Latest / Mac & Bone Podcast / Mac & Bone Show - Brentson Buckner Interview
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: He is the great Brentson Buckner who joins us on
- 0:03Speaker 1: the Mac and Bone Show.
- 0:04Speaker 2: Buck, it was good catching up with you, man. How
- 0:06Speaker 2: you doing today, brother.
- 0:08Speaker 3: I'm doing good man. It was nice seeing you guys too.
- 0:10Speaker 1: You too, man, There we go. That absolutely that was cool.
- 0:13Speaker 1: But Buck left us though. Smitty showed up and Buck said, yeah,
- 0:16Speaker 1: we're gonna go down here with the players.
- 0:18Speaker 3: Now.
- 0:18Speaker 4: Hey, Buck, when when Smitty walked away with you he said,
- 0:21Speaker 4: let's get away from the general population.
- 0:23Speaker 2: He did, he said, let's get he taught us he
- 0:25Speaker 2: caught us gen Pop. Yeah, he said, certainly, he's not
- 0:28Speaker 2: talking about us. He said, let's get away for these
- 0:30Speaker 2: Gen poppers.
- 0:32Speaker 1: And of course I had to look up what Jen
- 0:34Speaker 1: Pop meant, but I had to look down. But apparently
- 0:37Speaker 1: that meant we weren't as cool as we Yes, it did, yes,
- 0:41Speaker 1: it did?
- 0:42Speaker 2: What all right?
- 0:43Speaker 1: So Buck, you were you were there taking the practice in.
- 0:46Speaker 1: I love I love when when the Panther alums like
- 0:49Speaker 1: you and Smithe. I love when you guys come back
- 0:51Speaker 1: show that interest in the team. That was the first
- 0:55Speaker 1: padded practice, and we need to talk to you because
- 0:58Speaker 1: you were in the middle of the field where the
- 0:59Speaker 1: v go you could actually see practice. They had all
- 1:03Speaker 1: the linemen that weren't in at the time as human
- 1:07Speaker 1: barricades for us, we could hardly see anything. So like,
- 1:12Speaker 1: what's stuck out? Okay, let's talk about in the trenches.
- 1:15Speaker 1: It was the first time wearing pads. What stuck out
- 1:18Speaker 1: in the trenches when you were watching?
- 1:20Speaker 3: Oh what really stuck out for me was the size
- 1:23Speaker 3: of the team. Now, I remember coming back two three
- 1:27Speaker 3: years ago. It was two years ago, two years ago,
- 1:31Speaker 3: and I was I was shocked at how small the
- 1:34Speaker 3: team was. You know, they't they wasn't they wasn't NFL
- 1:38Speaker 3: like size guys. But now you walk in that gate
- 1:41Speaker 3: and you see big, huge guys, and I think Dan
- 1:45Speaker 3: and Dave had done a good job of changing the
- 1:48Speaker 3: physique of this team. And that's what really stuck out.
- 1:52Speaker 3: Just big offensive lineman, big defensive linemen, and when they collide,
- 1:58Speaker 3: it's football noise, you know what I mean, It's the
- 2:01Speaker 3: sound you want to hear, iron, iron sharping and iron.
- 2:05Speaker 3: So that really stood out to me. And then also
- 2:07Speaker 3: I was in there looking Jackson and Horn are two
- 2:11Speaker 3: of the bigger cornerbacks I've seen the NFL and the
- 2:14Speaker 3: wise not not just heightwise. I'm just talking about from size, stickness,
- 2:19Speaker 3: and you know, just the way they are built, you know,
- 2:22Speaker 3: and this is a big, physical team, and you throw
- 2:25Speaker 3: Devin Lloyd in that middle linebacker position, now all of
- 2:28Speaker 3: a sudden, you look a lot, a lot stronger up
- 2:31Speaker 3: the middle of your defense. And then offensive wise, just
- 2:34Speaker 3: seeing the rhythm you know of those guys, the way
- 2:37Speaker 3: they play, and knowing and knowing Coach Goodwin who the
- 2:43Speaker 3: office line coach, He's still gonna find a way to
- 2:45Speaker 3: run the ball and attack that defense and trying to
- 2:48Speaker 3: block Derrick Brown every snap. It was just good to
- 2:51Speaker 3: see that type of mentality going on.
