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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line live right now is the

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Speaker 1: head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Coach Kirk for instance,

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Speaker 1: with his coach, thanks for coming on tonight. We really

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Speaker 1: appreciate it. That's my pleasure. Nice to be with you, guys.

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Speaker 1: Coach tell us about a Japanessa. What's the first thing

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Speaker 1: that comes to mind when you talk about ajp and Essa.

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Speaker 1: First of all, congratulations for the Bills. They've done a

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Speaker 1: great job on building their team up there, and I

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Speaker 1: know it started on defense and they're getting a great player.

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Speaker 1: First thing comes to mind is just production. Aj is

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Speaker 1: a very productive player, extremely dangerous and on top of that,

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Speaker 1: he's just an outstanding young person. What when you've recruited

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Speaker 1: him and he came out of high school, how much

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Speaker 1: did he change during the time he got to Iowa?

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Speaker 1: Was he has he been as big as he is

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Speaker 1: for his entire career under as a Hawkeye pretty much?

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Speaker 1: You know, he's a joke about it. He's the kind

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Speaker 1: of player we never get, both he and trist and Worse.

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Speaker 1: You know, we got trist and Worse because he grew

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Speaker 1: up twenty five miles up the road and AJ's dad

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Speaker 1: played at Iowa. He was a walk on here that

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Speaker 1: earned his scholarship. So otherwise those guys go to Alabama,

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Speaker 1: they go to Ohio State, they don't come to Island.

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Speaker 1: When he walked in, he was just a tremendous prospect,

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Speaker 1: great athlete in high school, not only in football, but

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Speaker 1: also track and basketball. So you know, he came out

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Speaker 1: of a great skill set. He's a very effective and

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Speaker 1: efficient pass rusher right from the start. I know, one

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Speaker 1: of the things that came up in the draft. You know,

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Speaker 1: he only started this past year, but he played behind

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Speaker 1: a four year starter for US, good named Parker hesseis

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Speaker 1: with the Titans now, and the other side was Anthony

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Speaker 1: Nelson who's playing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So we

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Speaker 1: used him on pass rush situations his first two years.

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Speaker 1: He's extremely productive and this year was his first year

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Speaker 1: as a full time player and did a great job.

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Speaker 1: So I think the Bills have gotten to steal me personally.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this guy's a really good football player. Coach

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Speaker 1: kurk Fence is with us talking about the bills first

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Speaker 1: pick in the draft, Ajpinessa. I read one analysis and said,

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Speaker 1: as far as defense, he might have been the best

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Speaker 1: run defender of this year's profit players as he start

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Speaker 1: against a run coach. Yeah, and this is the first

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Speaker 1: year we really had him playing on first downs, you know, regularly,

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Speaker 1: and he's just a really good football player. I think

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Speaker 1: it's kind of an interesting and I'm just an outsider

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Speaker 1: looking And although I had spend six years in the

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Speaker 1: NFL and Steve you might agree with this, I can

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Speaker 1: tell you. I think, in my personal opinion, there have

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Speaker 1: been a lot of bad decisions that have been affected

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Speaker 1: or impacted by the Combine both ways. You know, guys

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Speaker 1: that really do good at the combine and you know

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Speaker 1: when it comes time to play, they're not as good.

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Speaker 1: And AJ didn't have a great forty time at the Combine.

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Speaker 1: We didn't expect that, but I think it would have

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Speaker 1: run better in our pro day, which unfortunately got canceled.

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Speaker 1: But the way I put in perspective, we played somebody

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Speaker 1: last year. I won't name the team or the player

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Speaker 1: who was an offensive end, and you know, he had

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Speaker 1: a really good combine last year. You end up being

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Speaker 1: a first rounder. I think he was like twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: two somewhere in there. But he had a really good

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Speaker 1: forty time. But we played that team during the season,

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Speaker 1: and it's one of those deals where way him a

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Speaker 1: whole game. He played up against the guy who was buying.

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Speaker 1: He was very highly touted, and I asked Greg Cosell,

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Speaker 1: one of our analysts, about him, and really the only

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Speaker 1: thing that he doesn't do well is come off the

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Speaker 1: edge with speed. He's a big body guy. I don't

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Speaker 1: know that there's many many guys sixty five, two sixty

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Speaker 1: five or two seventy five who do come off with

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Speaker 1: real great power and speed. But he does show great

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Speaker 1: strength and great technique. And tell me about this. One

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Speaker 1: of the things I read is that he plays with

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Speaker 1: a big with a high motor, with a great deal

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Speaker 1: of effort. Is that true? Yeah? He can go, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean he really goes. And the last guy we

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Speaker 1: had like him was Adrian Claiborne, who was first round

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Speaker 1: of the South as he years ago or Tampa Day

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Speaker 1: actually years ago. But anyway, he The thing about a

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Speaker 1: j I don't five five flats not reflective, but he's

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Speaker 1: not a four or six. I'm not suggesting that, but

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Speaker 1: he he can, you know, turn in on you and

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Speaker 1: just run your way back to the quarterback and makes

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Speaker 1: you look really bad. So for an offensive tackle to

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Speaker 1: have to respect that and then respect the fact that

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Speaker 1: you know he can get around you quick. That that

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Speaker 1: makes it really tough for a for an offensive tackle.

