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Cooper Kupp: "We're Very Excited About The Chapter Ahead" · Seahawks Press Pass

0:00
Speaker 1: Wow, thanks you guys. I appreciate it.
0:04
Speaker 2: What does it mean?
0:05
Speaker 3: We've heard a little bit, but to come back around
0:07
Speaker 3: at this point in your career and to be with
0:09
Speaker 3: your hometown team, what does that mean to you?
0:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, it's a it's a really cool thing
0:13
Speaker 2: obviously growing up in Yakima, watching my watching the Seattle
0:18
Speaker 2: Seahawks growing up, and I've talked a lot about memories
0:23
Speaker 2: and experiences. I mean that's kind of what That's what
0:26
Speaker 2: football is, right. It's like it's it's remembering all those
0:28
Speaker 2: big moments and we're walking through the halls back here.
0:30
Speaker 2: It's like looking at these photos of iconic I mean,
0:33
Speaker 2: just moments in games and being able to recognized like, man,
0:35
Speaker 2: I remember where I was when that happened, and that
0:37
Speaker 2: moment happened, and you know, growing up watching Seattle watching
0:42
Speaker 2: football being a huge part of my life, and then
0:44
Speaker 2: you know, playing Eastern Washington. Full circle moment, coming back
0:48
Speaker 2: to being able to throw in a sale Seahawks uniform.
0:52
Speaker 2: It's that's a really cool thing and something that I
0:54
Speaker 2: don't take lightly and just really excited to, you know,
0:57
Speaker 2: be able to be a part of this program, what
0:59
Speaker 2: this program has been about and continue to moving forward.
1:03
Speaker 2: Did the Seahawks and watching Seahawks shape anything about your
1:06
Speaker 2: game and the way you approach football? Well, I mean,
1:10
Speaker 2: certainly there's players that you watch and you learn from.
1:14
Speaker 2: I think that's been my thing is being able to
1:16
Speaker 2: see what guys do and say, he is there is
1:18
Speaker 2: that something that I can do. It's something that I
1:20
Speaker 2: want to implement implement in my game. And we were
1:23
Speaker 2: just talking down the hall Doug Baldwin, you know, one
1:26
Speaker 2: of the best Come to Balance releases in history, you know,
1:29
Speaker 2: and uh, little pieces of game. It's like little pieces
1:33
Speaker 2: of game like that. It's like, man, that's something that
1:35
Speaker 2: I do. It's watching Doug Baldwin do that stuff to
1:37
Speaker 2: guys turn people around all the time. So that's part
1:39
Speaker 2: of what It's a it's in my bag, you know,
1:42
Speaker 2: it's it's something that I carry with me. And so
1:46
Speaker 2: it is there's there's there's guys that have come through
1:48
Speaker 2: this organization that have been impactful and in ways they
1:51
Speaker 2: might not know about how I play, how I play
1:53
Speaker 2: the game.
1:54
Speaker 3: You've proven people wrong throughout your career and there's some
1:58
Speaker 3: people saying maybe just or he's too old. Are you
2:01
Speaker 3: taking that as a challenge to prove people wrong again.
2:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I, like you said, I feel like
2:05
Speaker 2: I've been I've had people doubt me for a long
2:08
Speaker 2: time through my life, and you know, in some ways rightfully.
2:11
Speaker 4: So.
2:11
Speaker 2: I mean I was a very small kid growing up
2:13
Speaker 2: and cared a lot, but there's a lot of people
2:16
Speaker 2: that care a lot and uh just don't have the
2:19
Speaker 2: stuff streamed together. And I was very you know, blessed
2:23
Speaker 2: to have a lot of coaches to come alongside me
2:25
Speaker 2: and teach me and show me the way, and very
2:28
Speaker 2: thankful for that.
2:29
Speaker 1: And I wouldn't be here today with without that.
2:32
Speaker 2: But with all those doubts and all those things, it's
2:35
Speaker 2: never been about proving other people wrong. You know, I
2:37
Speaker 2: think I've I've lived in that space and it never
2:39
Speaker 2: goes well. It's been about being who I am, like
2:44
Speaker 2: believing in myself and knowing that I can be who
2:47
Speaker 2: I see myself becoming. And when I've taken that attitude,
2:52
Speaker 2: you know, when I've taken that mindset, that's when I've
2:54
Speaker 2: always been at my best and I continue I'll continue
2:56
Speaker 2: that like I've I've I know how to navigate these waters.
3:00
Speaker 2: I've been here before, and it's not about the negative
3:03
Speaker 2: energy of trying to prove anything wrong, anyone else wrong,
3:05
Speaker 2: trying to make em and els feel bad about anything,
3:07
Speaker 2: just about being myself and being who I believe I
3:09
Speaker 2: can be and going out there and you know, playing
3:12
Speaker 2: the game I love.