- 2:54Speaker 2: Yeah, you and I were talking.
- 2:55Speaker 4: One guy that really stands out size wise as defensive lineman,
- 2:59Speaker 4: Cam Jackson.
- 3:00Speaker 2: I don't know what.
- 3:01Speaker 4: I don't know what like his contribution level will be
- 3:04Speaker 4: at this point, but he's bigger than Derek Brown. That's
- 3:06Speaker 4: the first thing I noticed once. Oh my god, Cam
- 3:09Speaker 4: Jackson is a mountain of a man. And another guy,
- 3:12Speaker 4: Buck I know you're watching closely as a young guy,
- 3:15Speaker 4: Lee Hunter. What's your observations from him and the immediate
- 3:19Speaker 4: impact you think he can have?
- 3:22Speaker 3: First of all, ninety nine Jackson kids man he's not
- 3:28Speaker 3: he's not from this planet. You know, those people like
- 3:31Speaker 3: that ain't born. They come in this truck. You have
- 3:33Speaker 3: to put them together. You know. I just hope he
- 3:37Speaker 3: can play up to his size. But I was impressed
- 3:40Speaker 3: by Lee Hunter. You know, I saw him actually running
- 3:42Speaker 3: with the ones and he held his own. You know,
- 3:46Speaker 3: he's very He's a throwback player. No tape on the wrist,
- 3:50Speaker 3: not a whole bunch of rabbles, dazzles of the way
- 3:52Speaker 3: he dressed. He just goes out there and he plays.
- 3:55Speaker 3: He plays with energy. One thing I did know is
- 3:58Speaker 3: he plays with good leverage. To be a young player.
- 4:02Speaker 3: Most young defensive linement struggle leverage coming out of college
- 4:05Speaker 3: because most defensive line they get drafted are just so
- 4:08Speaker 3: much better than the offensive line in their face. So
- 4:10Speaker 3: they get bad habits of not having good leverage and
- 4:13Speaker 3: not good technique. But but this guy is ahead of
- 4:17Speaker 3: the curves, and you know, he has a great you know,
- 4:20Speaker 3: wash the d line coaches, a great coach, a great technician,
- 4:23Speaker 3: and you know, and I watched him actually in drills,
- 4:26Speaker 3: and I watched them whenever Derrick Brown correcting them on something,
- 4:30Speaker 3: it wasn't no pushback, it was like all right, all right,
- 4:33Speaker 3: and he acts for directions like all right, now, what
- 4:35Speaker 3: do you mean by that? How I need to do it?
- 4:37Speaker 3: You know, he was looking for that clarification, which is
- 4:39Speaker 3: a great which is a great rate to have as
- 4:42Speaker 3: a young guy willing to learn from your veteran leader.
- 4:45Speaker 1: Do you see so, Buck, I would guess you in
- 4:48Speaker 1: your career you saw all sides of that, Like do
- 4:51Speaker 1: you get guys too that are young and like think
- 4:53Speaker 1: that that they know everything already, like and don't want
- 4:55Speaker 1: to hear stuff from the vets?
- 4:58Speaker 3: Oh, yes you do. I was one of them. I
- 5:03Speaker 3: was one of them, you know, because you know they
- 5:06Speaker 3: tell you when you go in, theres a rick and
- 5:07Speaker 3: you got to have a certain amount of confidence and
- 5:10Speaker 3: cockiness on your on yourself. Well, sometimes you can have
- 5:13Speaker 3: too much. You can have too much, and you'll get
- 5:16Speaker 3: some players that you know, these guys they come out
- 5:19Speaker 3: they're all Americans, They're great wherever they come from. Nowadays
- 5:23Speaker 3: they come out with money in their pocket and it's
- 5:26Speaker 3: hard to sort of break that shell. But to see
- 5:28Speaker 3: a young guy, you know, come in and be eager
- 5:31Speaker 3: to learn and to work, and that's gonna bode well
- 5:34Speaker 3: for the rule because what's gonna happen. He's gonna he's
- 5:37Speaker 3: gonna gain respect from the all the vets, and they're
- 5:40Speaker 3: gonna accept him in. And that's what happened to me
- 5:43Speaker 3: as a young guy. Once I feel like I don't
- 5:45Speaker 3: know everything, let me listen to Kevin Green, let me
- 5:48Speaker 3: listen to Greg Lord. You know those guys. And once
- 5:51Speaker 3: they feel you're listening to them and they're molding you,
- 5:54Speaker 3: then they'll accept you in and then it becomes a
- 5:56Speaker 3: smooth ride after that.
