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Mac & Bone Show - AJ Dillon Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, everybody.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: It is the Mac and Bone Show, Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Panthers are wrapping up training camp, but we still want
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: to chat with the boys, and we get a chance
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: to chat with a guy now that has become.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: A fan favorite.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: He didn't even have to play a game for the
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Panthers to become a fan favorite.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: The way he embraced the city of Charlotte. He's Panthers
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: running back, A.J. Dillon. A.J., how you doing, man?
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Doing well, man. Appreciate you guys having me on the show.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: You know, it's been a great... A couple months, three
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: months since we, I'm counting OTAs. But it's been great, man.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: And this whole training camp experience down here is really exciting.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: And it's been a blessing to be down here, be
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: a Panther. And, you know, it's been great to see
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: the Panther fans traveling on the road, too. I know
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: it's just preseason, but it's good to see them out
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: there and have their support.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: We're from the same area of Connecticut.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: You're from New London, right? Yeah, H6O. I'm from a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: little bit further east, but. How did you end up
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: with the quads, man? I end up sitting next to
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Mac every day.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: It must not be something to water them.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: It doesn't seem fair, AJ.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, see, so there's some differing strategies. I like to
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: give credit to my mom and say you've got to
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: eat your vegetables. But I'm more of like an air
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: squat guy. So normally if I'm doing a podcast or something,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: I tell them to leave the chair and I just
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: sit there and squat as long as I can. So
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: that's the secret.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: You said it's been three months. It feels like longer
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: because immediately we realize you– gravitate right towards the city.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: You become part of it. You've got your list that
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: we follow of all that you want to do. What's
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: it mean to you not only to contribute football-wise, but
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: to be a part of everything in the city of Charlotte?
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Man, I think it's really important. People talk about the
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: platform that we have as football players, and I've been
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: blessed to be going into year seven now. Obviously, when
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: you're first getting into the league, football, number one, definitely
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: need to make sure you're on top of that. But
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: You know, I think for me and moving my family
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: and being now in the third place now here in Charlotte,
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: I'm really a proponent of being where your feet are
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: and really experiencing like, what is this like? And so
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: obviously football is king and that's the main goal, but
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm out here and you know, my, my,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: my youngest is maybe looking at a preschool and things
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: like that, you know, depending on what happens. And we're like, okay,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: well maybe Charlotte's a place we can live, you know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: post football or during football and things like that. So
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: I think it's, you know, it's twofold. I feel like
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: you play best, at least me, myself. You know, I
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: play best when I really feel that pride in what
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: I'm doing. And so I feel like anytime I'm wearing
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: this blue jersey or white or black or whatever the
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: color combination is, I'm not just representing, you know, this
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: team and organization, but also the people in it. So,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: you know, me and my wife, we like to support
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: local when we can, go to a local coffee shop,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: things like that. I think for me and my mindset,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: that's kind of how I approach it. I know it's
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: a business. I know people move around. That is what
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: it is. But You know, that's just how it was
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: when I was at Boston College out there in the
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: East Coast, and I kind of try to bring that to,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: you know, the teams that I'm at, the players and
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: the people that I connect with.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, and I don't mean to go Chamber of
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Commerce on you, but you probably noticed a lot of
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: athletes kind of stay here.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Even if they play, even if they go to another team,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: like when their career ends, they often end up staying here.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: We're talking to A.J. Dillon.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: He's a happy new Charlotte man, you can tell. Now
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: let's talk about on the football field. I feel like
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think you've gotten fans a little bit
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: excited in training camp, too.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: You know, running the ball.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: But also we've noticed you've made a lot of plays
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: out of the backfield with your hands. We might have
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: underestimated that part of your game. How do you feel
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: like camp's going?
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Man, I feel like camp's going well. You know, it's always,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: you know, the camp is really kind of that grueling
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: part to get you ready, and I think it does that.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: You know, we practice hard. We have a lot of
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: high intensity. Dave does a really good job with that. But,
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: you know, that's one of those things, the hands has
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: always been a, a thing that people have thought, you know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: you look at me, big back, and I didn't do
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: it a lot coming out of college. But, you know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I've been doing that. I was with Aaron Rodgers in
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Green Bay for four of his years there or three
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: of his years there. And you can't play in that
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: offense as a running back and not be able to
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: catch the ball. So, you know, I got a lot
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: of reps at that.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: It's on film.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I think I really pride myself, especially now,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: you know, continuing to learn, continuing to add to my
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: skill set, but I really pride myself on being able
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: to do it all. That's what I wanted to do
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: when I got into this league was, first down, first quarter,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: fourth quarter, whatever it may be, you can look at
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: 28 out there and be like, okay, he can get
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: the job done for us. It's not, oh, I don't
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: like him in this situation. You can feel confident. And
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Johnny up in the row, the nosebleeds knows, okay, AJ's in,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: we're all right. And so that's what you want to be,
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: at least for myself as a football player. And so
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: You know, whether it's shocking people that I can catch or,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: you know, people just kind of nod at it and
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: know that I already can do it. Whatever it is,
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: when I'm out there, I want to instill confidence in
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: the offense, coordinators, fans, everybody.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Well, we now know, right, Bo? We're not going to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: question it. No, no, I'm not going to be a Johnny.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: No, you're not.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Oh, no, Johnny was helping you out, though, right? Johnny's
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: supporting you.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: We want to be Johnny's. We want to be Johnny's.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: How excited are you for Jonathan Brooks to really get
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: his first full go? Had a touchdown the other day.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: What's he been like in the running back room, and
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: how excited should Panther fans be that this guy is
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: such a part of the future?