3:12
Speaker 3: What have these last couple of months been like for
3:15
Speaker 3: you though, finding out who you are going to be
3:17
Speaker 3: back with the Rams and then becoming a freezing and
3:18
Speaker 3: going through that process.
3:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been it's been difficult.
3:20
Speaker 2: I mean in all honestly, it's been very difficult and frustrating,
3:24
Speaker 2: and there's been lots of questions and things that are
3:26
Speaker 2: are you know.
3:27
Speaker 1: It's a real tough situation.
3:29
Speaker 2: You know, I've said I always imagined that I'd finished
3:32
Speaker 2: my career there, but that's not what the plan was
3:34
Speaker 2: that that God had for me and my family and
3:37
Speaker 2: stepping into this new adventure, this new place, this new
3:40
Speaker 2: chapter and my career, but also in our lives is
3:44
Speaker 2: you know, my wife and I navigate moving back up home,
3:47
Speaker 2: back up to our home state, and you know, I
3:51
Speaker 2: think that's uh, that's something that you know, we're excited
3:55
Speaker 2: about facing, and you're excited about the community that we
3:58
Speaker 2: get to be a part of. The people are going
3:59
Speaker 2: to be a part of our lives and it has
4:03
Speaker 2: been difficult.
4:04
Speaker 1: Without a doubt, it has been difficult.
4:05
Speaker 2: And and you know, we're we're humans, we're real people, and uh,
4:10
Speaker 2: if it's something that's been in a lot of ways,
4:12
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm thankful to have had, you know, a
4:14
Speaker 2: wife to lean on and to count on, to be
4:17
Speaker 2: able to walk through this with because it would be
4:19
Speaker 2: very hard to do by myself. And our boys have
4:22
Speaker 2: been incredible through it all. And but yeah, I mean
4:25
Speaker 2: we're we're very excited about what the future holds here
4:28
Speaker 2: in Seattle.
4:28
Speaker 1: Did them give you a why or is it the
4:30
Speaker 1: injuries or what? Did they site? Yeah, I mean there's
4:36
Speaker 1: they have.
4:36
Speaker 2: I'm sure they've they have their reasons for why they
4:38
Speaker 2: want to do things, you know whatever.
4:40
Speaker 4: It is.
4:42
Speaker 1: Not a ton of clarity and that regard.
4:44
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, I mean, I
4:47
Speaker 2: was I'm thankful to be able to walk away from
4:50
Speaker 2: that organization and be able to look back on all
4:55
Speaker 2: those memories, all those experiences, all those things that we
4:57
Speaker 2: were able to go through together and uh, the relationships
5:01
Speaker 2: that we had with so many people there and look
5:06
Speaker 2: at it in a positive light and be you know,
5:07
Speaker 2: be very thankful for my time in Los Angeles and
5:10
Speaker 2: some that we will always cherish. But like I said,
5:13
Speaker 2: we are very excited about the chapter ahead and what
5:16
Speaker 2: we can do here in Seattle. But once you found
5:18
Speaker 2: out that you were gonna be able to pick where
5:20
Speaker 2: you were going next, how quickly did the Seahawks come
5:23
Speaker 2: on to your radar and and the process of getting
5:25
Speaker 2: to the point where you decided this is where you
5:26
Speaker 2: were going to come?
5:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was.
5:28
Speaker 2: It was pretty quick in terms of, uh, expressing the
5:31
Speaker 2: interest once I was released, and I thought that, uh,
5:35
Speaker 2: you know, as we went through things, I thought the
5:37
Speaker 2: messaging from from Mike and from John and from the
5:40
Speaker 2: you know coobs, from all the guys that I talked
5:41
Speaker 2: to here, the messaging was around park. What I thought
5:45
Speaker 2: was how you build a championship team. It's about the people.
5:49
Speaker 2: You focus on bringing good people there, about ball and
5:52
Speaker 2: all the other stuff's gonna fall fall in place, and
5:56
Speaker 2: that's something that you know, that was the mindset when
5:58
Speaker 2: it wasn't about you know, specific football, like you know
6:04
Speaker 2: people football, people that you're trying to get in place,
6:06
Speaker 2: like you know, we're trying to get We're trying to
6:08
Speaker 2: get just the people We're trying to get solid people
6:10
Speaker 2: that know how to work there about playing this game
6:13
Speaker 2: the right way. That's something that I was like, Man,
6:16
Speaker 2: this is something I know. That's how you build a
6:18
Speaker 2: good team. I know that's the best teams I've been
6:20
Speaker 2: a part of have been built that way, and so
6:22
Speaker 2: that excited me. And uh, you know, as time went on,
6:26
Speaker 2: talking to you know, Ernest Jones, who's been here, I've known,
6:29
Speaker 2: I'm talking to Jackson, talking with you know, Sam after
6:32
Speaker 2: he had signed on, and you know, various guys in
6:36
Speaker 2: the organization, it's like, hey, this there's the same messaging
6:38
Speaker 2: every time. It's like, hey, we're building something here that's
6:40
Speaker 2: special and we've got the right people in the building
6:42
Speaker 2: to do it. It just built up and I'm really
6:47
Speaker 2: excited to be a part of it.
