use both man in his own principles for our our

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Speaker 1: linebackers to be able to expose them to both of

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Speaker 1: those concepts. But I just think, yeah, there's probably some

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Speaker 1: more growth potential there because we blessed him a lot,

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Speaker 1: you know, and so, but he's a great athlete to me,

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Speaker 1: and so just to be able to you know, we

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Speaker 1: we play play some Tampa coverage suit where he's gonna

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Speaker 1: be in the milk field, runs through guy to be

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Speaker 1: able to do that and even positioned himself to be

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Speaker 1: able to track the ball off that, even got an

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Speaker 1: interception off of that, you know, a couple of different

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Speaker 1: times throughout his career here. So I just think he

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Speaker 1: will continue to get better in that area because it's

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Speaker 1: something that will be more of probably at that level.

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Speaker 1: But the bottom line is is that he's just when

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Speaker 1: you talk about man, he's just a really good football player.

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Speaker 1: I mean the kid just absolutely as tough as nails,

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Speaker 1: great leader, just does everything you wanted to do off

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Speaker 1: the fielding returns to his preparation, and he just cares.

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Speaker 1: He cares about, you know, the game, He cares about

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Speaker 1: his teammates, cares about you know, who's who's the part

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Speaker 1: of who he represents it. So I'm just so excited

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Speaker 1: for him. I'm excited for the Giants for him to

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Speaker 1: be able to have this opportunity. Ever again, he's gonna

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Speaker 1: really flourish. You brought up the leadership component. He was

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Speaker 1: a two year captain for your team. So what does

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Speaker 1: that say about the role you empowered him to have

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Speaker 1: within the locker room and also how his teammates coach

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Speaker 1: fed off of his intensity and energy. Well, there's no question,

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Speaker 1: you know, those two years he was voted and it

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Speaker 1: was a team vote, and it was pretty pretty unanimous

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Speaker 1: that he was one of the guys that need to

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Speaker 1: be in that position. And I saw him really grow.

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Speaker 1: We have a leadership counsel here that he's been a

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Speaker 1: part of ever since he's been here, and that's allowed

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Speaker 1: him to grow as a leader. And I run to

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Speaker 1: run those sessions for our players in that group and

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Speaker 1: to train them and not just to say, hey, this

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Speaker 1: kid's a natural born this or that. Now we're gonna

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Speaker 1: be very intentional in training you as a leader. So

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Speaker 1: I felt like that that's something that he uh has

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Speaker 1: really grown in, you know, in his confidence to be

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Speaker 1: able to be in that role. And I'll say this,

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Speaker 1: I mean, the bottom line is a lot of times

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Speaker 1: that that position is it's it's earned by how you prepare,

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Speaker 1: how hard you work, how hard you practice, by all

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Speaker 1: the things you do, you know, in production on the field.

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Speaker 1: And so as I always tell our linebackers, man, that's

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Speaker 1: a position where he needs it needs leadership and production,

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Speaker 1: and he provided both of those and I think he'll

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Speaker 1: he'll take that to the next Levey has a lot

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Speaker 1: of confidence in himself to be able to talk to

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Speaker 1: his teammates and to be able to challenge them, to

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Speaker 1: motivate them, to encourage them, and also hold him accountable.

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Speaker 1: And that's what left what linebackers have to do. On

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Speaker 1: the topic of accountability and production, one of the things

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Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier was especially if you're a fifth round pick,

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Speaker 1: you have to be able and willing to play on

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Speaker 1: special teams. When he met with the New York Media coach,

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Speaker 1: the one thing he seemed to take a lot of

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Speaker 1: pride in was his contributions on special teams and the

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Speaker 1: fact that you've pretty much had him as part of

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Speaker 1: his career. Why was he a good fit for multiple

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Speaker 1: teams on special teams? Well, first of all, you know,

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Speaker 1: the game is being played in space, you know, offensively, defensively,

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Speaker 1: and obviously special teams is the ultimate you know, play

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Speaker 1: that's played in space. And so to me, uh, we

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Speaker 1: emphasize that here we put our best players on special teams.

