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The DiCecco Daily: Catching Up With Eagles Jalyx Hunt's Trainer: What They're Working On · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Hey, what's happening everybody? Welcome into this edition of to
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Checko Daily. I am Andrew de Checko delivering you the
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first of two podcasts today. But while the afternoon one
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will be more geared towards the position preview as we
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look towards the defense, this first.
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Speaker 2: One will be revolving around.
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Speaker 1: Eagle's second year pass rusher Jylyx Hunt. I had a
0:34
chance to speak to his trainer, Corey Clark, who trains
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Jalyx at the Houston Facility, which is Champions League Performance Facility,
0:44
so in Houston, Texas. If you remember or if you
0:47
read the story last offseason, I spoke to Clark and
0:51
got a better understanding of what the training, what his
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training entailed, and how Jlyx was really taking to preparing
1:00
himself for his first NFL training camp. Those who have
1:04
followed along with my work even before the twenty twenty
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four draft, you already know that I was high on
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jay Loox Hunt and his pro prospects. And once you
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start to hear what Corey Clark had to say about
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jay Loox and his development heading into his second season,
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well I think you're gonna be pretty intrigued. So what's
1:24
really interesting here is that Corey trained j Loox before OTAs.
1:30
But the nature of it is, you don't really know
1:34
if they're going to return before training camp because players
1:39
have different obligations, and you could end up staying in Philadelphia.
1:44
You could have trips planned, you could have a different
1:48
training regimen that you're looking to kind of experiment with
1:52
leading into training camp.
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Speaker 2: But funnily enough, it was.
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Speaker 1: It was one day that he noticed that there was
2:01
a package sent to his facility and noticed that it
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was for j Loox Hunt and the package contained thirty
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specialized shakes, and he later shared with me that the
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team goal for jay Loox is to add some weight.
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Speaker 2: So he was listed at two fifty two.
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Speaker 1: Corey Clark told me it could be about ten pounds
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heavier that they're expecting him to be at. And this
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is a big off season for jay Loox Hunt because
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he's now stepping into a starting role and you'd be
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hard pressed to find a player on the Eagles roster
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who made a bigger leap in a year's time than Hunt.
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And this year the priority was adding weight, and jay
2:46
Loox's priority was strengthening his lower body. So when you
2:50
start to really look at it. I mean, I'll read
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you a quick quote from Corey Clark. He said the
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Eagles wanted him to put on weight going into this season,
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so j Loox had all that was protein shakes shipped
3:01
to the gym. I reached out to him and I
3:03
was like, hey, you know, you got some protein shakes here.
3:06
He's like, yeah, I'll be home next week. So obviously
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Corey has to balance the increase in weight with the
3:18
strenuous training regimen and ensuring that Jlyx doesn't lose too
3:22
much weight. And he talked about the fact that you know,
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he's still moving the same, he's gotten a little bit
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more powerful, definitely stronger in the weight room because he's
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throwing around weight that he wasn't throwing around last year.
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And he also talked about how his weight sets have differed,
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and that's one of the notable differences.
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Speaker 2: But he's also being mindful of.
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Speaker 1: His nutritional intake and ensuring that he's maintaining that weight
3:50
that the Eagles have and have planned for him going
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into his second season. So this is an off season
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that really could foreshadow a breakout campaign for Jaylyox Hunt.
4:02
Look he played in sixteen games. In all postseason contests
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as a rookie, he had twenty one tackles, a sack
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and a half, three quarterback hits, and two forced fumbles
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over two hundred and forty one regular.
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Speaker 2: Season snaps, and he equaled.
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Speaker 1: His regular season sack total during the Eagles playoff run.
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He initially connected with Clark right ahead of Houston Christian's
4:25
Pro day and they've really been been training together ever since.
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Speaker 2: And he, as I mentioned.
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Speaker 1: He worked with Jay Loox prior to OTAs and the
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Eagles Man Low minute mandatory mini camp session and really,
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according to Corey, those sessions were dedicated to hunt, you know,
4:47
adding mass and his philosophy. Corey's philosophy during OTAs it
4:54
may differ from other trainers. His philosophy is really geared
5:00
towards reconnecting the reconnecting with the body after a long season.
