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O-Zone Podcast: LB Chad Muma · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the ozone Podcast, presented by by Star Credit
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Union with Jaguars senior writer John Osan. All of these
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: are fun because it gets no players we haven't gotten
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to know before. This one should be especially fun. We're
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: talking to remember of the rookie class. I'll make it quick.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It's Chad Muma from Wyoming and Chad, thank you for
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: joining us today. No, thank you so much for you know,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: having me here and get me on the podcast. I love,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you know, just being finally in Jacksonville. You know this
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: is gonna run next week, so I'll tell the listeners
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: add up front, but this is being recorded on the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: first practice of rookie Minicamp, so obvious question. Tell me
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: about your experience with it, and uh, just tell me
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: about the day so far in the weekend. So far, Yeah,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the weekend has been great. You know, we first got
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: into our meetings last night and you know it's a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: lot to install, but I think, you know, the communication
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: out there today it was great by the whole. You know,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: at least I'm speaking for the defense. Everyone was really
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: communicative and you know, I've had a good fill with
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: you know, the defensive guys that we have here. At
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: this rookie camp and you know, you can see the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: leadership out there and you know, players wanting to push
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: each other and make each other better. So it was,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: you know, a great first day. Now I've talked to
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: your defensive coordinator from college already. Um he assured me
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: that picking up the scheme won't be a problem for you.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: You uh, pride yourself on that. Correct, No, correct, I
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: definitely probably myself on that. And you know, definitely you
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: know it's the first day. You're gonna have some little
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: things here and here and there that come up. But
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you know, I really probably myself on you know, being
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: able to pick up things not only for what I'm
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: supposed to be doing out there, but more specifically everyone
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: around me. Do you ever get tired of being described
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: as a green dot linebackers? The first time IVE ever
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: heard the turn by the way, and all of a sudden,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that's all I read when I hear about Chad MoMA. Yeah, no,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I never get out of that. I think I kind of,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: you know, go back to that pride thing about you know,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: knowing what I'm doing out there and being able to
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: really communicate to everyone on the defense and talk to
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: everyone So that's definitely something that I probably myself and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: being described as and talking to guys who have played
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: that role before, Uh, the first thing they always say
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: is if you're gonna be that guy, you better be
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: playing at a high level as well. I assume you
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: subscribed to that theory. Yeah, no, definitely, you gotta you know,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: when you're the green dot player, you can't let that
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: communication get in the way of your play. And I
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: think you know that it's kind of goes to that
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: leadership style where if you're that green dot player and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: you're leading everyone out there, you've gotta be one of
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the best players, if not the best player. Uh. When
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: you're communicating to everyone and you know, making the place yourself,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: it kind of gets everyone going a little bit. How
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: do you come in here as a rookie. You've got
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: to balance confidence with uh, knowing that it's a process
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: to get to where you want to go. When you
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: think about next season, think about what your role is.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Do you think about that at all or is it
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  Speaker 1: all okay, I'm gonna focus on today, then the next day,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: then the next day is definitely a day to day thing.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Is you know, every single day you gotta come in
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  Speaker 1: here and just put in the work. You know, keep
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: your head down and not talk too much. But you
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: know you're gonna still be out there leading. But you know,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: my philosophy about is take every day at a time
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and get better every single day and get better compared
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to the day before. I haven't asked this of of
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of rookies because it hasn't been a thing
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: for a lot of guys in college. The year of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: COVID you only played four or five games, right, correct, Yeah,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: we had six games that year. How did that when
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: you're facing that and thinking about your career coming up
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: and your goals? What was that year like in terms
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: of anxiety on that level for you in terms of okay,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I'm losing games here or was that even on your
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: mind at all? No, it definitely was. You know, to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: start the season, our season actually got canceled in August,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: and that's kind of how it started, and so that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was a really big bummer because then we were thinking, Okay,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: we might get the opportunity to play this spring and uh,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: then we'll go straight into the fall, which I was
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: all up for. I just wanted to be able to play,
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  Speaker 1: and so you know, when that happened, the season actually
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: got put back on. It was only conference games, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: you know, that year was really difficult because we had
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: a couple of games that were canceled due to COVID restrictions,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and uh, you know that that that thoughts definitely in
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the back of your mind. But at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the day, I just really wanted to go out there
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  Speaker 1: and play. And I think that, you know, whileman did
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a great job, I've always putting ourselves in a position
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to be able to go out and go play. Um,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: and so that that was the biggest thing. That's the
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: thing kind of hurt that year is just only being
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: able to play six games. So uh, this past year,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I really took advantage of all thirteen games I gotta
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: play in. And it was kind of leading up to
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: this question, had a chance to go back to Wooming
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: if you had wanted to correct? Correct? Uh? When did
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: you sort of know? Okay, I think I'm ready. Yeah.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: It was kind of a communication with my head coach
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: at Wyoming. We had that communication going out throughout the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: whole year, starting the beginning. Uh, and he really just
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: told me to, you know, just focus on my play
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and not really worry about that that will all come.