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Speaker 1: Uh And and one reason is I believe that's how

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Speaker 1: you win football games. But number two, we want to

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Speaker 1: prepare for the NFL because we know these guys are

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Speaker 1: gonna have to play special teams. We got receivers, running backs,

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Speaker 1: you know, dbs, linebackers, but especially those linebackers. I tim

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Speaker 1: they've gotta be on three four special teams for us

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Speaker 1: because that's their skill set, you know. And so to me,

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Speaker 1: he's willing because he understands that's what great teams have

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Speaker 1: to do to be able to win football games, is

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Speaker 1: played great special teams. And so he's brought into that.

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Speaker 1: So that just kind of shows his own stuff just

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Speaker 1: towards the team. And number two, I mean, he loves it.

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Speaker 1: You know, he loves making those plays. He loves the

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Speaker 1: special teams preparation that we put in and the drill work.

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Speaker 1: He was full speed every rip and that and that

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Speaker 1: allowed him to keep getting better and better. But at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, you know, I think that's

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Speaker 1: how you figure out when a kid is young, who

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Speaker 1: your best tackers are gonna be. Are the guys you

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Speaker 1: put on kickoff cover And so that's where he showed

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Speaker 1: up even in high school. So it goes way back

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Speaker 1: to that, you know, to be able to say, hey,

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Speaker 1: a guy can make plays in space. Those are using

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Speaker 1: your best football players, you know, and so whether it's

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Speaker 1: a guy with the ball in his hand, you know,

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Speaker 1: on an off of the side of football, make a

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Speaker 1: guy misses space and a guy also tackling in space,

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Speaker 1: and so he'll he'll flourish with that in the NFL,

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Speaker 1: which I know is a big thing that probably helped

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Speaker 1: him get drafted, you know, because they see that value

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Speaker 1: and it showed up on game day for us. And

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Speaker 1: I think I'll continue for the for the Giants. Don't

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Speaker 1: miss your chance to experience a premiere hospitality experience watching

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Speaker 1: Giants games, world class concerts in two as a Giant

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Speaker 1: Sweet partner. Limited full season locations are available, or plays

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Speaker 1: a deposit for individual games called n y of his

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Speaker 1: Giants dot com slash suites for more information. And that

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Speaker 1: would explain why he was such a good tackler on

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Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball. That skill set, to

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Speaker 1: your point, transferred over the other thing that jumps out

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Speaker 1: to meet coaches. His arrival coincided with your ability to

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Speaker 1: really turn this program around in terms of the recent

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Speaker 1: success that you've been able to achieve. And if you

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Speaker 1: look at the numbers since you took over as the

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Speaker 1: head coach in you've had at least one player drafted

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Speaker 1: in the NFL every single year and he's now somebody

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Speaker 1: that helped extend that streak. What does that say about

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Speaker 1: his impact to your overall program since you took over

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Speaker 1: as the head coach. Well, he's been a huge part

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Speaker 1: of it. And he came here for that reason was

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Speaker 1: to come in here and help us do things that

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Speaker 1: Indiana had happened in a long long time. And so

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Speaker 1: when he's in two thousand nine team was our breakthrough season,

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Speaker 1: and he was obviously as a as a junior part

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Speaker 1: of two thousand twenty season that it was so historic

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Speaker 1: for us and and he was our leader in that

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Speaker 1: in that season. So to me, he's been a major

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Speaker 1: catalyst for for the turnaround here in Indiana and the

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Speaker 1: success we'll be able to have and and for future

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Speaker 1: success because, like you said, a guy like that being

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Speaker 1: able to come here be developed. He was our lowest

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Speaker 1: rank player of the two star guy out of high

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Speaker 1: school becomes an All American, becomes First team all big

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Speaker 1: ten and now he gets drafted to play in the NFL.

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Speaker 1: And so to me, that's just a tribute to our staff,

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Speaker 1: the whole, all the coaches here, the development of our

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Speaker 1: staff in every aspect of a player's life to allow

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Speaker 1: him to be able be in this position. And other

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Speaker 1: guys have been able to do the same thing. He's

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Speaker 1: now helped us extend that and just attract more guys

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Speaker 1: that can be able to show, hey, I can come

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Speaker 1: to Indiana, be developed and achieve my goals, my dreams.

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Speaker 1: And part of developing a player is also tapping into

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Speaker 1: not just their skill set coach, but also their intelligence

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Speaker 1: on and off the field. And the reason I bring

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Speaker 1: that up he dealt with a number of defensive coordinators

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Speaker 1: during his tenure, and I'm sure you change scheme and

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Speaker 1: philosophies and so forth. The fact that he's been exposed

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Speaker 1: to that and now he's going to have to learn

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Speaker 1: a completely new scheme with the Giants. How better prepared

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Speaker 1: does that put him as he also has to deal

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Speaker 1: with the challenges that come with being an NFL player, Well,

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Speaker 1: there's no question it's going to be an asset for him.