6:48
Speaker 3: Your thoughts about being part of a sort of a
6:50
Speaker 3: revamped offense with the new quarterback this year.
6:52
Speaker 2: Also, Yeah, you know, I was initially I was really
6:57
Speaker 2: you know, I felt like I was behind the eight
6:59
Speaker 2: ball a little about like, man, I'm gonna have to
7:01
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be behind everyone trying to figure all this
7:02
Speaker 2: stuff out. And there was actually not until you know,
7:06
Speaker 2: a couple of days ago that I realized how day
7:08
Speaker 2: one OTAs everyone's everyone's learning this offense.
7:12
Speaker 1: So that's gonna be fine.
7:12
Speaker 2: I think that's that's gonna be something that I'm I'm
7:15
Speaker 2: excited about in terms of especially with Sam coming in
7:17
Speaker 2: here and like we get to learn this offense together,
7:19
Speaker 2: we get to as it grows. As every offense, you
7:21
Speaker 2: have the starting point of how you want to do things,
7:23
Speaker 2: what that's gonna look like, and as the players come
7:26
Speaker 2: in and bring it to life, it grows, it changes,
7:28
Speaker 2: it morphs into you know, accentuating the guy's abilities of
7:32
Speaker 2: the guys that you have.
7:34
Speaker 1: And I'm excited to be able to go through that.
7:35
Speaker 2: It's just such a fun process and being able to
7:37
Speaker 2: build that and it's something that, uh that gets me
7:41
Speaker 2: very excited about this, about this offense, about this team.
7:43
Speaker 4: How familiar were you with Sam before before all this
7:46
Speaker 4: and did that play a part and you wanted to
7:48
Speaker 4: be a part of his offense with him?
7:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I had watched him quite a bit when
7:51
Speaker 2: he was at USC competing there, watching him early in
7:55
Speaker 2: his career, and I thought, man, he in terms of
7:57
Speaker 2: throw over the football, he he can make some incredible
8:00
Speaker 2: throws And went through some things. It's been through some
8:04
Speaker 2: difficult circumstances, but his his confidence's ability to like to,
8:09
Speaker 2: you know, maneuver those things and people come back and
8:11
Speaker 2: have the year that he did last year when in
8:13
Speaker 2: this league that's a hard thing to do. But that
8:16
Speaker 2: confidence I touched on before. It's not about what the
8:18
Speaker 2: other people think about you. It's who you believe that
8:19
Speaker 2: you are. And him being able to come out and
8:21
Speaker 2: compete like he did last year, I think that speaks
8:23
Speaker 2: a lot to the person. And I'm really excited about
8:27
Speaker 2: obviously with a great football player and just seeing how
8:29
Speaker 2: he works, how he goes about his business. And I've
8:32
Speaker 2: heard all great things and excited to excite to build
8:35
Speaker 2: this thing with them.
8:36
Speaker 3: Predominantly played in the slot in your career and so
8:38
Speaker 3: is Jackson, Smith and Jake. But how do you kind
8:40
Speaker 3: of foresee that plan out And that's something you talked
8:42
Speaker 3: about with the coaches.
8:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, it'll be interesting to see, Like I said,
8:45
Speaker 2: as the offense kind of gets going and we kind
8:47
Speaker 2: of start building this thing out. It's like I said,
8:50
Speaker 2: I trust this offensive staff and being able to uh,
8:53
Speaker 2: you know, be able to emphasize they get things that
8:54
Speaker 2: guys do well, and in eight years with the RAMS,
8:58
Speaker 2: I think it's tagged with the slot, but you know,
9:01
Speaker 2: I don't know how you determined that. When we're in
9:03
Speaker 2: condensed formations, I'm outside, but I'm running a slot route.
9:06
Speaker 1: You know, I'm you know, I'm out.
9:08
Speaker 2: A lot of times I was outside and I'm not
9:10
Speaker 2: sure if there was being tagged as slot routes or not.