5:04
He doesn't subscribe to the notion of implementing cleats into
5:07
the workouts before OTA's. For example, wide receivers and defensive
5:11
backs aren't to use gloves. So this is really just
5:15
reconnecting with the body and working on some things, tweaking
5:20
some things, and preparing yourself for the organized team activities
5:25
portion of the offseason, but things ramp up when players
5:29
return for the second session. If you return for the
5:33
second session, and I thought that it was notable that
5:36
Corey mentioned that his vision, his plan was to not
5:42
add any other players to the training contingent to jlux's
5:46
training contingent for continuity purposes and really just familiarity. And
5:51
in his group there was Raiders pass Rusher Landon Roberts,
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Seahawks cornerback Shaquille Griffin, Jaguars tight end Quinton Morris, and
6:00
Colt's running back Ulysses Bentley, the fourth who I really
6:04
liked at SMU. So it's a four day work week.
6:10
Wednesday is geared towards active recovery. And yes, the Texas
6:15
heat is sweltering, so that's something hurdle you have to
6:19
overcome and that requires a lot of mental toughness. But
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the sessions, which begin Monday Mondays, begin around ten am
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and the first session typically covers about ninety minutes.
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Speaker 2: Corey Clark adds builds.
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Speaker 1: Builds in time for rest and recovery, and then twice
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a week he'll hold two a days, so there'll be
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a session around dinner time, which goes around forty to
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forty five forty to five to fifty minutes, and so
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here's the rundown. Mondays are typically devoted to acceleration with
6:54
an emphasis on starts, get off and working in confined space.
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Speaker 2: Tuesdays are for lateral work and wide dynamic movements.
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Speaker 1: There's also a focus on lower body, which is exactly
7:06
what jayalox Hunt is looking to strengthen in addition to
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increasing his weight. Thursday is a speed and power day
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where while Fridays are a designated heavy lift day, and
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that's where Corey Clark offers the some optionality, so you
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can either squat or you can deadlift, and they also
7:27
hit the field of course for conditioning, and he said
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the biggest thing for j Loox right now is making
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sure he's eating enough because with the way we train
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for training camp, it's on.
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Speaker 2: Go, but the safe way.
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Speaker 1: These guys need to be in top notch shape going
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into training because of how much they're doing once they
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get there. So I know, with our speed days and
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our field days along with our lifts and stuff like that,
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I don't want him to drop too much. So the
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lower body is going to be a point of emphasis
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as it pertains to Hunt, and Clark has devoted two
8:02
days a week to ensuring that that objective is accomplished,
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and he believes that they can get it done over
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the next few weeks and those days will likely be
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Tuesdays and Fridays. But what I found to be most
8:15
interesting in talking to Corey and you can hear the
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excitement and the pride that he has in Jay Loox
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when you hear him when we were talking over the phone,
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and he said the most notable difference in Hunt's training
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compared to this time last summer, because remember, as I
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outlined earlier in the podcast, that was more skewed towards
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you know, acclamation, the introduction, and it was that initial
8:37
phase where you're preparing him for his first training camp.
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Now that there's that knowledge and there's an understanding of
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what's expected and you have specific goals in mind, you know,
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one team appointed and the other one Jay Loox wanted
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to hone in on.
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Speaker 2: Well, that's where you start to see a little bit.
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Speaker 1: More strategy involved in the crafting of these training sessions
8:59
to really maximize the time, and there's a concentration on
9:04
lifting heavy to make sure that the strengths maintained with
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Hunt in the hypertrophy phase, and I mentioned also being
9:12
mindful of the nutritional intake to make sure that everything's
9:15
tracking there. But this was probably my favorite quote that
9:21
Corey had to say about Jaylyx, and I said, where
9:24
did you see him make the greatest strides in his game?
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From working with him last year to working with him
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right now. What do you notice that's different? He said,
9:34
his power, Man, his power has been different. His first
9:37
step has been a lot more explosive. And I think
9:40
that comes with the experience that he got that he
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has from this past year, seeing how strong he's got.
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Speaker 2: As far as just.
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Speaker 1: In the weight room, I can only imagine what it's
9:48
like when he's actually back on the field, when he's
9:51
doing his hand drills with Chris. That will be Chris Brown,
9:54
the movement specialist. I can see it's becoming second nature
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to him. It's almost like he knows it's coming and
10:00
he's beating Chris to the spot. I know it's drills,
10:03
but I pay attention to small stuff like that. But
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I think that he's also growing into a leadership role
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and he had to be nudged. But the way that
10:13
Corey Clark has his mindset, his thought process in this
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is you can see how he's viewed amongst his peers. Well,
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he saw how he's viewed amongst his peers, and he
10:24
wants to make him lead off in certain drills. That way,
10:28
not only are you really setting the tone, but you're
10:31
also not allowing any downtime, right, You're making sure that
10:35
the player remains style within at throughout the whole session.