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I'm excited, and I see it. It was
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: really cool to get here early, as I know he'd
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: obviously been working back and recovering for long before that.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: But to see him from when I first got here
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: to now, he's just continued to make so many strides.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: And I think it's kind of one of those interesting
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: things where, You know, people might go, oh, well, you know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: he hasn't played. But, you know, he's been in a
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: room with, you know, great backs. I know Rico was
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: here last year and had a great year. Chuba's here,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: has been here now six years and knows a lot
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: of the offense. And so those guys, they really have
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: a room now, that running back room that I'm part of.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: It's nobody is, you know, it's not, oh, I'm in
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: year seven. I know more than you. Or, oh, I've
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: been here longer, so I know more than you. It's
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: really one of those things where nobody can take every
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: rep at practice. You see a guy make a play
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: and it's like, okay, How did you do this? What
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: were you seeing? And it's really an open learning experience
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: in there. I think Coach Parmley, our running back coach,
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: does a great job. He played eight, nine years in
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: the league, which is a first for me to have
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: a running back coach who had actually been in there.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: And so I think it's kind of an environment where,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: you know, a guy like Jonathan can really grow and
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: really feel like, hey, I'm able to go out here
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: and be myself and push myself and, you know, maybe.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: make a mistake trying to get better, and everybody's going to,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: you know, support me. And so to see him get
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: in the end zone last year, I learned the whole
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: thing about his dad last year. That was– or last game.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: That was really cool to see, happy for him. And,
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm a big fan of when running backs eat, man.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: I'm excited. All running backs, I want them to do well.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I know the narrative out there.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I like it. You're in that running backs union, man. Yes, sir.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Card carry member.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: A.J.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Dillon's hanging with us another couple of minutes. Okay, so–
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: We've got to talk about it. I mean, it's a
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: big week for you, right, in terms of roster cuts.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I think a lot of people that try to guess
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: this thing, and, you know, we've tried to. I think
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: it really feels like four running backs would be the
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: way we'd go.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: And obviously our opinion goes a lot. Thank you, Johnny.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure they're listening to us or Johnny. It
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: feels like special teams is something you've embraced. Dave was
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: raving about it. How do you feel about– do you
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: feel like the combination of what you've done at running
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: back and special teams– We'll keep you here.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: How do you feel right now?
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think I try to, as much
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: as humanly possible, right, I try to not get my,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: not try to get too into it. You know, I've
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: been there, I've been through this process, and, you know,
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: luckily it always worked out for me. I think it's
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: one of those things where, kind of like I was
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: saying as a running back, I'm always trying to be
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: the best that I can be. I know it's cliche
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: when I'm out there on the field. So, and special teams, too,
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: ask to do some things I haven't really done before,
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: but go out there and, You know, just kind of
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: do the best that I can. And I feel very
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: confident in the way I approach the game and the
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: way that I approach practices and try to learn from mistakes,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: not make them again, and just go out there. And so,
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: you know, whatever it is, three, four, five, here or elsewhere,
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: you know, I know that I've been putting my all
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: into it. I'm not cheating the game in any type
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: of way. And like I said, going into year seven
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: as a running back, absolute blessing. And, you know, the
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: reality is it is a business. There's only a certain
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: amount of slots, certain amount of numbers. Ideally, you know,
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: I love to be here. It's been fantastic place, but
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: also like they say at the beginning of training camp,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: you're putting out film for 31 teams. And so, you know,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: just continuing to stack that film and these joint practices
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: out there in the preseason game, just kind of putting
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: out a great body of work. And then, you know,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: here's a film in the past that, you know, showcase
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: my abilities.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Well, it was 31 teams. Now people are putting out
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: film for LSU out there. See, see, see. You got
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: any more LSU? Don't answer your phone right now.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: See, now this is a whole other topic, and I
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: don't know if we have time for it. But, you know,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: I left before the NIL. So maybe I'm like the unk,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I'm the hey, I don't like any of it.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I don't.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: I don't like any of it.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you missed out.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: No doubt about it.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you this.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: You could do the media thing when you're done playing.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: You know, I did leave in three, so I don't
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: know what the rules are. I might still have that year. Oh, yeah,
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: you could do that.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: You could definitely do that.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: So here's– I didn't want to open with the questions
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: about your quads. I wanted to– I didn't want you to– Oh,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I did. They're good icebreakers. But, yeah, I wanted to
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: kind of ease into that. But they dropped a– Anish
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Raft dropped a note about you on the broadcast during
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: the preseason game. And I had to rewind to make
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: sure I heard it correctly. You have crushed a watermelon,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: I guess it was on social media, with your quads.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Did you mission accomplish? Like, was it a tough task
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: for you?
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: No, it was a tough task. I won't lie. It
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: took a couple takes, you know, to kind of figure
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: out how to do it. But now it's a whole
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: new thing now. I've been seeing it. It's back. It's recycled.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: So that was early TikTok days. I think that was
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: my second year in the league, 2021.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, watermelon has been crushed. Full-sized watermelon, not the little
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: baby ones. Not sliced? I do think the baby ones
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: would be smaller, or would be harder, actually.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: A little bit more compact.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Okay. Do you think our guy, Finney, could pull it off?
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: We've been trying to see over here.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. See, the thing with radio is, nobody can really
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: tell how big this guy's quads are. He's got radio quads,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: and I think he can do it.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: He's got radio quads.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Maybe we do that live on the air, Finney.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Maybe we break that out. All right, man.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Well, hey, it's great to have you here in town, man.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: You've really embraced it, and I think the fans have
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: embraced you back. We're pulling for you on Sunday to
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: make the squad, man. Nice talking to you.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it. Absolutely.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Appreciate your time.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Keep pounding.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Thank you.