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Overcoming Adversity On & Off the Field with Davon Hamilton | The O-Zone Podcast · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Soon.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast with Jaguars senior writer John Oser.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: All Right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast, and I'll
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: get right to it. We're joined this week by Jaguars
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: nose tackle Devon Hamilton.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Interesting story with Devin, A scary story, a long story
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: for him.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We'll get into that. But first of all, Devin, thanks
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: for joining us.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: You have no problem.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Obviously, people listening to this any Jaguars fans knows that
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you had a back issue early in the season. You
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: haven't talked about that a whole lot as much as
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: you're comfortable with just sort of I guess, first, tell
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: me what it was, and.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I guess we'll go there first.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a spinal abscess. I got kind of
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: formed up into my back and uh yeah, it was
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: a major infection.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: And very much out of the blue. It was when
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: we were all Detroit.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and just sort of came up quick and I
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: assume kind of a scary thing.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I say, A lot of stuff was going on,
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: a lot of side effects was going on. So I
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: was kind of just in the weird place. This isn't
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: really a normal illness people get or normal infection people
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: get so.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: As a football player, you're used to fighting through stuff.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: It's in your nature, but all of a sudden, this
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: is something that that's not an option, not at all.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was very strange. Yeah, a lot of side effects.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Like I said, And if you're comfortable, how serious was
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I mean my understanding is it was very serious. And
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I assume you feel sort of fortunate right now.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I felt very fortunate. It was very serious. There's
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: a lot of stuff that really could have happened. I
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: could be not playing football right now permanently. So I'm
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: just blessed, incredibly blessed man to be back where I am.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: And I'm just so thankful for the guys is supported
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: me through this.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Tell me what you know.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Emotionally, obviously that's difficult. But when you sort of compounded
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: with it happening right when it did, which is right
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: at the start, you've geared up, you've just signed a contract,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: you're a core guy. This happens right when you're gearing
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: up for that first season.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: It was very It was unfortunate. You know, I would
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: rather been playing from the very beginning of the season
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: to now, and you know, working out through some things.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: But you know, I mean, this is Guy's way for me,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: and you know I can't ask for any other way.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: In terms of coming back, I came back earlier in
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the season, I assume different even coming back from something
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: like that than coming back from an injury. You've probably
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: come back from hurts before. But how much different was
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: it to come back from this, just in terms of
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: gaining strength all that stuff?
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: It was? It was very strange. It was kind of
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: a difficult and longest process just because there's no real
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: set like recovery time.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: There's right, the trainers can't go, hey, we've seen this before,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: so here's what's going to happen.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: It's very rare, not to me. People have had it,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: so it's really I mean not to me regular you
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: know people have it, let alone with athletes. So it's
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: just really really really strange as far as a recovery standpoint.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And what if they told you in terms I mean, uh,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I guess first avous question is how do you feel now?
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like pre uh infection? Devon Hamilton?
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel great. You know, I feel like I'm
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: back to my normal self. I feel like I'm playing
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: better now, and you know, Disgui's limit right now.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, how much of a process is it when you've
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: missed I guess it was late August and then just
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: not been on the field playing, getting used to being
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: a player and being in football shapes this speak that
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: takes some time, right.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was definitely more of a process, especially from
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: the beginning. You know, we have camp where you get
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: to learn and work on those fundamentals a lot, and
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: then to come back mid to late season and you know,
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: practices are cut down, right, which you're supposed to learn
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: is cut down. You know, people have been doing the
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: same plays over and over throughout the week, so you're
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: kind of just getting back in a loop of things,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: getting back in the flow of things. So that was
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: probably the more challenging part of getting back to where
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: I am today.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: And for people who don't understand.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: NFL practice during the season is not game situation at all, right,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: and so it makes it doubly tough. You can't, I
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: assume it's very difficult to practice your way into football
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: shape once camp ends.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, very much so, because a lot of things are
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: more tailored to us players being healthy, being fast on Sundays,
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: and a lot of things are cut down comparative to
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: camp and whatnot. And yeah, it's definitely a process for sure.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: How difficult is it as a player to sort of,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: you know, the season's going on and you're dealing with this,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: so you're sort of you're there, but you're walking on
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: the side.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: If that makes any sense. I'm saying that, like, yeah,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you're part of it, but not part of it. That's
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: always tough in an injury situation.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was very tough. Like I said, I've been
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: blessed with a support system around here, and you know,