- 5:58Speaker 2: It makes sense.
- 5:59Speaker 4: Wel you mentioned Devin Lloyd in your initial breakdown. What
- 6:03Speaker 4: do you think of his addition and schematically what's he
- 6:07Speaker 4: going to add to this defense that it was missing
- 6:08Speaker 4: in previous years?
- 6:10Speaker 3: Man, Devin Lloyd is a super athletic guy. I was
- 6:13Speaker 3: in Jacksonville where we drafted him out of Utah, and
- 6:16Speaker 3: he really was a positionless player because he's played so
- 6:20Speaker 3: many positions at Utah. They used them all over the
- 6:23Speaker 3: field and we bring them into be an inside linebacker.
- 6:26Speaker 3: And what we had to do was we had to
- 6:28Speaker 3: hone all that ability in like now, cut away all
- 6:31Speaker 3: the other stuff. Just what you need. Now you add
- 6:34Speaker 3: that athleticism and that size and play making ability in
- 6:39Speaker 3: the middle of your defense. You only get stronger than
- 6:41Speaker 3: and what a lot of people don't understand, and he
- 6:44Speaker 3: allows you some versatility because I actually saw him getting
- 6:47Speaker 3: a chance to line up on the line of scrimmage
- 6:49Speaker 3: almost as an outside linebacker and actually pressure the quarterback.
- 6:53Speaker 3: And that's a trait that Devin Llwyd has. He worked
- 6:56Speaker 3: on it, you know, and Jacksonville a lot. He takes
- 6:58Speaker 3: pride in bable to be a good blitzer and take
- 7:01Speaker 3: advantage of those matchups. And I think that's a that's
- 7:04Speaker 3: gonna be a big plus because the one thing that I,
- 7:09Speaker 3: if I could say it was a negative for Carolina's
- 7:12Speaker 3: defense last year was to play up the middle once
- 7:15Speaker 3: you got past the defensive line. You know, those guys
- 7:18Speaker 3: did as they could they could do. But Devin Lord
- 7:21Speaker 3: is an upgrade and he's a bigger presence. He's not
- 7:25Speaker 3: only big, he's fast, he's rangy, he's long, and he
- 7:30Speaker 3: has a high football character. You know, we used to
- 7:34Speaker 3: have to kick him out the building in Jacksonville because
- 7:37Speaker 3: you know, he he literally wanted to be there all
- 7:39Speaker 3: the time and we always had to protect him from himself, like, look,
- 7:42Speaker 3: don't pressure yourself to be great. Just just be good
- 7:45Speaker 3: every day. Let the greatness come. But he wants to
- 7:48Speaker 3: be great. He's a great kid. He loves his teammates.
- 7:51Speaker 3: But I think that's a big plus now. I think
- 7:53Speaker 3: making him the green dot guy is gonna sort of
- 7:56Speaker 3: challenge him to become even better.
- 8:00Speaker 2: Out of the building.
- 8:00Speaker 4: Sounds like a guy going to the Hall of Fame
- 8:02Speaker 4: next week, doesn't it.
- 8:05Speaker 2: Damn straight.
- 8:06Speaker 1: I remember the Christmas Eve story Rivera Tell's Lucas in
- 8:09Speaker 1: there on Christmas Eve at like six o'clock watching film.
- 8:11Speaker 2: He's like, get out of here, get out of here.
- 8:13Speaker 1: Man. Brentson Buckner is with us. Hey panther great, one
- 8:18Speaker 1: of the true Panther greats and one of the all
- 8:20Speaker 1: around great guys as well. Here in Charlotte. He took
- 8:24Speaker 1: in practice the other day, so we're talking about it.