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Speaker 1: You know, you think about when you evaluate players, you know,

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Speaker 1: the best predictor of future behavior in the young man

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Speaker 1: his past behavior. So you look at his past, you

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Speaker 1: see he's been exposed to several different deeps of coordinators,

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Speaker 1: differ different positions, coaches, you know, coaching him a linebacker,

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Speaker 1: because to be able to adapt to that and just

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Speaker 1: show you that no matter who the coordinator was, no

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Speaker 1: matter who the position coach was, his production was consistent,

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Speaker 1: you know. And I think that just shows you any

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Speaker 1: obviously in the NFL is gonna be changes. He's gonna

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Speaker 1: have different coaches come and go, different positions and different

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Speaker 1: things that he's gonna be happy to deal with, different

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Speaker 1: types of leadership styles and motivational styles. And so I

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Speaker 1: think he's shown that he's able to adapt to those things,

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Speaker 1: those environments and and flourish, you know. But I think

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Speaker 1: once again it goes back to the character of who

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Speaker 1: he is, and you he's very consistent and everything so

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Speaker 1: dependable for us, and I think you'll be the same

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Speaker 1: way with in the NFL. Coach, before I let you go,

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Speaker 1: you brought up the Big ten caliber of play. And interestingly,

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Speaker 1: the Giants also took another player from your conference in

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Speaker 1: Iowa safety and linebacker Dane Belton. You went up against

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Speaker 1: Iowa in the opener, not to pour assault into your wounds.

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Speaker 1: I know that game didn't end well and built In

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Speaker 1: actually had an interception, But I'm always curious the perspective

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Speaker 1: of somebody outside of the program which the player played,

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Speaker 1: and what may have jumped out to you about Delton

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Speaker 1: having strategized and gone up against him during your coaching

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Speaker 1: tenure at Indiana. At Indiana this far, well, we also

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Speaker 1: recruited Dane, you know, and so we know his family

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Speaker 1: had him on campus with us here. He's at a

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Speaker 1: Jesuit high school there in Tampa, another Tampa product, the

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Speaker 1: same area that BSEd Uh mikea mcfad as well, So

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Speaker 1: you know, extremely talented football play. What I stuck out

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Speaker 1: to me was his toughness, versatility. You can play that

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Speaker 1: nickel position. It's kind of like a big, big safety,

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Speaker 1: you know, athletic linebacker type, body type, really good in space,

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Speaker 1: really good tackler, had a great note for the football.

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Speaker 1: Uh he got an interception in our game and and

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Speaker 1: uh I was a very big, big play in our game,

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Speaker 1: and so respect for him. I just think that anytime

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Speaker 1: you can get those big athletes that can run and

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Speaker 1: that can cover and complitz and can tackle, can play

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Speaker 1: on special teams, and he's gonna be a guy that

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Speaker 1: I think just fits the direction of couge football and

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Speaker 1: NFL football is going with the nature of the way

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Speaker 1: the offenses are now being played and being and being uh,

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Speaker 1: you know built, you know offensively, you know from assistant perspective.

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Speaker 1: So I think Dane Bell is a great football player,

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Speaker 1: and there's no question that the Jazz got another great one.

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Speaker 1: So I'm excited for you guys to be able to

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Speaker 1: get both those two really get Big ten football players.

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Speaker 1: So the Big Ten putting its stamp on the New

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Speaker 1: York Football Giants, especially Michael McFadden after a four year

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Speaker 1: successful career at Indiana. Well, coach, can't thank you know, greatly,

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Speaker 1: appreciate the time of the inside, looking forward to seeing

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Speaker 1: what McFadden brings to the Giants, and best of luck

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Speaker 1: guiding your program moving forward. Thanks for joining me. You're

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Speaker 1: very welcome. Hav an awesome day you got at the

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Speaker 1: head coach of the Indiana Whosier's Tom Allen here on

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Speaker 1: the Giant Subtle podcast, which you could find on Giants

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Speaker 1: dot com. The mobile app and your favorite podcast platforms.