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  Speaker 1: Just go out there and have fun and go play.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: And so that's what I did. And then come to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the end of the season, he kind of sat me
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: down and he said, you know, I think you're ready
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: and you take this opportunity. And so I went with
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: that and was able to, you know, go to Senior Bowl,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: go to Combine, and end up here now. And talking
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: to your coordinator coach saw he told me a story.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: He said basically, he was telling people before this season, look,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: we better playing without a moment because he's not going
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: to be here. So he had confidence and he made
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: before the head coach did. Yeah, I'm kidding about um.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: And on a more serious time, we talked before we
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: came on. Uh in reading about you diagnosed with type
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  Speaker 1: one diabetes when you're in seventh grade, great, Uh, tell
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: me first about that. I've read a little bit about it,
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  Speaker 1: but it's fascinating how you must try to deal with
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: that at that age and then sort of as you
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: play through it with a high level athletic career. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So when I was first diagnosed, I was, you know,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: thirteen years old, and I was going through all the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: you know, type one diabetes symptoms. So you know, you're
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: drinking water all the time, you're always going to the restroom,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: You're you know, always tired, and so like every night
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I wake up and have to go to the restroom
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: at least once, and I'm turning on the faucet for
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: about five minutes and just sitting there with my head underneath.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: And you know, after school every day, I'm coming home
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: just going straight to taking a nap. And at the time,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I was like, man, you know, he pretty kind of sucks.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I'm going through all this and everything. But uh, you know,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: after a couple of weeks, my parents kind of took
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: notice of the symptoms and I actually lost about thirty
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: pounds over that little course. Um, and that's when you
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: should be really putting on weight. And so that's when
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: I went in and got checked out. And you know,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: at the time, I think my blood sugar was like
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: five fifty and it was the morning time, which for
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: a normal person there ranges between seventy and one fifty,
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  Speaker 1: and so mine was like five hundred fifty or something
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  Speaker 1: like that. And uh so then I was in the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: hospital all day until I got some insultent in me
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  Speaker 1: and got my numbers back down, and you know, now
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  Speaker 1: it's just really about managing it and just making sure
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  Speaker 1: that I'm always staying on top of it so I'm
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: in that range and I'm able to, you know, go
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: play football, go work out, go do these things. And
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  Speaker 1: so that's just kind of been something that you know,
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  Speaker 1: I have to live with daily, but just just be
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: extremely disciplined with and you know, everything's all right with it.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: And it's something correct me if I'm wrong that you
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: monitor during games at the end of quarters or halfs
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: in that and in practice at the same time, but
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: it's also something you've been doing for what now ten years. Yeah, No,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: it seems like it seems like it's been going on
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: for a while now. But you know, definitely in games,
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  Speaker 1: what I'll do is I'll test my blood sugar out
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  Speaker 1: each quarter, uh, and then I'll adjust my numbers based
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: off of if I need to give myself insulent, if
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: my sugar is too higher, if my blood shuer goes
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: too low, I'll h drink some gator and eat some
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: like fruit snacks or something like that. And so it's
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  Speaker 1: kind of similar with practice. I'll test about halfway through
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  Speaker 1: make sure my numbers are still stable and you kind
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: of just go for their And the main reason I
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  Speaker 1: asked in reading about this with you, it strikes me
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  Speaker 1: that it's very important for you to help in educating
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  Speaker 1: kids younger than you and to be sort of an inspiration.