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Speaker 1: If you can just set and play a guy's speed,

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Speaker 1: that's one thing, But forget I can mix speed and power.

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Speaker 1: That's a whole different deal on Aja can do that

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Speaker 1: and you can do it. Um. You know, he just

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Speaker 1: transitions really well. It's not like a mechanical robotic guy.

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Speaker 1: He's just a really fluid pass rusher. Li've on the

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Speaker 1: line with Iowa head coach Kirk Curren's talking about the

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Speaker 1: Bill's first pick, aj Epenesa out of the University of Iowa.

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Speaker 1: Coaches is a defensive end and tackle. Can he work

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Speaker 1: both in and outside? What do you think? Yeah? I

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Speaker 1: think that's one of the beauties about him. I think

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Speaker 1: he can do it and do it effectively. So, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, lead it up to the Bills to decide

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Speaker 1: what's best for them and within their scheme and with

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Speaker 1: the personnel they have that Yeah, I think he's got

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Speaker 1: the potential to do both and he'll He's a willing guy,

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Speaker 1: great attitude, and I talked to every I talked to

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Speaker 1: during the draft process. The one thing I wanted to

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Speaker 1: emphasize is you're gonna love having them in your meeting rooms,

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Speaker 1: whether it's a team meeting, um, you know, position meeting,

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Speaker 1: or just in your building. He's a kind of guy

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Speaker 1: you want to have on your football team. And uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you go to a guy who's a

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Speaker 1: really good player and has those kind of attributes, I

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Speaker 1: think that's that's just a bonus. And it's hard to

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Speaker 1: have a championship team without those kinds of players. And

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Speaker 1: I know the Bills are working hard to build that

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Speaker 1: kind of a operation. I want to ask you about

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Speaker 1: one guy went last night actually from from your program

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Speaker 1: to Tampa Bay. Tristan Worths goes to Tampa Bay. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: to be pleased with that. And you've got two guys

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Speaker 1: now from basically your in line, one on offense, one

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Speaker 1: on defense going to the NFL. That's a good sign,

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Speaker 1: right it is. And there was a lot of fun

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Speaker 1: watching those guys. Those guys practice against each other and

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Speaker 1: it made them both better players. And usually unusually it's

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Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, two years in a row. Now,

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Speaker 1: last year we had our two tight ends come up.

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Speaker 1: They were both thirty year players and both Aj and

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Speaker 1: Tristan were, and I really think Tristan would have been

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Speaker 1: the Outland Trophy winner, or at least you would have

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Speaker 1: been right there next year if you'd stayed. And I

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Speaker 1: think Aj would have been one of the top guys

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Speaker 1: in the country too. So, you know, both great players,

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Speaker 1: and again, they're both just tremendous young people that you

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Speaker 1: like to have me on your team. I mean, they're

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Speaker 1: fun to be on the field with and they'll do

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Speaker 1: whatever you ask. They'll work hard, and I don't see

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Speaker 1: either of them being impact that are affected by being

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Speaker 1: NFL guys are going to be, you know, the football players.

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Speaker 1: They're just football players that are really good kids. Coach,

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Speaker 1: thanks for this and thanks for producing up a new

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Speaker 1: Buffalo Bill. We appreciate your contribution to the show today.

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Speaker 1: Thanks coach. It's gonna be fun to watch them and

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Speaker 1: uh coincidentally, our defensive line coach Calvin Dell is a

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Speaker 1: big bulls guy, so I think that's awesome. And one

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Speaker 1: of my mentors in coaching actually the guy in Tom

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Speaker 1: Bresley and who worked for coach lev Yeah. Oh my gosh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: really well, I know, I'm really well, Kirk. I had

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Speaker 1: the pleasure of watch well, sort of the pleasure of

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Speaker 1: watching the IIWA Hawkeyes dismantled the northwest of Northwestern's homecoming

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Speaker 1: game this last falls first home Northwestern game I've been

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Speaker 1: to in thirty five years after playing there, and I

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Speaker 1: watched your Hawkeyes just just mannerless. I watched both Worth

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Speaker 1: and Epin as a play. You had a great team

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Speaker 1: this year. Was a lot of fun to watch, and

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Speaker 1: I congratulate you and wish you the best. Well, I

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Speaker 1: appreciate that. That's after they beat a three straight. So

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Speaker 1: they've done a great job there. I got a lot

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Speaker 1: of job they've done there. They do a great job