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And I think because of that, you're seeing jay Loox
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step into a much more prominent role in terms of leadership,
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which is really important. When you look at the Eagles
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defense and how it's currently constituted.
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Speaker 2: There's a youth movement.
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Speaker 1: On this team, and I think jay Loox has natural
10:56
leadership qualities that really should be a seamless transition. And
11:01
you know, Corey pretty much called him a spokesperson, and
11:04
how much different it is this year.
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Speaker 2: And that is the.
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Speaker 1: Player that has probably the highest upside of his group
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and one that has left an impression on the players
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that he's trained with. And if you think about this,
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there was one veteran player Corey didn't name which one,
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but there is a veteran player who he's been training with,
11:25
for four or five years, who mentioned to j Loox,
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you know, if you keep doing what you're doing, and
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I'm paraphrasing here, you're going to be.
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Speaker 2: A pro bowler, a future pro bowler.
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Speaker 1: And if you at the rate that you're doing it
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and your work ethic, you're going to be a future
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pro bowler.
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Speaker 2: And he mentioned to him.
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Speaker 1: That when you make that Pro Bowl, I'm going to
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be there, no matter where he is retired or wherever.
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When you make that Pro Bowl, I promise you I'm
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going to be there. So they see the progress firsthand.
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They're seeing the ability and certain quality that jay Loox has.
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You can't you can't teach. This is a player who's
12:02
only been playing the edge rusher position for about four
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or five years. He was a collegiate safety at one
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point at Cornell and then he got to Houston Christian
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and he becomes a pass rusher. So the upside obviously
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is immense and that wasn't lost on those who he
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trains with.
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Speaker 2: Another part of it that really.
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Speaker 1: Stood out to me was was that he watched the
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Super Bowl at home Corey Clark, and there was a
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couple of jay Loox's former teammates at Houston Christian that
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were there for the Super Bowl to watch it with Clark,
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and they also trained with them. And before the game
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they were excited. They were sort of forecasting what was
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to come. They thought he was going to get a
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sack or two in that game. And I mentioned I said, Corey,
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did you did you? What was your message to Jay
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Looks after the game? He said he texted him immediately
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after after the game, like once the convetti was following
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and the on field celebration commenced.
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Speaker 2: He said he texted him right then and there.
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Speaker 1: But he also kind of joked around and said, j
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Loox isn't really much of a text.
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Speaker 2: He takes his time in getting back to you.
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Speaker 1: He eventually does, but that he's more of a phone guy,
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and when he needs something from Jay Oaks, or he
13:16
has something to ask him, or if he sees something,
13:20
he has to call him. And that's really more of
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what he really is all about, not necessarily much.
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Speaker 2: Of a text.
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Speaker 1: But as you can see, taking all of that into account,
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I wrote this story in detail and inside the Birds
13:33
dot Com. I encourage everybody to check it out. I
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think you should have a lot of encouragement and intrigue
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in following the progress of jay loox Hunt when you're
13:44
seeing now he has realistic goals. There's the weight gain
13:48
that the team's looking for from him. There's the prioritization
13:53
of strengthening his lower body. You heard the quote that
13:56
I've read from Corey about his explosiveness and his get
13:58
off and his power. He's throwing weight around in the gym.
14:02
These are all welcoming signs of a player who I
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believe is going to be the Eagles twenty twenty five
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breakout player.
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Speaker 2: You don't want to.
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Speaker 1: Put expectations too high because that's unfair, but I do
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believe that he has the ability to pick up seven
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eight nine sacks this year in an expanded role, starting
14:22
alongside Nolan Smith. So hopefully during this period of the
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NFL offseason where there isn't a ton to glean, this
14:32
is something that I find to be interesting and the
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kind of content that I like to deliver to you all,
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thinking outside the box and really pulling the curtain back
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on a player that everybody should be really excited about.
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So I hope you all enjoyed this episode of The
14:47
check Odaily.
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Speaker 2: I'll have another one for you later.
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Speaker 1: Today where I break down the defensive line and we
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start to move through the positions on defense. But until later,
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this has been the check odaily. I'll talk to everybody
15:00
later on today. Have a great one.