Speaker 1: Ms Shannon, heyo, only three days left in this beautiful
Speaker 1: weather of Auxnard, California, and then we head to Hawaii,
Speaker 1: which the weather will probably be just as nice as
Speaker 1: not nicer. Joining me on the show today one of
Speaker 1: our last guests. I guess of training camp justin March, Lillard,
Speaker 1: how's it going? Justin going well? Like you said, you
Speaker 1: can't beat this weather out here, so I guess just
Speaker 1: hooking it all up before we get back to Texas. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So got to play a couple of days ago, finally
Speaker 1: got to hit somebody that's not on your team. What's
Speaker 1: that like the first day back at uh? Back in
Speaker 1: I guess action act Initially it's always kind of like different.
Speaker 1: You know, you're trying to adjust to the speed of
Speaker 1: a game. You're trying to, you know, just kind of
Speaker 1: handle your assignment and just kind of get those first
Speaker 1: few hits out of the way. But like I said,
Speaker 1: once you make contact, it kind of all settles back down. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Any trash talking go on during preseason or is it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's always I guess anytime there's you know, man verse man,
Speaker 1: there's some type of trash talk, but it's always fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So what aspect of the game do you like the most.
Speaker 1: I know, you play, you play special teams, you play
Speaker 1: some linebacker you what do you what do you like
Speaker 1: to do? I guess anything that involves hitting somebody, But uh,
Speaker 1: I kind of like them both. Evenly he's been out
Speaker 1: there on defense is different. You know, you're able to
Speaker 1: be out there, have a chance to, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: make a big play, have a chance to contribute in
Speaker 1: that way. And uh, just obviously growing up as a linebacker,
Speaker 1: you know, just anytime I get a chance to play
Speaker 1: it in a game and stuff like that, it's always fun.
Speaker 1: But just as equally, been on special teams and being
Speaker 1: out there, you know, kind of separate from offense and defense.
Speaker 1: We kind of say, you know, we're part of both,
Speaker 1: so we can set our offense up for a good
Speaker 1: field position or defense on the other side. So just
Speaker 1: being able to out there and uh, you know, give
Speaker 1: some effort and compete, just being on the field is
Speaker 1: a tremendous, you know deal, especially for me. So um,
Speaker 1: I kind of enjoy doing both. Yeah, And it seems
Speaker 1: like this year you guys, you know, have a really
Speaker 1: special group of linebackers and then you got some young
Speaker 1: guys that look like they got some talent. You got
Speaker 1: some guys that you know, were fairly new to the game.
Speaker 1: Is anything seem different this year than it did last year?
Speaker 1: Is it just kind of business as usual? I say,
Speaker 1: we're probably a little bit closer now than we were
Speaker 1: last year. Um, probably because like most of us were,
Speaker 1: you know, we're back in the defense together. Um, a
Speaker 1: lot of guys has you know, they all you know
Speaker 1: growing up. Ladon's not a rookie anymore, obviously been a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl player. Uh, you got Jalen who's you know,
Speaker 1: one of the best linebackers in the NFL. And Uh
Speaker 1: obviously you got Sean who who's the leader, Um who
Speaker 1: you know, make sure everybody's on the right page on
Speaker 1: the entire defense. Um shans out there on special teams,
Speaker 1: you know, just as far as like just being on
Speaker 1: the side and just kind of you know, you know,
Speaker 1: just telling us, you know what he sees from outside
Speaker 1: looking in. Uh. So it's always fun when you got
Speaker 1: someone like Sean that's kind of you know, around and uh,
Speaker 1: just you know, he just loves football. So he'll even
Speaker 1: give you, you know, a tip on on defense on
Speaker 1: special teams as it correlates the defense and vice versa. UM.
Speaker 1: And they obviously we got some young some young linebackers.
Speaker 1: That's uh man, there's some some great guys, UM, great athletes,
Speaker 1: great players, and uh most importantly, you know, they want
Speaker 1: to they want to learn. They're not afraid to ask questions.
Speaker 1: They're not a ray to um, you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of show show us who they are. Ye. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I feel like we do a good job as you know,
Speaker 1: being older guys in the linebacker room that uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we welcome to young guys to come in. Just be
Speaker 1: who you are, Um, don't be afraid to ask questions.