- 8:26Speaker 1: There may be some talk about a certain head coach
- 8:28Speaker 1: bone at his alma mater as well, who we talk
- 8:31Speaker 1: about a lot. But before we get to that, buck
- 8:33Speaker 1: you were down there watching the padded practice and Monroe
- 8:38Speaker 1: Freeling was right there in front of you playing right tackle,
- 8:41Speaker 1: going against Jalen Phillips a ton. What did you see
- 8:45Speaker 1: with him? I mean the offense had a pretty darn
- 8:47Speaker 1: has had a good run here the last three days,
- 8:49Speaker 1: and it sounds like he has. He's been fairly clean.
- 8:52Speaker 1: What did you see from him down there?
- 8:55Speaker 3: Oh? Super as ladd guy, you know, smart, You can
- 8:58Speaker 3: tell he played a good program in Georgia. And actually
- 9:01Speaker 3: talking to some people who Kosha met Georgia was on
- 9:04Speaker 3: their staff, they talked about his athleticism, which wasn't on
- 9:08Speaker 3: display the last few years because he dealt with injuries.
- 9:11Speaker 3: But he doesn't look like a fish out of water.
- 9:13Speaker 3: But then he's going against a guy and Jalen Phillips
- 9:16Speaker 3: every day. That's only gonna make him better. And I
- 9:19Speaker 3: hate I don't like to say this because I don't
- 9:21Speaker 3: want to put the pressure on it. It kind of
- 9:23Speaker 3: reminders of a young Jordan Gross going against Julius Peppers
- 9:26Speaker 3: every day, you know, And I remember Kevin Dunlany used
- 9:30Speaker 3: to tell Gross, you're not gonna face a better defensive
- 9:34Speaker 3: lineman on Sundays, then you're gonna practice against every day.
- 9:38Speaker 3: And Jordan took his bumps and bruises, but you can
- 9:41Speaker 3: see his comfortings growing. He started to win some battles
- 9:44Speaker 3: and go and then when we went into the season.
- 9:46Speaker 3: He was real seasoned, you know what I mean. So
- 9:49Speaker 3: that's what I'm saying in Jalen Phillips. Now, I know
- 9:53Speaker 3: Jaylen Phillips was a big human being, you know, And
- 9:58Speaker 3: that was my first time since he came out of school,
- 10:01Speaker 3: you know, seeing him in pass and just seeing him
- 10:05Speaker 3: out that. He has a big presence, but feeling is
- 10:07Speaker 3: not is not bad in his eye. He's not shying
- 10:10Speaker 3: away from him. He's sticking his face and the fan
- 10:12Speaker 3: and they're they're battling each other and it's good to see.
- 10:15Speaker 3: And that's what you want to see in training camp.
- 10:17Speaker 3: You want to see good, clean battles. You want everybody
- 10:21Speaker 3: to be at their best because you know you're making
- 10:23Speaker 3: that guy in front of you even better.
- 10:25Speaker 4: Buck mac Metching your alma mater Clemson. There, What what
- 10:28Speaker 4: do you think is going on with Clemson in this
- 10:31Speaker 4: step back the last few seasons? And are you down
- 10:34Speaker 4: on Dabbo like some Clemson fans are right now?
- 10:38Speaker 3: Well, I'm not like you know me, I've never been
- 10:42Speaker 3: nothing but honest about my feelings for Dabbel. I was
- 10:45Speaker 3: not a Dabbo fan when he first got that job,
- 10:48Speaker 3: and I let it be known. But I do respect
- 10:51Speaker 3: what the man has built as that program down there,
- 10:54Speaker 3: and every program is gonna take a step back, especially
- 10:58Speaker 3: when it goes to a chain. He's like the NIL
- 11:01Speaker 3: in which he was villily against. He didn't he didn't
- 11:05Speaker 3: believe in the NIL and the recruiting the portal, and
- 11:09Speaker 3: let's be honest, that hurt him for the last two
- 11:11Speaker 3: or three years because when everybody else was getting better
- 11:14Speaker 3: by by robbing other teams, he tried to do it
- 11:17Speaker 3: the old school way and he couldn't do it. So yeah,
- 11:21Speaker 3: he's gonna take some flak for that. But the man
- 11:23Speaker 3: has done nothing but win for us, you know what
- 11:25Speaker 3: I mean. At Clemson, if you I know, a lot
- 11:28Speaker 3: of people don't like to talk about it, but the
- 11:31Speaker 3: last was fifteen years. He's been there, and you know
- 11:35Speaker 3: it can rival anybody. But fans are gonna be fans,
- 11:39Speaker 3: and that's that's the one thing I do love about
- 11:41Speaker 3: being a Clemson alumni and the Clemson fans, they are
- 11:45Speaker 3: very passionate about it. They have very short memory. They
- 11:49Speaker 3: forget about the Tommy West days and those struggling days
- 11:52Speaker 3: of boutence for at the end that they want their
- 11:56Speaker 3: cake and to want to eat it too. But I
- 11:58Speaker 3: told Deo this because I went and worked the camp.