9:13
Speaker 2: But you know, I think the ability to move in
9:17
Speaker 2: an offense and the ability for you know, in this offense,
9:20
Speaker 2: and what Koopy actually done is being able to you know,
9:23
Speaker 2: formation guys to be anywhere. And that's how that's why
9:26
Speaker 2: I had learned this offense originally, was that you got
9:27
Speaker 2: to learn the whole thing because you can be in
9:29
Speaker 2: any one of these spots at any time, right, so
9:31
Speaker 2: you might think of yourself as you can't think of
9:33
Speaker 2: yourself as just a slot. You got you got to
9:35
Speaker 2: see yourself as paying any one of these positions at
9:38
Speaker 2: any time because you could be asked to run any
9:39
Speaker 2: one of these routes. And I think, you know, Jackson
9:43
Speaker 2: did some of that same stuff last year. We played
9:45
Speaker 2: inside and outside and being able to run routes that you.
9:49
Speaker 1: Know are typically for an X or an f or is.
9:51
Speaker 2: You know, you've been able to run all that stuff,
9:53
Speaker 2: and I think that's, uh, that's what we've got. We've
9:55
Speaker 2: got guys that are going to be willing to learn
9:58
Speaker 2: the offense as a whole there and being able to
9:59
Speaker 2: you know, take advantage as opportunities.
10:01
Speaker 3: You convinced charon As to give up number ten, so.
10:07
Speaker 1: We ended up.
10:07
Speaker 2: He's he's got a foundation that's doing some really good
10:09
Speaker 2: stuff here in the community, and it was important for
10:13
Speaker 2: him to that that be part of, you know, this change,
10:17
Speaker 2: and you know it's great to work with and uh
10:20
Speaker 2: able to you know, donate to his foundation and make
10:24
Speaker 2: sure that he felt good about that. And he's he
10:28
Speaker 2: you know mention. You know he's played his best football
10:29
Speaker 2: in number ten, and you know it had been important
10:32
Speaker 2: to him and just since time in Seattle and just
10:35
Speaker 2: clearly the community was an important part of this whole thing.
10:39
Speaker 2: And so you know, I respect his you know, his
10:42
Speaker 2: his desires there and you know, able to work it
10:45
Speaker 2: out and really thankful for him to being willing to
10:47
Speaker 2: work something out for for us. I know you grew
10:50
Speaker 2: up on the other side of the state, but did
10:51
Speaker 2: you make it to any Seahawks games?
10:52
Speaker 1: Growing up, I did, so, I admit to a few.
10:55
Speaker 2: I remember my first one was, I believe a Sunday
10:58
Speaker 2: night game, but a Sunday night. Remember we talked about
11:01
Speaker 2: this a second ago. I think it was Sunday night
11:04
Speaker 2: snow game against the Packers two thousand and six. Anyone
11:09
Speaker 2: there you go? So, yeah, I was there too. I
11:11
Speaker 2: was up in the very top. Frozen's the icicle up there.
11:14
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was incredible watching, you know, Alexander went off.
11:20
Speaker 2: It was you know, it was a crazy one. I
11:22
Speaker 2: feel like I missed. I got to miss school the
11:24
Speaker 2: next day, you know, so it was like bonus points
11:26
Speaker 2: because I got idn't have to go to school next day.
11:29
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, like I said, memories, my memories
11:32
Speaker 2: being there, being part of that environment, and uh yeah,
11:36
Speaker 2: such a cool such a cool thing is that. That
11:38
Speaker 2: was such a that was a special thing growing up
11:39
Speaker 2: to be able to go to a Seahawks game, and yeah,
11:42
Speaker 2: very special memory.
11:43
Speaker 1: Was there another one you went? Did you said you
11:44
Speaker 1: went to? Yeah?
11:45
Speaker 2: So I went to another one when I was in college.
11:48
Speaker 2: We watched Baltimore came to town and I stood, I
11:51
Speaker 2: was able to I was able to be right next
11:55
Speaker 2: to the tunnel as ray Lewis ran out and my
11:57
Speaker 2: dad tapped me. He's like, hey, you think you can
11:59
Speaker 2: play in the NFL. I looked at ray Lewis and
12:01
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, yeah, I can play.
12:03
Speaker 1: I got this.
12:06
Speaker 4: Uh.
12:06
Speaker 3: Not every receiver takes blocking as a big part of
12:09
Speaker 3: their role, but it seems like that's something you take
12:10
Speaker 3: its pride in. Can you talk about how that's evolved
12:13
Speaker 3: as part of your game.
12:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, as I mean, early on, I got credited
12:17
Speaker 2: Jay dumas my high school coach. Shout out to Jay
12:21
Speaker 2: for making that appointmentphsis for me, and I didn't learn
12:25
Speaker 2: until later that he was the worst blocking receiver at
12:28
Speaker 2: WSU in history of WSU receivers, but he seemed to
12:32
Speaker 2: make it seem like it was really important that you
12:34
Speaker 2: blocked as a wide receiver. So when I was in
12:37
Speaker 2: high school, that was always a big emphasis and carried
12:39
Speaker 2: on as we kind of went through college and then
12:43
Speaker 2: for the for the rams, that was always been with
12:46
Speaker 2: being condensed formations. You're a part of the blocking surface,
12:49
Speaker 2: You're a part of the counts, And that was so
12:51
Speaker 2: much fun because I got to learn as if I
12:53
Speaker 2: was an extension of the offensive line. The you know,
12:57
Speaker 2: the verbiage, the thought process, find how they're doing things,
12:59
Speaker 2: the angles that are being done, the counts with the linebackers,
13:02
Speaker 2: with the shades, with the you know where the bubble
13:04
Speaker 2: is at, and all this different stuff. It's like, man,
13:06
Speaker 2: I love football and this is a whole other part.