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  Speaker 1: Am I reading that right? Yeah? So when I was yeah,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I was thirteen years old, and you know, the first
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: thing I did was search NFL players with type one diabetes.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, Jay Cutler was the one that came up,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and I was I'm from Denver and so at the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: time it was a really big Broncos fan. You know,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: he was at Denver for a little bit when he
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: got diagnosed, and uh, that was kind of it, but
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  Speaker 1: I knew it was possible. So I think it's kind
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of being that voice for the younger athletes and not
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  Speaker 1: only football, just just athletes in general, um, that have
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: type one diabetes and just let them know that, you know,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: don't let this disease hold them back from going out
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  Speaker 1: and you know, achieving all their aspiration and goals that
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: they have. And I assume to find out about j
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: at the time, even though probably some doctors had told
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  Speaker 1: you that it was possible. That always helps see somebody
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: who's actually doing it always helps you. I definitely think so.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: And you know today, like in the NFL, you have
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: guys like Mark Andrews and uh, you know, Noah Gray
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: and a couple of others. Um, and so just having
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: multiple guys with type one diabetes have that success. And
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: you know there's other sports. I'm you know, I'm sitting
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: down with a group called uh it's it's the group
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: called Hope Diabetes for Hope or something like that, and um,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: we're kind of getting together with different professional athletes and
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: gonna be able to help some younger athletes, uh and
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: kind of be those voice for all those different sports sports.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Very cool final question on these lines, and it would
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: do something fun here at the end. When I talk
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: to your coordinator, he said the thing that stood out
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: the most to him was that you're the same guy
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: every day Tuesday, practice, Saturday game, whatever. What does that
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: mean for you to hear that? I assume that's something
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: you take pride in. Definitely, I you know, it's just
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: that same mindset going back to it and just saying
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: that every day I'm gonna try, you know, everything in
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: my ability to get better. And you know, it's definitely
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a consistency piece. You can't just be you know on
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: some days and off the other days. It's always going constant, uh,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you know, a hundred percent of the time. And so
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: that's kind of just that attitude in mindset that I
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: take to every day. And so you know, I appreciate
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: those words from my old defensive coordinator, but something I
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: definitely take pride in. I got. The final thing we
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: do here, Chad, is that we call the ozone five.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: It's quick questions answer However, you like, what was your
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: last binge watch? Binge watch Ozark? Mine too, is a
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: matter of fact. Yeah, no, I love that show, and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: so it just came out of new season. So I
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: had a binge watch that. Did you rewatch it or
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: did you watched it? Uh, just just watched the you know,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the last season. Again, I wouldn't be a fan of
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the yin. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna tell people, Uh,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: your first football memory, either as a player or just
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: being aware of the game. Yeah, I was six. I
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: was at five years old, Uh, and I was going
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: to my brother's practices and he was, you know, practicing
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: with like some seven year olds, and um, his full
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: padded practice. At that time, I'm five years old. I'm
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: suited up in my dad's thrown me in there some
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma drill and I'm the running back and I'm just
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: getting lit up by these these seven year olds. And
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that's kind of like the first football memory that I
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: really have. But I think it kind of helped me
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: in to, you know, grow the love I have for
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: it now. And I assume you were insane Broncos fan
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: growing up, right, definitely? You know I was always, you know,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: a Denver fan, growing up all Denver sports. Yeah, for
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Jaguars fans. Fortunately you weren't born in ninety six, right right, No,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: good for you, but you know the story, right yeah? Okay,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: all right? Um, what song did you listen to the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: last time you were in a car? Oh? Song I
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: listened to in my car? Um, It's kind of it's
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: kind of an odd ball, um, but it was this
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: guy named Rex, Orange County. And it's because it's off.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: This new album is called One in a Million. It's
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit slower, but you know, I've really enjoy
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Rex Orange Counties music. A good answer, best player you've
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: ever you've ever played against? Best player I think in
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: my college career. Uh, you know, went up against you know,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Trey McBride every single year. He's someone that really stands
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: out to me. He's, uh, you know, the tied end
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: from Colorado State. He's now with Arizona Cardinals. Um, that's
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: someone that you know I had to go up against
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: every single year and so, uh, you know, playing against
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: him is always a good little competition. Final question, we'll
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: get you out of here. Who's most responsible in your
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: life for you being here? My father, for sure. You know,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: he's really you know, develops me into who I am today,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: and you know it kind of helped me be the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: man I am. And you know, he really taught me
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: a lot about football and he kind of helped me
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: grow my love for football from a young age. Your
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: father's day coming out, take care of him. Chat. I
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: appreciate you doing this. I know it's a busy weekend
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: for you, but thank you for letting our fans get
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: to know you a little bit. I look forward to
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: working with you. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.