Speaker 1: And then uh, obviously getting the practice together it makes
Speaker 1: a big difference. Yeah, Um the game Sunday obviously you
Speaker 1: mentioned you got some some young talented guys. Luke Gifford's
Speaker 1: kind of a guy that that kind of stood out
Speaker 1: a little bit now, Yeah, and then he then he
Speaker 1: got hurt. When you're when you're in a game and
Speaker 1: somebody gets hurt and you don't know the severity of
Speaker 1: the injury, does it do you think about it or
Speaker 1: is it kind of like you think about it in
Speaker 1: the moment and then it's right back to football and
Speaker 1: you and you're so focused that you kind of block
Speaker 1: everything out and something Yeah, definitely, um, definitely when you
Speaker 1: when you see something like that happened. Uh, it's tough,
Speaker 1: especially especially for Luke who's been doing a great job,
Speaker 1: even all the way back in OTAs. I mean, the
Speaker 1: guy has just been you know, kind of signment sound. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, he asked questions. Uh. You can almost ask
Speaker 1: him to do anything, whether it's in football side of football,
Speaker 1: and he'll get the job done. Whether I say, hey,
Speaker 1: can you run to the store and pick up some
Speaker 1: seeds for the linebackers. You know, he's gonna take care
Speaker 1: of it. Uh so seeds some flower seeds, yes, okay, sir.
Speaker 1: So just being able to uh, you know, him been
Speaker 1: out there and him obviously making a huge play. You know,
Speaker 1: it was just great, too great to see, you know,
Speaker 1: such a great person and great player to be able
Speaker 1: to make a play. And then, uh, on the other side,
Speaker 1: when he goes down, and you know, it hurts, you
Speaker 1: know it hurts, uh, you know, obviously the entire team
Speaker 1: and then just the linebackers in general, because you never
Speaker 1: want to see one of your guys go down. But
Speaker 1: then right after, you know, right after he gets up
Speaker 1: and he's off the field, it's time to lock back
Speaker 1: into football and just kind of get the job done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you were fifty three, right, Yes, sir? What is
Speaker 1: there a story behind your number? You just, oh, you
Speaker 1: know what I was now, it's not really a story
Speaker 1: behind it when I had when I got picked up
Speaker 1: by the Dolphins in twenty seventeen, I was just a
Speaker 1: number I was given and it just happened to be
Speaker 1: open when I when I came here, and I was
Speaker 1: a number that gave me. And you've been around a while,
Speaker 1: You've been league what five years? Yeah, it's my fifth
Speaker 1: season this season, and you've been a few different places.
Speaker 1: We're all what had you? What's your journey to hear? H? Yeah.
Speaker 1: So in two thou fifteen I had. I was undrafted. Uh,
Speaker 1: came from University of Akron, went to Kansas City. Um,
Speaker 1: I was there, played. You know, I had a great
Speaker 1: training camp that first year, great first game and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I ended up having a knee surgery. So
Speaker 1: I had microfracture, which kind of like a big big
Speaker 1: knee surgery. Um, and I was able to bounce back
Speaker 1: from that. So I was on I R that year
Speaker 1: bounced back and UH, two thousand and sixteen was still
Speaker 1: in Kansas City. Started for the first I want to say,
Speaker 1: five games, broke my hand against the Raiders, got put
Speaker 1: on injured reserve, and then I was designated to return,
Speaker 1: so I came back the last regular season game. Then
Speaker 1: we end up losing to the Stillers in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So I was going to another year starting, UH, and
Speaker 1: then the general manager had got fired and then M
Speaker 1: the new gym kind of made some trades for for
Speaker 1: some linebackers, kind of put me on the outskirts and UH.
Speaker 1: And from there, when they released me, I got claimed
Speaker 1: by the Dolphins that would have been with two thousand
Speaker 1: and seventeen. I was there for the first I want
Speaker 1: to say, three games. We actually came out the auction
Speaker 1: ard during the hurricane, so it was like funny because
Speaker 1: I've just been out here. It was like some familiarity there.
Speaker 1: So then I was there and then UH, from there,
Speaker 1: I end up getting released. They had wanted to put
Speaker 1: me on practice squad for a few weeks and brought
Speaker 1: me back up, and once they released me, Seattle came
Speaker 1: and claim me. They had just had a lineback go down,
Speaker 1: so I went there, end up starting on four phases
Speaker 1: on special teams for a week. Yeah, for that next week,
Speaker 1: my brother passed away that night with my first game.