13:08
Speaker 2: I thought I had things figured out, and you realized
13:10
Speaker 2: there's a whole other world happening, you know, rat the
13:13
Speaker 2: last scrimmage, And it's been something's been fun for me
13:16
Speaker 2: to learn and be and be a part of. And
13:18
Speaker 2: as ask grown, I've just fallen in love with it,
13:20
Speaker 2: fall in love with being a part of helping the
13:22
Speaker 2: run game become a thing come to life and seeing
13:25
Speaker 2: how that plays off into the past game and all.
13:26
Speaker 1: The things you can do there.
13:27
Speaker 2: And it's been it's been a fun thing for me.
13:31
Speaker 3: There was a report Dak Proscott called you to try
13:33
Speaker 3: to get here, go to Dallas.
13:34
Speaker 1: Was were was it fun being recruited during Yeah, it
13:38
Speaker 1: was cool.
13:38
Speaker 2: I mean it's it's it's one of those things where
13:40
Speaker 2: I've I've been in contact with a lot of these guys.
13:43
Speaker 2: Just just as your career goes on, you run into
13:45
Speaker 2: people and just really hear what's going on in these
13:50
Speaker 2: different organizations and what they're thinking and how they're seeing things,
13:53
Speaker 2: what they envision you know, football looking like. And it
13:56
Speaker 2: was it was cool kind of reconnecting with a lot
13:58
Speaker 2: of people that you know, you might get a few
14:00
Speaker 2: words with after a game, where you might you know,
14:01
Speaker 2: talk to you once or twice.
14:02
Speaker 1: But it's just good. It's good. There's all.
14:05
Speaker 2: There's just a lot of really good people, a lot
14:07
Speaker 2: of the football players in this league, and it was
14:08
Speaker 2: fun kind of connecting with them the before that.
14:10
Speaker 1: You had with Stafford and knowing where to go and
14:13
Speaker 1: where the ball would be. How long did that take
14:15
Speaker 1: to develop?
14:18
Speaker 2: It was very fast. It was very fast. Honestly, it was.
14:20
Speaker 2: It was very fast. And I think part of that,
14:22
Speaker 2: you know, one was Matthew played when he was in Detroit.
14:27
Speaker 2: I think he had like five offensive coordinators in his
14:30
Speaker 2: time there. You know, he had seen all his different
14:33
Speaker 2: all these different ways of running an offense. And then
14:37
Speaker 2: you know, coming into OTAs, it was just kind of like, uh,
14:42
Speaker 2: I don't know, it just it just clicked. It just clicked.
14:44
Speaker 2: And I think a big part of that though, is
14:48
Speaker 2: being able to just you know, my dad played quarterback.
14:51
Speaker 2: You know, and so I've learned receiver from a quarterback,
14:55
Speaker 2: you know. But he was running out from my dad
14:57
Speaker 2: and he tell me if from his perspective, if I
14:59
Speaker 2: did something wrong or I might not be what the
15:01
Speaker 2: receiver coach would say, but the quarterback was telling me
15:03
Speaker 2: what I was doing wrong. And I think that's helped
15:06
Speaker 2: set things up to be like I feel like I
15:08
Speaker 2: can understand what quarterbacks seeing and how he's feeling based
15:13
Speaker 2: on the coverage and where the openings might be.
15:15
Speaker 1: And you know, I think I.
15:17
Speaker 2: Play a role in that and trying to make sure
15:19
Speaker 2: that I can be able to find those soft spots
15:21
Speaker 2: for him. And I'm looking forward to you know, Sam,
15:24
Speaker 2: He's going to be in a similar spot where he's
15:26
Speaker 2: playing a lot of different offenses now and in some ways,
15:30
Speaker 2: while he doesn't probably feel like that was the best
15:32
Speaker 2: thing for him, when he gets into the right system,
15:35
Speaker 2: which is real similar to what he did last year,
15:37
Speaker 2: that can.
15:38
Speaker 1: Be a very big positive for a quarterback coach.