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: my teammates really looked after me and during this time.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: You know, it was really difficult for me just because
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: I never had like a crazy injury that stopped me
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: from playing football and could have possibly stopped me long
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: term for playing football ever, you know what I mean.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: I never had that situation, So yeah, it was just
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: really the support system for me.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: What's your attitude now? You know, I've talked to you
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: a little bit over the years. I've always a sense
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: that you were a guy who appreciated the opportunity. But
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: is that even more increased now that you know having
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: it taken away from me for a little while and
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: know that it could be savor in the moment every
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: day I said.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: I would say, you just being present every day is
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: just a great like blessing for me. I mean, I
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: feel like every day is, you know, another opportunity, another
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: way to get better. And I am a little bit
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: more appreciative of that, you know, just being away for
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: it so long and just you know, you have a
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: passion for something and you have to step away from it.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: It's pretty difficult for me.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: And I forgive me twenty five years old, right, twenty six, Yeah,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: it's something to go through a that age.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say it's not I don't know. I
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: don't know to me people in general, you know, yeah,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: just let alone. But athletes for sure.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Right now, I assume the Dodgers have told you, hey,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: now that you're clear of this, you're clear of it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can say I should be the thing.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: I have my check ups here and there just to
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: make sure everything's cool. But yeah, for the most.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Part, I'm done, fantastic, And I know everybody listening is
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: it is very happy to hear that first because this
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: was a scary situation. May even beyond what Devan's talking
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: about a little bit this was tough, and I see
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: you smiling not coming through that it is a very
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: positive thing. Tell me about the moment this off season
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: was sort of reset a little bit when you sign
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: that contract. Jaguars told you, hey, you're part of our
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: core because you sort of had to work your way there. Yeah,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: as a rookie that wasn't guaranteed, and you improved dramatically.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: To tell me about that moment and sort of what
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: that meant to you to be part of this.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I've meant a lot, you know. I didn't really know
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: where I was going to be headed or whatever the
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: case may be. You know, I feel like I've been
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: playing good. I've been working really hard to be the
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: best I could be, And I was just incredibly blessed
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: that they signed me back here, especially during this third year,
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: especially after everything that's happened so far. And yeah, I
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: was just so excited to be back here.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Now you smile when everything's happened so far. Some tough years.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: The way you came in, How difficult was it to
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: develop when coaching changes, head coach coordinator changes, philosophy around you.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: How did you manage to sort of stay focused? And
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: because you did improve from rookie second third, How are
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: you able to do that?
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: You know, it's pretty difficult when things are changing constantly
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: and whatnot, but you know, just having faith that you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna do what I have to do in order
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: to be here in this league, and I'm gonna do
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: what I have to do and more to improve every year,
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: you know. I mean it's kind of a more of
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: a personal standpoint, like where you where you feel like
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: you need to improve, where you feel like I can
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: improve on this team.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: You know, Right, it's tough talk about this year is
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: generally have a body of work yet you're still coming back.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: But last year, clearly the level of play was high.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what was the biggest difference? Was it? Maturity, growth,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: scheme all? How would you describe it?
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: I feel like stuff. Definitely maturity though, just understanding the game,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: how teams are trying to attack us on defense where
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: I need to be at in order to first off
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: do my job but also be able to make a play.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: But also just physically being able to mature and whatnot
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: and sure get stronger, get more flexible and whatnot during
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: the off seasons really helped.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Me do people.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: And I always enjoy talking to players about this because
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: to me, over the years, it's been one thing that
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: fans sometimes don't grasp is the difference between a twenty
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: five year old lineman and a twenty three year old lineman,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: just in terms of, you know, you have always been
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: a big, strong, physical guy. How much bigger, stronger physical
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: are you after three years in the league. How much
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: more can you handle being a third or fourth year
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: guy compared to a rookie. It's a huge difference.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: It is a huge difference. But I mean, granted, I
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: have improved a lot physically, and I feel like more
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: mentally is I say, it's keeping you I know what
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: position I need to be in order to be successful here.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: That can be everything. Yeah, half an inch.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I know how they're going to come down on this block.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: You know, I know how to fit it and whatnot.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: But there's a rookie you're kind of just kind of
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: figuring out who you know, what formation already in, you
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: know what what type of plays are even running. So
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: that's kind of the main difference.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I feel like, when everybody's great and everybody's strong and physical.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Knowledge you're talking about is all the difference in the world. Right, Yeah,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: got you.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Tell me a little about this team right now going
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: through some adversity. What are you sensing in terms of
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: how the approaches this week?