Speaker 1: I ended up going back to Illinois for his funeral.
Speaker 1: Theyre like, hey, we're gonna, you know, release you and
Speaker 1: bring you back and go home, spend time with your family,
Speaker 1: will bring you back. And then got picked up by
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and just kind of been here ever since.
Speaker 1: So that was all in two seventeen, man, sir, been
Speaker 1: through a lot, yea, So how do you for young
Speaker 1: people that are grid or hell even even older people
Speaker 1: that are that are you know, maybe it's not football,
Speaker 1: it's just life in general. I guess you've been cut, waved,
Speaker 1: you know, stuck with it, grinding it out. You know,
Speaker 1: you seem to be a guy that's willing to do
Speaker 1: you know, if you're not starting to find tell me
Speaker 1: what I can do to fit in? What can I
Speaker 1: do to contribute to the team, Like what what's your
Speaker 1: mentality as far as like this is what I want
Speaker 1: to do, and I'm gonna do anything I have to do,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna stick with it until I can anymore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: A lot of it has to do with uh, you know,
Speaker 1: believing in yourself and kind of you know, focusing on
Speaker 1: yourself and kind of what you want to do and
Speaker 1: then just getting a job done and uh knowing that
Speaker 1: sometimes it might not work out. Um, but that's that's
Speaker 1: kind of like the beauty of life. I mean, you
Speaker 1: got ups and downs. But as long as you know
Speaker 1: who you are, as long as you know um kind
Speaker 1: of what you're living for and what you're working towards you,
Speaker 1: you won't let anything stop you. So that's something that
Speaker 1: kind of motivates me every day, is just knowing who
Speaker 1: I am and knowing you know, what I what I
Speaker 1: want to do, and uh, you know, no matter how
Speaker 1: many times I get knocked down, you know I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep getting back up because it's just what I do,
Speaker 1: just how I was raised. And uh you know, like
Speaker 1: I said, once you once you find out what you want,
Speaker 1: you know you'll work extremely hard for it. Yeah you're
Speaker 1: a Midwest guy, right, Yes, sir, grew up in Illinois
Speaker 1: partner Danville, Illinois. So I'm about two and a half
Speaker 1: hours from Chicago and about an hour and fifteen from Indianapolis. Okay,
Speaker 1: did you play sports your whole life? Just football? Do
Speaker 1: you play everything? I played basketball and baseball. Uh yeah.
Speaker 1: I played up there in Cooperstown, New York. I was
Speaker 1: collecting baseball pans doing all that stuff. Baseball was kind
Speaker 1: of like my first love. Yeah. Yeah. When I got
Speaker 1: to uh high school, I end up playing varsity as
Speaker 1: a freshman for football, but not with baseball. So I
Speaker 1: kind of figured it was this is the way to go.
Speaker 1: This is the way to go. Did you just did
Speaker 1: you play linebacker throughout high school or did you play
Speaker 1: I played running back, I played some wildcat, quarterback and
Speaker 1: linebacker on defense. Okay, which one did you like best? Uh?
Speaker 1: I'd probably say have from uh. I had to go
Speaker 1: with one. Uh definitely linebacker. Uh. I wanna say, my
Speaker 1: junior year, I probably had like over two hundred tackles. WHOA.
Speaker 1: So just being able to run around and hit people
Speaker 1: was just kind of, you know, just something I love
Speaker 1: to do. And see, you're one of the nicest, most
Speaker 1: mild mannered guys on the team, and you meant that's
Speaker 1: about the fifth time you mentioned I just like to
Speaker 1: hit people. I just want to hit some Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: see it's a little different when I put some pads
Speaker 1: on you. Is there a switch that flips. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it is for sure, That's what I mean. All my
Speaker 1: teammates know that. So outside outside of football, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of, you know, mellow chill. But once
Speaker 1: once football kind of starts and not get to hit somebody,
Speaker 1: it's like a different switch. Yeah, what what do you
Speaker 1: a typical offseason? Everyone always asks me what do the
Speaker 1: guys do? And from the outside looking in, it seems
Speaker 1: like whenever football is over, you guys kind of get
Speaker 1: away for about a month or so and just you know,
Speaker 1: just step away for a little bit. But then usually,
Speaker 1: you know, if the season ends into January, usually it
Speaker 1: seems like about you know, you take February off, maybe March,
Speaker 1: and then you're right back at start training again, getting
Speaker 1: in shape. Is that kind of how you guys do it?