15:42
Speaker 4: Jamas and I spoke to him earlier and he told
15:44
Speaker 4: me a story about you in ninth grade coming to
15:46
Speaker 4: him in the weight room. You just got your slang
15:48
Speaker 4: off from here. A broken collar zone and he said
15:50
Speaker 4: that you asked him the stats of going to college
15:53
Speaker 4: and then going to the NFL. He told you the stats,
15:55
Speaker 4: but that didn't really PHASEE you. You were determined. He said,
15:57
Speaker 4: that's what I got to do. I'm going to do it.
15:59
Speaker 4: How do you care? That mindset with you still today?
16:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember that conversation because I told him. I
16:05
Speaker 2: told him, I said I want I want to be
16:06
Speaker 2: a running back at USC. That's why I said. I
16:08
Speaker 2: told myself I want to play running back at USC.
16:10
Speaker 2: Reggie Bush was my like my guy, and he said, uh,
16:14
Speaker 2: you got you gotta change your plans, you know.
16:17
Speaker 1: He's like he's like, you know, he's my.
16:19
Speaker 2: Best case scenario, Like you know, maybe you can go
16:21
Speaker 2: to Central Washington, you know, like play at the D
16:24
Speaker 2: two school there if you like work really hard, like
16:26
Speaker 2: maybe you can do that. And and I was like,
16:30
Speaker 2: you know what, No, I think I'm gonna do what
16:32
Speaker 2: I want to do, you know. And and there was
16:34
Speaker 2: like this this my step And in some ways it
16:36
Speaker 2: goes back to kind of that doubting piece. It's like,
16:39
Speaker 2: well that's what he thinks, but like, I know what
16:40
Speaker 2: I want to do. I know what I want to achieve.
16:42
Speaker 2: And what I want to become and who I am.
16:44
Speaker 2: And while I didn't get to go to USC and
16:47
Speaker 2: be a running back, I do think it like that
16:50
Speaker 2: the habits that I formed in high school have carried
16:53
Speaker 2: me through everything, every step.
16:54
Speaker 1: Of my career.
16:56
Speaker 2: I understand that it is the work, it's the time
16:58
Speaker 2: that you put in, it's your preparation that's sets you
17:00
Speaker 2: up to go play this game freely. And you know,
17:03
Speaker 2: those habits were established early on. It's just it's all
17:05
Speaker 2: I know now. So I'm thankful for Dumovs for his doubts.
17:08
Speaker 2: I'm thankful for Dumos also for his coaching, because he
17:10
Speaker 2: is one of the guys that, as time went on,
17:12
Speaker 2: believed in me and pushed me.
17:13
Speaker 1: And you know, I set me up to the bhayam today.
17:16
Speaker 3: When did the dream of being a running back die?
17:20
Speaker 1: Did it die?
17:20
Speaker 4: Oh?
17:21
Speaker 1: Uh?
17:22
Speaker 2: Probably the next year when I got moved to receiver
17:28
Speaker 2: and realized so I got put up on varsity my
17:30
Speaker 2: sophomore year. I had no business being up there, no
17:33
Speaker 2: business being up on varsity. I had like my parts
17:36
Speaker 2: were tucked into like my mid back. I just it
17:38
Speaker 2: was just I was not ready for it. But but
17:42
Speaker 2: I realized then that's like, you know, the path to
17:45
Speaker 2: becoming a USC running back was a long one and
17:49
Speaker 2: at this point, like, my legs just aren't gonna be
17:53
Speaker 2: I don't have the legs for it. I don't have
17:54
Speaker 2: the legs for I can see myself in this jersey.
17:56
Speaker 2: I look like a giraffe out there. It's just not uh,
17:58
Speaker 2: it's not gonna work. So but but the adjustment to
18:01
Speaker 2: be like, man, I fell in love with receiver at
18:03
Speaker 2: that point, you know, I fell in love with it.
18:04
Speaker 2: Coach Dumos was the receiver. I'm like, I adored Coach Dumos,
18:08
Speaker 2: and I was like, you know, I can make this work.
18:09
Speaker 3: Bobby Wagner went closer to home and got to play
18:12
Speaker 3: this couple times a year and looked forward to that.
18:15
Speaker 3: You come closer to home, you're gonna play the Rams
18:16
Speaker 3: a couple of times. Are you looking forward to facing
18:18
Speaker 3: your former team?
18:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am.
18:19
Speaker 2: I am looking forward to And that wasn't that it
18:21
Speaker 2: didn't play into the you know, decision to come here.
18:23
Speaker 2: But it's a nice little thing on the side to
18:26
Speaker 2: be able to go against those guys and know a
18:27
Speaker 2: lot of those guys so much respect for the coaching staff,
18:30
Speaker 2: the way that they handle things down there, the players
18:32
Speaker 2: down there, I am excited about though. It's gonna be
18:35
Speaker 2: a it's gonna be a really cool thing. And you know,
18:38
Speaker 2: at the when that time comes, you know it will
18:41
Speaker 2: be it'll just be football at point, you know, but
18:44
Speaker 2: but I am looking forward to it.
