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Mac & Bone Show - Rodney McLeod Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Rodney McLeod, ACC Network, joins us on the Mac and
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Bone Show. Rodney, what's going on, man? We got somebody
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: that played 13 years in it. We just talk about it, man.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Much respect, brother. How you doing?
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: I'm doing great. How are you guys doing this morning?
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: We're doing good, man. We are doing good. We love
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: this time of year. And I know you live for
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: this time of year as well, as far as football
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: season goes.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: What made you.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Want to get into the analyst side of things?
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: It's got to be love of the game, right? I
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: would think.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Love of the game is first and foremost. really
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: how do you want to make your contribution to the
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: game right after you leave it? And, you know, there's
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: a number of different ways that you can utilize your knowledge,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: your expertise, and passion. And so I felt like analysts
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: calling games was probably the closest thing to being a
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: player all over again, outside being a coach. It's the
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: purest thing to the game. And I just want to–
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I just really enjoy teaching games. the game of football, right,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to the audience and kind of just bringing them into
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: my world, how I see the game, especially from a
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: defensive mindset and viewpoint, and then telling the story of
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: a lot of these young men that are chasing their
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: dreams and trying to end up where I am. So
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: it's been very fulfilling, rewarding. It's been a challenge, but
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I do enjoy it every Saturday.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: Rodney, the way NC State lost last week to Vanderbilt
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: became really maybe the most talked-about story of the college
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: football weekend last week. In your lengthy football career, had
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: you ever seen a team lose really in that fashion?
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: And how tough might the bounce back be for a
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: team after a loss like that? State plays App State tomorrow.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: How tough a spot is that for the Pack?
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Very difficult to overcome. But you don't get those games back.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: You don't get those opportunities back again. And that was
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: a missed moment for NC State, who I felt could
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: be a dark horse team in the ACC, especially under
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: with C.J. Bailey at the helm. You know, he's a
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: talented quarterback that you know, can spin the football all
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: over the field. But that's one area, right, that you
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: expect him to grow into, you know, coming into his
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: junior year. You know, smart football. And in the game,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: you pretty much have a game seal. You know, any
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: sense of contact, you have to go down there. And
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that's a missed mark. And like you said, it's going
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: to be hard to recover from games like those. You
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: look back at the end of the season, like, you know,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: that could have been the game, too. propel us, keep
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: us in the running, or it could have been the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: game that broke us.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Rodney, what do you think about Miami? Miami is the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: favorite to win this conference, obviously. I will give an
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: attaboy to Wake, though, for competing with them in the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: second half. Miami's banged up right now, right? They lose
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: backup running back Marty Brown. They lose one of their receivers,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Josh Moore. What do you think about this Miami team?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: How high up do you rank them among national title contenders?
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Offensively, they have to be one or two. I don't
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: know another offensive personnel or unit that operates as effectively
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: as they do. First, it starts with Darian Mesa, the
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: way he's able to control the game through the air.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: He has a very good pulse of just the offensive structure.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: His receivers, of course, Malachi Toney stands out. He's unguardable
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: out there, and they just continue to find a way
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to get in the football. And then you can hand
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: the ball off to a bruiser and Mark Fletcher. And,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: you know, when you have those two engines operating at
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: an efficient level, you know, you're dangerous. They look scary
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: to me. I think, to your point, injuries right now
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: is what they're up against. That's one of the crises
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: this year, and how do they maybe– build depth while
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: some of those guys are sitting out to help them
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: later along in the year. So I think this is
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: going to be the first test for them. Can they
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: sustain this level of performance while some of their players
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: work themselves back into the lineup?
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: We're talking to Rodney McLeod, longtime NFL safety, now doing
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: great work with the ACC Network. Rodney, your first game
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: this year was Duke hosting Tulane. So I wanted to
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: ask you, what's your thoughts on where Manny Diaz has
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: this Duke program from a consistency level? And you got
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: to see Nate Shepard up close. What are your thoughts
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: on him as one of the best players in America
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: right now?
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Manny Diaz, phenomenal leader. Every stop that he's been at,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: he's made a difference and changed the culture forward. And
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: he's done the same at Duke. They're reigning ACC champions.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: They didn't do it in the conventional way, but they
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: do have that banner. And that says something about your team,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: about your leader. And right now, after looking at them
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: over that first game and then in the early part
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: of the season, they found their identity through the run
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: game in Nate Shepard. He's a workhorse. He sees everything
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: that stats speak of. You know, he has really good
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: vision through the hole, good burst, good change of direction.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: He has the ability to kind of possess all the qualities, quickness, power,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and strength. and they're beating on him wholeheartedly. Walker Egan
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: is an experienced quarterback, and so he's doing enough right
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: now for them. They have a really good tight end,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: and then you said that with Manny Diaz's defense that
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: has kind of found their way recently. You have to
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: like the position that you put yourself in these first
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: three days of the season.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Rodney, what do you think about this Friday night game tonight?
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Clemson fans got to stay up late tonight, and this
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: one just feels scary to me. First of all, there's
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: a lot of flaws, even with the UNC win. There's
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a lot of flaws on this Clemson team. Cal's quarterback
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: is freaking legit. I would think you'd think that's a Sunday, dude.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: You know. What are your thoughts about Clemson Cal tonight?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Personally, I give the edge to Cal. I believe in JKS.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I believe in the fact that most teams in the ACC,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: the ones that are succeeding, have an established quarterback. They
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: have a quarterback that they can trust, that they can
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: win the football games, that's not afraid of the moment,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: and they feel secure about. And I give an edge
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: to Kyle. JKS is an NFL talent. Just his level
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: of just employees in the pocket, He has the great
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: NFL arm talent, you know, whether it's velocity, his touch,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: sees the game very well. He's just polished beyond his years.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: And so I like Kyle because of that reason. A
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: lot of other reasons, too. But just looking at Clemson
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: in their early struggles, that gives the edge to Kyle
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: because of that man alone.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: Roddy, you have Virginia tomorrow coming off the loss here
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: in Charlotte to West Virginia last week, a team you
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: know well in the Virginia Cavaliers where you went to school.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: What went wrong for the Cavs against West Virginia? And
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: do you put them on that level below Miami of
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: a team that can still maybe make the championship game
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: in the ACC?
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my Cavs took off last weekend, of course, but
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: I think a few things stood out to me. was one,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: the inability to use Padula in the run game. I
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: felt that's a missing component and a component that they
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: need in order to have a strong run game that
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: they possess. But he was non-existent in that football game.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: And then at some point, the game was in his hands, right?
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: And he struggled to throw the ball accurately on the
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: outside part of the field. receiver struggle versus one-on-one coverage
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: once West Virginia started tying down and building blocks. So
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: that's what Virginia's up against offensively is, you know, can
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Pervila actually be a passer? Can they find a receiver
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: that can win one-on-one matchups like they had last year?
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Guys like, you know, Terrell Harris and things of that nature.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: And then defensively, you know, the worst kind of outing
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: thus far, I'm very surprised that how much they gave
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: up on the run game, Hawkins and Cam Cook had
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: their way. And so there was a lot of uncharacteristics
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: about the defense last week, and they had to go
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: back to the film and they had to tighten it
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: up because the copycat leads. So you do one thing wrong,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: a team's going to try to exploit that for the
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: following week. They're not up against a running quarterback this week,
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: but later down the line, a quarterback like Ashton Daniels
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: and such could give Virginia trouble.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: All right, man.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Great to talk to you. Great job. You're doing on
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: the ACC Network. Great job on this interview. And thank
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: you for coming on, Rodney. Enjoy the game tomorrow, man.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I appreciate you guys.