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Just keep on fighting, you know. I mean, we obviously
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: have to finish the year out pretty strong in order
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: to get where we want to go. But I don't
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: see any anybody's doubting or anything like that. It's just
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: more so just locking in on what we know and
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: what we know we can be at. That's pretty much it.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Defensive line at times this year has been a major
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: strength of the team. Feel like that will be the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: case in the last three weeks. I mean, it was
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a stout unit for a long time. Even without you,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: it had some hiccups. What's the mindset of the defensive
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: front going his last year?
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: We got to dominate. We gotta dominate the men in
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: front of us. We got to know what we know
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: and we got to attack. I mean, we're supposed to
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: be the head of our defense, so we're trying to
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: improve on that as much as possible.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Got you.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: With Trevor uncertain this week and offense that will be challenged.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Is there anything extra this week because of that? No?
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, at the end of the day. We still
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: got to do our job. I mean, our goal every
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: week is never don't let the person offense score at all.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: So we don't let them score at all, then we
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: were going to win the game regardless. That's kind of
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: our mentality got you.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: From talking to you in the past and from watching it,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I've got to think you feel like everything's still in
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: front of you. Yeah, I would think you probably haven't
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: even scratched the surface yet of what.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: You can do. No, I feel like I still reaching
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: for my potential right now, and I've still got a
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: long way to go. You know, there's a lot of
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: learning still. You learning every day almost but especially now
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: that have been out for a while, it's kind of
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: just a lot of things are getting thrown at me.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: So, guys, in a sacks oriented world, when everybody you
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: know at a non sack defensive line position, how do
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: you measure growth progress?
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: How do you judge yourself just.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Based off what my teammates do around me? I mean,
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: if I'm able to do my job, I'm able to
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: push the pocket and allow for the quarterback not to
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: be able to step up, that's right, all the all
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: the job in the world, and you know, as coaches
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: look at it, they understand that that I'm doing my
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: job and be appreciated for that.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I got you, Yeah, now anything.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Won the last five games last year, the Jaguars did
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: just sort of come out of nowhere. Can you guys
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: rely on that add a little bit down the stretch
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: this year Now that you're sort of back, I would say,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: must win, but definitely very important.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, uh yeah. It kind of can look back
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: at it just because it's you know, we've been in
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: this situation before. We've been in a situation very similar
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: to this, so it's kind of everybody knows the feeling.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: Everybody knows what they need to do in order to
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: be successful these last couple of weeks in the season.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: So that's kind of how we look back at it.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Got you.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Final thing we do here call it the ozone five.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: It's just five quick fun questions. Have a little fun
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: after a long season, Right, So what was your last
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: binge watch?
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Last binge watch? You know, I'm a big anime guy,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: so I was watching a lot of One Piece, So
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: that's kind of my binge watching.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Now for non anime, which I am.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: What is it? Yea, it is a pirate anime that
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: talks about, you know, a whole lot of pirate stuff.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: You know, people who know.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: People who know. No, I got you. Last song you
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: listened to this morning?
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Last song I listened. Actually I don't. I didn't listen
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: to a song. I listened to a book. I listened
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: to a lot of books when I was writing. I've
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: been listening to Aragon. That's kind of my favorite book
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: from my childhood. Cool enjoy that.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: What was five year old Devon's go to movie.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Go to movie, especially Christmas time?
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Was Christmas Award Christmas?
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Okay, I'm gonna go with Christmas Vacation, National Lampoon my
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: favorite Christmas.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Movie five at five. Wow, that's it's high end stuff.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I've learned some stuff non Christmas, go.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: To non Christmas. I used to watch a lot of movies,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: anything Disney.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Best NFL moment.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Best NFL moment. Definitely winning our first playoff game last year.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Gotcha. That just that feeling and you can't replace it.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't replace it all. I mean, that's really
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: what we wanted. I mean I felt like that changed
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: our organization, changed a lot of things around Jacksonville.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: So yeah, people are person most responsible for you being here.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: Most responsible, I would have to say, God, He just
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: keeps on blessing me, keep on keeping me around and
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: blessing me with good health.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: And I was on that subject and everybody listening wishes
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: you continued good health. I appreciate you coming here and
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: talking about that, and I certainly wish you left moving forward.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: J Von Hamilton, thank you for doing of the other
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Zone podcasts.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me