- 12:00Speaker 3: I said, this is a product of what you've done.
- 12:03Speaker 3: You spaw them, you took them through all these Bowl
- 12:06Speaker 3: games and they walked through the store, Hey devil, I
- 12:09Speaker 3: want this prize. I want this trophy. And now the
- 12:12Speaker 3: first time that doesn't happen, they throwing a tantum on
- 12:14Speaker 3: the floor.
- 12:15Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 12:16Speaker 3: I mean, this is Joe talking about I believe in
- 12:19Speaker 3: what he's doing. I have nothing but respectful what he's
- 12:22Speaker 3: doing because he has to acculaze the show and I
- 12:25Speaker 3: think I don't think they're going to be a National
- 12:30Speaker 3: Championship type contentents this year, but they'll be much better
- 12:33Speaker 3: than they were the last year. And he got to
- 12:35Speaker 3: rebuild it back up, and you know every program goes
- 12:38Speaker 3: through that stage every now and then.
- 12:39Speaker 1: We talked about that last hour, like he has created
- 12:43Speaker 1: the loft, the he raised the expectations and now it's
- 12:47Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, if you don't meet your
- 12:49Speaker 1: your own performance, it's like is it good enough? Because
- 12:52Speaker 1: the bucks point he can win, you know, he can
- 12:54Speaker 1: win nine ten games, and that's better than that. And
- 12:57Speaker 1: then both Tolly's would often do so that it's an
- 13:00Speaker 1: interesting conversation that Clemson fans are having. Buck, I do
- 13:04Speaker 1: need to tell the audience that when we were catching
- 13:06Speaker 1: up the other day at camp, I did catch you
- 13:08Speaker 1: in a lie, Buck, I did hear you lie. You
- 13:11Speaker 1: met the lovely Sheena Quick for the first time. You
- 13:13Speaker 1: were saying hello, and you were talking about your playing
- 13:16Speaker 1: career and all your stops along the way, and you
- 13:20Speaker 1: left out Cincinnati. Not only did you leave out Cincinnati.
- 13:23Speaker 1: When I tried to insert Cincinnati, you told her I
- 13:26Speaker 1: never played in Cincinnati.
- 13:27Speaker 2: I don't know what he's talking about.
- 13:29Speaker 3: Yeah, because I try to race memory the all to heal,
- 13:35Speaker 3: you erased a bad from your memory.
- 13:39Speaker 2: That is so funny.
- 13:41Speaker 3: I don't know what Cincinnati is today, but I don't
- 13:45Speaker 3: want to remember the time I was in Cincinnati.
- 13:49Speaker 1: It's so funny because it's there. It's like hidden on
- 13:53Speaker 1: your Purfo ball reference page. Like three years in Pittsburgh,
- 13:56Speaker 1: I know you still love the Steelers, three in San Fran,
- 13:59Speaker 1: five in care Carolina. But between Pittsburgh and San Frian
- 14:02Speaker 1: and there's that one year in Cincinnati.
- 14:04Speaker 2: I have to be honest, I don't even remember it.
- 14:07Speaker 1: Like try to tell you, I don't remember ever seeing
- 14:12Speaker 1: you like in a Bengals jersey.