Speaker 1: Or oh yeah. Everybody kind of has their own different
Speaker 1: routine when it comes to that. But most of the
Speaker 1: time in March, most of the guys are back, We're
Speaker 1: doing some captains workout, so it's you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of organized by the players and kind of getting stuff done.
Speaker 1: I mean, right out the season, the first thing I do, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll take a week or two often I'll
Speaker 1: just eat like crap and just sit around the house
Speaker 1: and just try to you know, just I mean that's
Speaker 1: just kind of like my routine. Then when I get
Speaker 1: back into it's always kind of rough. But uh yea,
Speaker 1: I'll take like a work or two just to eat
Speaker 1: whatever I want, you know, snack. I'm not eating vegetables.
Speaker 1: I'm not eating anything grand there at that time. And
Speaker 1: then uh, I mean some guys like to take trips
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Um, I don't know. I just
Speaker 1: like to work out and you know, just kind of
Speaker 1: stick around and obviously I'm not where I want to
Speaker 1: be in my career, so um, kind of for me,
Speaker 1: my my outlet is kind of just working out and
Speaker 1: working on my craft and stuff like that. Early in
Speaker 1: offseason then you know, I'm just kind of waiting around
Speaker 1: to the guys to get back. Yeah, where do you
Speaker 1: want to be in your career? For me, I find
Speaker 1: myself you know, being being at least special teams player, um,
Speaker 1: and obviously want to be a big contributor on defense. Um,
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I want to be. And you
Speaker 1: know that's where I see myself doing. So however, I
Speaker 1: got to get there. UM. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I just want to be the best player I can
Speaker 1: be in the best teammate I can be. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I just work towards that every single off season. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And some new members of your family, right, yep, yep.
Speaker 1: So I got a got a two year old son,
Speaker 1: and I got a little girl on the way and
Speaker 1: she'll be here in January. That's awesome, man, sir, What
Speaker 1: are you gonna do when we go on this long
Speaker 1: playoff running You have a child right in the middle
Speaker 1: of the trip of the way to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Mother in law, that's that's one person that will be
Speaker 1: uh you know, all kind of be uh hanging onto
Speaker 1: a lot. So yeah, my mother in law anytime, uh
Speaker 1: you know, we kind of have anything going on. She
Speaker 1: comes in town for training camp, my father in laws
Speaker 1: back in Texas, just kind of hanging out. So U
Speaker 1: my in laws doing will do a great job of,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of holding everything down with my wife. Okay,
Speaker 1: any are you done with kids? You're gonna have more?
Speaker 1: Uh you got one of each? Yeah, I got one
Speaker 1: of each. But uh so the households even. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be even now. Yeah, two women and two men. You're
Speaker 1: gonna throw the balance off going forward. You know what,
Speaker 1: I kind of want two boys. Uh, me and my wife.
Speaker 1: We both grew up in a family of five kids
Speaker 1: on each side. Wow, at first I want to five,
Speaker 1: but then after after one, you're just kind of like,
Speaker 1: kind we'll just kind of think about it. So right
Speaker 1: now we're leaning towards three, maybe four, So we'll we'll
Speaker 1: kind of get through this next one and see see
Speaker 1: where we're at. See all right, the hair it's getting
Speaker 1: getting longer. You've always been a really short haired guy.
Speaker 1: You show back up in the building and you're letting
Speaker 1: it go. What's what's the goal with the hair and
Speaker 1: you're just letting it? Yeah, I'm just just letting it go.