18:45
Speaker 1: Some of the things Ernest and Jackson talked about in
18:47
Speaker 1: terms of what they're building here.
18:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it all went back to the people. It's like,
18:51
Speaker 2: you know, Ernest talked a lot about just how when
18:55
Speaker 2: he came in here, just the way that he was
18:58
Speaker 2: welcomed in and the way the guys went to work,
19:00
Speaker 2: the communication they had, the way that they operated as
19:03
Speaker 2: one on defense, and and that's a huge thing defensively,
19:06
Speaker 2: Like defenses only work if you're playing as one unit.
19:09
Speaker 2: And he has had, you know, incredible things to say
19:14
Speaker 2: about his you know, his his time here last year
19:18
Speaker 2: with with the guys, and then you know, Jackson he
19:21
Speaker 2: said all the same stuff, and it's like he just
19:23
Speaker 2: he he loved the coaching staff, he loved the way
19:25
Speaker 2: that guys were treated, the ways that the the organization
19:28
Speaker 2: was run, and then he just he said, he's just
19:30
Speaker 2: having the time of his life playing football.
19:32
Speaker 1: And you know, like that's a huge thing.
19:33
Speaker 2: You guys are having fun, You're you're invate your best
19:35
Speaker 2: when you're enjoying it, and you can create that environment
19:38
Speaker 2: and still be you know here, how these guys are
19:41
Speaker 2: going to go to work.
19:42
Speaker 1: You know good things will happen.
19:44
Speaker 3: But you mentioned Mat McDonald earlier. You spent your career
19:46
Speaker 3: so far playing for how the young, innovative offensive guys.
19:49
Speaker 3: Are you excited or cure see how it is playing
19:52
Speaker 3: for a defensive mind the head coach?
19:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be interesting, that will be interested on others.
19:56
Speaker 2: You know, there's so many different ways that people do it.
19:58
Speaker 2: I'm not sure how involved Mike is on the offensive
20:01
Speaker 2: side of things or how he does things, but I
20:02
Speaker 2: am looking forward to it. And I've only heard all
20:05
Speaker 2: the guys here love him, you know, I've only heard
20:07
Speaker 2: great things about him, and you know, really looking forward
20:10
Speaker 2: to just the staff he has in general, everyone here
20:12
Speaker 2: has been great. And the excitement around football and what's
20:17
Speaker 2: the building here? You know you can feel it and
20:19
Speaker 2: so it's gonna be It's gonna be fun come mid
20:22
Speaker 2: April being up here and again begin to work.
20:25
Speaker 1: Have you prepared for and.
20:26
Speaker 3: Played against his defenses? A couple of times.
20:27
Speaker 2: What it stands out of either.
20:29
Speaker 3: Might be called defense.
20:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you've I talked about playing as one,
20:32
Speaker 2: and that's that's a huge it's a huge thing. You
20:34
Speaker 2: gotta have guys that the best defenses. Guys play off
20:38
Speaker 2: each other. They understand when they're showing pressures and things
20:41
Speaker 2: like that, Like one guy is off, it's like it tells,
20:43
Speaker 2: it tips the whole thing off. You know, you gotta
20:46
Speaker 2: you have to be as one from the very beginning.
20:48
Speaker 2: You know, from the communication of you know, all your checks,
20:51
Speaker 2: to being able to show your bluffs, to be able
20:52
Speaker 2: to get to your coverages, to be able to match
20:55
Speaker 2: those up with the fronts and the things that are
20:57
Speaker 2: happening with the defensive line of the stunts and all
21:01
Speaker 2: that I've I've respected the way that you know, guys
21:05
Speaker 2: have brought that to life. And you can see the
21:06
Speaker 2: coaching that's been done. As players have been able to
21:08
Speaker 2: play free, be able to get in positions where they're
21:12
Speaker 2: where they're putting positions to succeed defensive, it just becomes
21:16
Speaker 2: very hard offensively, and it's like, hey, guys, guys, just
21:17
Speaker 2: don't mess up.
21:18
Speaker 1: You know, guys are gonna play their leverage.
21:20
Speaker 2: They're gonna be in the spots they're supposed to be at,
21:23
Speaker 2: and uh, you know you respect that about a defense.
21:25
Speaker 2: That's the to me, the telling sign of of good
21:28
Speaker 2: defenses is when you when you see that.
21:30
Speaker 1: What is the story behind the Pearl Jam t shirt?
21:33
Speaker 1: They're from Seattle? No, it was.
21:40
Speaker 2: So I'm I've I learned guitar when I was in
21:43
Speaker 2: sixth gradeish somewhere in there. Just taught myself and it's
21:47
Speaker 2: been something I've I've loved learning. I don't have a
21:50
Speaker 2: great musical ear, but I love playing music. My wife's
21:54
Speaker 2: the singers want the musical one, so I just try
21:56
Speaker 2: to learn enough songs for her to sing to them.
