Speaker 1: Alex, was it like just being back here in La Trobe?
Speaker 1: You know what this is going to bring when practices
Speaker 1: get started.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it feels cool to be back just last year
Speaker 2: being my first time here, and it's just a cool
Speaker 2: experience here with all the fans coming in and you
Speaker 2: know every single day. I think that's just brings awesome
Speaker 2: elements of practice. It just really the times feels like
Speaker 2: a game when the fans are out there, and also
Speaker 2: just the team colarader with the guys. Being back with
Speaker 2: the guys so cool, you know when Dorin's playing games
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, and so that's that's one reason I'm,
Speaker 2: you know, glad we're back, is you know, getting to
Speaker 2: spend a lot of time with the guys and really
Speaker 2: just tell them, you know, getting to work with everybody.
Speaker 1: You said before you want got here, you wanted to
Speaker 1: have the deal done that was accomplished. Where were you
Speaker 1: when your Asian called and said, hey, this thing is happening.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I still remember me and my wife were cooking
Speaker 2: dinner and like in our house, we're getting dinner ready
Speaker 2: and he calls me. He's like, y'all, y'all might want
Speaker 2: to find somewhere to sit and so he went to
Speaker 2: sit on the couch and I still remember, you know,
Speaker 2: saying like, hey, you know this is this is what
Speaker 2: they're offering, and you know, let's said. We were just
Speaker 2: ready at that point, like let's do it. And so
Speaker 2: I just sat the time of remember just being a
Speaker 2: little emotional and like my wife is kind of speaking
Speaker 2: for me time sauce. I was just kind of speechless,
Speaker 2: but it was. It was just an awesome moment and
Speaker 2: cheerly one I'll never forgetting. Right after that, called called
Speaker 2: my family, told all my friends before the news leaked
Speaker 2: out and stuff like that, because think signed the next morning.
Speaker 2: So it was just a surreal moment.
Speaker 1: So you guys were in Pittsburgh when you got the call?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, I was working out in Pittsburgh, working out
Speaker 2: with Cam throughout the during the break and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So we were at our house in Pittsburgh, and yeah,
Speaker 2: it was a just cool moment.
Speaker 1: Was Cam the first teammate you told, or TJ or
Speaker 1: who was it?
Speaker 2: I think it was Cam because I've usually you know,
Speaker 2: we usually work out Wednesday mornings and I text him
Speaker 2: was like, hey, I won't be there in the morning,
Speaker 2: A little busy got something to do, because I know he
Speaker 2: probably be like where you at or something like that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think he was the first one and
Speaker 2: then the news got out and everybody else found out.
Speaker 1: In terms of the defense, the Steelers have invested a
Speaker 1: lot of money on that side of the ball. Is
Speaker 1: that pressure for you guys or what does that type
Speaker 1: of commitment tell your unit?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just you know, we just got
Speaker 2: to go out and do what we gotta do. We
Speaker 2: have the guys to be the best defense in the
Speaker 2: league this year, and so I'm just looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: Starts hearing La Trobe and work with their communication and
Speaker 2: just getting the playbook down, and I'm just really developing
Speaker 2: that camaraderie. So I'm excited to see how how we
Speaker 2: do is a year of this year, I know we're
Speaker 2: going to be special.
Speaker 1: Minka had said during the Ota mini camp period on
Speaker 1: the South Side that he felt like the defense was
Speaker 1: finding chemistry and the communication was getting better. How do
Speaker 1: you guys up that here in La Trobe to get
Speaker 1: it to where you want it to be to be
Speaker 1: ready for the.
Speaker 2: Regular Yeah, I think you can just always get better.
Speaker 2: You know, there will be days, you know, where you're
Speaker 2: not your best. But I think if you're just continually
Speaker 2: getting better, I always like to say one percent better,
Speaker 2: I don't think we just get one percent better every day.
Speaker 2: Then you know ultimately you're gonna find successes. So I
Speaker 2: think you know, just day by days we continue to
Speaker 2: you know, I think the coaches always say, find a
Speaker 2: different mistake to make you know we're not None of
Speaker 2: us are perfect. You know we're gonna make mistakes. But
Speaker 2: if you keep making the same mistake over, no, we're
Speaker 2: getting that's a problem. So if you if you make
Speaker 2: a mistake, address it and move on to something else,
Speaker 2: find new problems, as coach Tomlin says. And so I'll
Speaker 2: just continue to get better and eliminate mistakes is gonna
Speaker 2: be huge.
Speaker 1: Coach Tomlin said that you are in a least robin
Speaker 1: and that you just have that grind. You've talked about
Speaker 1: the walk on mentality, not you know, being well recruited
Speaker 1: heading into college. So how does that carry on now
Speaker 1: that you have got a lucrative contract.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean just being a walk on. I'll always
Speaker 2: carry that mentality with me. I like to say the
Speaker 2: walk on mentality because it's so important for me and
Speaker 2: I remember getting there and just being being a walk on,
Speaker 2: not having a scholarship. It just really instilled something in
Speaker 2: me and a work ethic in a drive that carry
Speaker 2: with me to this day. And so no matter what
Speaker 2: it is in life, you know, I just try to
Speaker 2: be the best at what I at what I do.
Speaker 2: You know, whether that's being the best husband in the future,
Speaker 2: of being being the best father I can be, and
Speaker 2: in the field, just be the best player I can be.
Speaker 2: It kind of applies to everything in my life. And
Speaker 2: so I also like to think I'm a batman as well.
Speaker 1: In terms of your group outside linebackers D line you
Speaker 1: have to take them to dinner. What are they making
Speaker 1: you do now that you got the new money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're probably gonna get me give with something. I
Speaker 2: know that there's probably a dinner that they're gonna give
Speaker 2: me with. But you know, it's a I think the
Speaker 2: same same thing happened a couple of years ago with
Speaker 2: teacher and something like that, and so they're definitely gonna
Speaker 2: give me with something. I think they think the day
Speaker 2: o theyre oh, yeah, it's gonna be nice, but hey
Speaker 2: is what it is. But you know, just super blessed
Speaker 2: and thankful to be here for the next four years.
Speaker 2: And you know this is this is where where I
Speaker 2: love to be. I mean, my wife loved to call
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh home.
Speaker 1: Alex, thanks a lot of congratulations again, Thanks MISSI