Speaker 1: Ok just uh you know, it just kind of is
Speaker 1: what it is. So what about the chin hair, letting
Speaker 1: it go to you know what? I trimm it every
Speaker 1: now and then kind of uh yeah, I'll just I'll
Speaker 1: keep my face hair kind of clean and okay, go
Speaker 1: from there. I think I might. I was talking to
Speaker 1: Darius about this, he was on the show beginning to
Speaker 1: camp and and I think I'm gonna trim this way
Speaker 1: down right before the first game against the Giants and
Speaker 1: then I'm not going to touch it until we're out
Speaker 1: of football, so it hopefully and if we and if
Speaker 1: we happen to get to the big Show and win
Speaker 1: that thing, I may not trim it until the next
Speaker 1: training camp. So I may I may have this. You'll
Speaker 1: you'll definitely be James Harden for sure. Yeah, I'm interested
Speaker 1: to see how you look once it's trimmed down. Right
Speaker 1: before I'm gonna do I think I'm gonna knock it
Speaker 1: way down. It's been a while since it's been that short. So, um,
Speaker 1: what listen, I'm gonna let you go here because you
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta get out there and get ready for practice.
Speaker 1: But um, anything else, what's you know, what's what's going
Speaker 1: on with you? Anything else you want to talk about
Speaker 1: tell the people or tell me? Is oh yeah, so
Speaker 1: uh yeah, as you know, we talked about the you know,
Speaker 1: the back of the jersey. Yeah, stuff like that. So
Speaker 1: my legal last name is just March. Just want to
Speaker 1: clarify for a lot of people, because a lot of
Speaker 1: people think that I have two last names. I only
Speaker 1: have one. My legal last name is March, my wife's
Speaker 1: last name is March, and my son's last name is
Speaker 1: March and the Lillard part came from my dad. You know,
Speaker 1: he had his fifth heart surgery when I was a
Speaker 1: senior in uh college, so I kind of put on
Speaker 1: there to you know, honor him and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and then, uh, when I was a rookie, it wasn't
Speaker 1: on my jersey. So then uh, my next year, he
Speaker 1: I got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he only had
Speaker 1: about six months to live. So I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna put this on my jersey, back
Speaker 1: on my jersey, kind of honoring for that. And then
Speaker 1: as soon as I did that, the NFL kind of
Speaker 1: like tagged it online and stuff like that as far
Speaker 1: as like that was my last name. So you know,
Speaker 1: then after I was just bouncing around, every team had
Speaker 1: it as that. Um so I think I think finally
Speaker 1: I'm able to you know, just kind of go back
Speaker 1: to just March on the back of my jersey. That's
Speaker 1: something that uh, you know, I've been contemplating constoplating for
Speaker 1: a while and you know, just having kids and stuff.
Speaker 1: I was able to honor you know, my father in
Speaker 1: that way and wearing his last name on the back
Speaker 1: of my jersey. But now that I have kids and
Speaker 1: you know, a family of my own. I would kind
Speaker 1: of want, uh, you know, my legacy to begin. And
Speaker 1: uh so I'll be going back to back to just
Speaker 1: march on the jersey, so so it won't be all
Speaker 1: the way across the back of the right in the middle,
Speaker 1: so to be uh back to you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of how how I grew up and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So that's a cool story, man, that's a cool story. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call it right now. It would be the
Speaker 1: perfect Cinderella story if if we go all the way
Speaker 1: to the Big Show and that winds up being in Miami,
Speaker 1: a team that that that lets you go and let
Speaker 1: you get away and you that would just be the
Speaker 1: icing on the cake. And plus I want to go
Speaker 1: to Miami. I've never been in Miami. I've only been
Speaker 1: to Fort lauder Day. I've been to that stadium, I
Speaker 1: think in preseason or actually during the season when it
Speaker 1: just it rained like crazy. Were you here then? Oh?
Speaker 1: I was not. No, I think that was maybe four
Speaker 1: years three or four years ago. But yeah, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna call it. That's that's my prediction. We're gonna do it.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do it big in Miami. Gonna take you
Speaker 1: back there and then and that's where they were in
Speaker 1: the season. That's it, man, that's it. Well, hey, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: One of my favorites on the team. Man. I'm always
Speaker 1: rooting for you. Um good things this year. Got a
Speaker 1: great group of linebackers and y'all just keep doing what
Speaker 1: you do. Man. We'll get you on during the season
Speaker 1: when we get back to Frisco. So I appreciate you
Speaker 1: hanging out, you beatman. We'll hopefully have another show or
Speaker 1: two before we get out of here. But that's it
Speaker 1: for now. Hang it with the boys. This has been
Speaker 1: a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys Football Clock.