21:59
Speaker 2: But there's been enough stuff like as you come up,
22:02
Speaker 2: you grow. It's like, man, there's the grunge scene in
22:05
Speaker 2: Seattle is obviously huge, similar to some really good music
22:09
Speaker 2: from La and so I just figured I've got a
22:12
Speaker 2: bunch of these old vintage grunge rock band teas.
22:15
Speaker 1: I'm not as well where the Pearl Jam one today?
22:17
Speaker 1: What's your go to Pearl Jam song to play?
22:20
Speaker 2: Well, you know there's an album it's called ten ironically enough,
22:24
Speaker 2: that's pretty good.
22:25
Speaker 1: So you throw that one on you won't be going wrong.
22:30
Speaker 1: What's your favorite memory of that game?
22:32
Speaker 2: Winning it was was probably my my biggest memory. Oh,
22:37
Speaker 2: I think the I mean that last drive, the last
22:40
Speaker 2: drive offensively was It's pretty special.
22:43
Speaker 1: I mean just the.
22:48
Speaker 2: The you go from really your your roadblock. You know,
22:51
Speaker 2: you can't get anything going, and it's just it's football.
22:55
Speaker 2: It's like, hey, we're going to find a way to
22:56
Speaker 2: get some momentum, get something moving this thing forward. And
23:02
Speaker 2: it's a cool part about this game. It's like, man,
23:04
Speaker 2: nothing can be going right, and it just takes you know,
23:07
Speaker 2: maybe one play, one spark, and you find a way
23:09
Speaker 2: and suddenly it becomes very easy. You feel like you
23:11
Speaker 2: can just do whatever you want to and you're chunking
23:13
Speaker 2: the ball down the field and that belief grows. And
23:17
Speaker 2: then you know, once you have that belief, it's hard
23:19
Speaker 2: to get that thing taken away. And I think that's
23:22
Speaker 2: a you know, speaking of that's just a special thing
23:26
Speaker 2: too about teams in general. And a big thing that
23:29
Speaker 2: played into wanting to come to Seattle is there's a
23:31
Speaker 2: there's a belief here. There's a belief, there's organists, there's
23:34
Speaker 2: there's organizations in this league. That believe they're going to lose,
23:37
Speaker 2: and there's organizations that believe they're going to win. And
23:40
Speaker 2: here in Seattle, there's always been You've always seen that
23:43
Speaker 2: belief that they're going to find a way to win
23:45
Speaker 2: the game. And and that's a very powerful thing in
23:48
Speaker 2: this league because a belief is belief is where it
23:51
Speaker 2: takes to get that spark to get that opportunity, and
23:54
Speaker 2: as long as you have that belief, you've always got
23:55
Speaker 2: a chance.
23:56
Speaker 1: So excited to be a part of that. Sorry, what
23:59
Speaker 1: is it? What is Jake Pete's impact on your game?
24:01
Speaker 2: When you guys were in LA together, Pete piece doesn't
24:04
Speaker 2: do anything. Man, pieces a stand back there right now.
24:07
Speaker 2: That's why I saw that piece has been awesome. He's
24:11
Speaker 2: obviously been He was in my room before he came here.
24:14
Speaker 2: He was in the room with us as wide receivers
24:16
Speaker 2: and a huge part in just the way that we
24:19
Speaker 2: operated the you know, the concepts, the purpose behind what
24:24
Speaker 2: we're doing, right, it's the details.
24:26
Speaker 1: It's those little things that make the difference.
24:28
Speaker 2: And he was in that room to make sure that
24:29
Speaker 2: that stuff was communicating from the top down on how
24:31
Speaker 2: we're doing these things and being able to make sure
24:33
Speaker 2: that we're we're being put in positions and understanding what
24:36
Speaker 2: the why is behind the concepts that we're running, and
24:40
Speaker 2: real thankful for him and just his knowledge of the game.
24:43
Speaker 2: You know, from a defensive side, from an offensive side,
24:45
Speaker 2: how we're manipulating things defensively and what we're trying to
24:47
Speaker 2: accomplish offensively. That stuff goes a long way is you
24:50
Speaker 2: can if you can play that way as a receiver,
24:52
Speaker 2: you can get to the point where you can play
24:53
Speaker 2: fast still with that mindset of.
24:55
Speaker 1: Understanding what you're manipulating. It gives you a huge advantage.
24:59
Speaker 1: So I'm really.
25:00
Speaker 2: Thankful for Pete's and what he mentioned me there. I'm
25:02
Speaker 2: excited to be back here with him. Anything else awesome.
25:07
Speaker 1: Thank you guys,