- 14:14Speaker 3: So maybe you've never on television. I think it was
- 14:18Speaker 3: on television one time, and just so happened. It was
- 14:21Speaker 3: the night that Corey Dillon wrote the single game Ricky
- 14:24Speaker 3: Russian performance that night, you know what I mean. And
- 14:28Speaker 3: I had some I had some great friends from that,
- 14:30Speaker 3: Corey Dillon, every b enemy who I met, Carl Piggins
- 14:33Speaker 3: is still one of my closest friends, Darney Scott, Dan Wilkinson.
- 14:38Speaker 3: It was just a bad it was. It was like
- 14:40Speaker 3: I was put in prison. It's like I was being punished.
- 14:44Speaker 4: We had two Bengals legends that camp in one day.
- 14:47Speaker 4: You both out there legends.
- 14:51Speaker 3: Bridge. We can have all my beingo paraphernalia. He could
- 14:55Speaker 3: have everything from that just or raised me out of it.
- 14:58Speaker 3: But talk was, I left Pittsburgh and where we was
- 15:03Speaker 3: taught and we was gruled to hate everybody in the
- 15:06Speaker 3: old AFC. Then I have to go play for the
- 15:10Speaker 3: Bengals who we just despised because they always thought they
- 15:13Speaker 3: was good. They never were good. And I saw why
- 15:16Speaker 3: when I got there. You know what I saw why
- 15:19Speaker 3: when I got there and I was there with Coach
- 15:21Speaker 3: Boat uh big La Boat brother me. I was there
- 15:24Speaker 3: with Coastal Boat. That's why love, even my love for
- 15:28Speaker 3: Coastal the Bowl, would not allow me to stay in Cincinnati.
- 15:32Speaker 3: One we play our last game. We the next one
- 15:36Speaker 3: we had means at eight o'clock. They were at ten
- 15:39Speaker 3: and at ten o Files. I was at the gas
- 15:41Speaker 3: station driving back to my home in South Carolina. I
- 15:45Speaker 3: couldn't say. I couldn't say another minute.
- 15:48Speaker 1: Uh, Buck, did you like O Show's pants the other day?
- 15:51Speaker 1: The shorts that are almost down to his ankles? Could
- 15:53Speaker 1: you pull that off?
- 15:54Speaker 3: Buck? I probably couldn't now because I lost a lot
- 15:58Speaker 3: of weight. If I if I were him back when
- 16:00Speaker 3: I was a little bit herey, I look like a
- 16:02Speaker 3: genie out of the ball. Since I some way I
- 16:07Speaker 3: think I could pull it up.
- 16:08Speaker 1: I know I couldn't pull that off, Buck. I'd be
- 16:10Speaker 1: laughed at. I'd be laughed off the street if I
- 16:13Speaker 1: tried to wear them out in public.
- 16:15Speaker 3: Like the deep bone look though I don't. I got scared.
- 16:18Speaker 3: I tried to hide my wallet when he walked through.
- 16:20Speaker 2: The gate, What is your thug in my house? Accidentally sideways?
- 16:26Speaker 2: When I was walking Buck.
- 16:28Speaker 3: He had his shade, he had the full beard. Yeah,
- 16:31Speaker 3: his pans a little bit.
- 16:35Speaker 4: Yeah, Buck, I've sort of become the enforcer of the
- 16:38Speaker 4: operation round here on a.
- 16:40Speaker 1: Badass, badass bone baby. All right, Buck, always good. Catch
- 16:44Speaker 1: it up with you, man, and I call back and
- 16:46Speaker 1: it'll be now. Listen, man, I have to take it
- 16:51Speaker 1: from Buck, all right. What was my alternative? I don't
- 16:53Speaker 1: know if i'd take it from you. People are still
- 16:55Speaker 1: texting about that.
- 16:56Speaker 4: This morning.
- 16:57Speaker 2: Never fails. It never fails. Buck.
- 16:59Speaker 1: Every time you're on with us, somebody's I remember that
- 17:01Speaker 1: time Mac Buck was gonna kill you. Yeah.
- 17:03Speaker 2: It's like, oh yeah, good memories, good memories, all right.
- 17:06Speaker 1: I think he also wants to do that every time
- 17:08Speaker 1: I bring up Cincinnati, I think as well.
- 17:10Speaker 2: All right, Buck, you rock man, we'll talk to you.
- 17:12Speaker 2: Be good brother, all right.
- 17:14Speaker 3: One love