Latest / Mac & Bone Podcast / Mac & Bone Show - Brentson Buckner Interview

Transcript

Mac & Bone Show - Brentson Buckner Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, let's bring in someone that knows himself some ball.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: We do have to change this, though.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I just realized, Bowen, I've reached out to Buck after
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: both losses, but not after the win.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Buck has to come in and do cleanup duty.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Brinson Buckner, a legend in these parts, in the Carolinas,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: a stud D-lineman for Clemson, the same here with the Panthers.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: You can check out his podcast, Buck Naked Sports, and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: hear all Buck's takes here. But he's nice enough to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: join us here, talk a little Panther football, maybe a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: little college football, too.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: What's up, Buck? How you doing, man?
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: How are you doing?
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: Good.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: What's going on, my guy?
• 0:34
  Speaker 5: What's up, Buck?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: What's happening? Appreciate you being here.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: And one day we will win a game and get
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you on when it's a happier conversation. Buck, this team
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: right now, the offensive line, now Damian Lewis is hurt
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and sounds like he won't play at least this week.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: And I feel like he's our most reliable lineman. But
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the tackles have been having rough times. Of course, we're
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: missing our two starters. Like what what can the Panthers
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: do to kind of make the job easier of these tackles?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Because we got Aiden Hutchinson coming in here. Like, or
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: do you just think this until the tackles get healthy,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: we're in trouble?
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: What do you think?
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Well, I think now you have to sort of scheme
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: to help your tackles. No chip blocks, probably keeping guys
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: in on protections, getting the ball out of the quarterback's
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: hands fast, moving the ball, go to more timing routes.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: You're probably going to be limited with your shots you
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: take downfield because you don't have the pocket timing there.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: because the offensive line struggles. There's different ways you can
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: go by it, but the number one way that you
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: help strengthen the offensive line is you generate a run game.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: You know, you got to generate a run game and
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: you got to lean on that run game. You got
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: to get those defensive linemen sitting back on their heels
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: thinking that they got to take on run blocks. And
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: then first down becomes more of a passing down because
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: a lot of times a defensive mindset, first and 10,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: you think you run more run than pass. and then
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: you want to take your dropbacks, take them on first down,
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: you know, and catch the defense by surprise. There's different
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: ways you can scheme to help your offensive line get better.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Got to do that.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: By the way, I hate to interrupt this interview, but
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: you can laugh at me. You enjoy that over the years. Finnegan,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: get the mop out. I messed up. For some reason,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I said Mike Houston. and not Blake Harrell as ECU's coach.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Mike Houston is long gone. Blake Harrell is the one
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: who had a good year and a half coming into
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: this season and has himself some grace period.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: My bad, everybody.
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: The way coach is Jake Dicker. Apparently, Max said Jamie Dicker.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, did I?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, did I screw up both?
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: New name for you, Matt.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: We're going to call you Mop McClain because all you
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: do is mess up.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Hey, Buck, are you free out of the bullpen at
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: some point here? We might need to sit back down.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: For a game or two.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I'm not good with names, y'all. I'm getting too old
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: for this name thing. Y'all just got to figure out
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: who I'm talking about. Let's get back to Buck's breakdown.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: We get the news of, on the defensive side, J.C.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Horn. being out for a long time. How, how much
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: does this hurt? And is there a way to navigate
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: life defensively without JC and still play relatively well?
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, it hurts because, you know, I think J.C.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: was an ascending defensive back in his league. I like his,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: you know, his size, his athleticism. You know, he could
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: match up versus number one wide receivers, you know, physical
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: in the run game. And it sort of puts you
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: in the hole. You know, now you got to go
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: with the young guys. And once again, you know, as
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: a defensive coordinator, you want to run your stuff. You
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: want to run your stuff, but you can't. Are you
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: going to be limited to some of the stuff you
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: run because, The guy that's behind J.C. just is not
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: as good as he is. But you go out there
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: and you try to play your style of defense. We
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: used to always say this. The most valuable players in
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: the room are not the starters. It's the guys that
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: sit behind the starters because at a blink of an eye,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: they got to come in and become the guy. And
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: what you try to employ to your backups is we
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: don't want to drop off. We don't want to drop off.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: We don't want to have to just– start to change
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: and alter everything because one guy's missing here or there. No,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: your job is to come in and be ready. And
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: a lot of times this is where stars are born,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: where they accept the responsibility, they're ready to perform, and
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: they go out there and do their job. So this
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: is a challenge for the backup guys. Now you got
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: your chance because everybody sits in that locker room and
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: wants to be a starter. If I get my chance,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: if I get my chance, I can do it. Well,
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: now it's presented itself. Are you ready to take hold
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: of that role and become a starter and keep the
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: ship upright until the starter gets back?
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what we're hoping for, man, and we will see.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, Mike Jack, good chance he doesn't go, too,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: and maybe Corey Thornton gets called back. I do think
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Lee and Caleb Evans were both pretty good last week.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: But this passing attack they go against this week is
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: a bigger challenge. I wanted to ask you about a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: schematic question, Buck. I have noticed, looking at the numbers
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: on Sumer Sports, I have noticed that the Panthers have
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: blitzed more this season in a small three-game sample. They're
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: up to seventh in blitz percentage from middle of the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: pack last year. And they're playing more man. Like last year,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: they hardly played any man. This year, I think they're
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: like 17th in man percentage. So it's kind of a split.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Do you think you have to change those things? Do
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: you think you have to go back to zone coverage
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and less blitzing without JC Horn and maybe without Mike Jack, too?
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: I don't because I think the reason you're seeing it
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: more because I think that's the way they're built. So
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: even the backups were brought in here because they're probably
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: pretty good at playing man, so it fits your scheme.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: And I think the man part is also what you
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: got at linebacker this year. I know that last year
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: you did not want to leave those guys in man
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: because it was just a mismatch for the offense. But
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: when you get Devin Lloyd in here and you get–
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I don't want to say if I'm saying it right. Okurike?
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Is that right how you say his name?
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't be asking back right now about names. Let's
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: just go ahead and say you got it, Buck. Yeah,
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: that's the way I would say it, Buck.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: I don't want to mess this guy's name up.
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: Okurike, yeah.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Okurike. You know, those guys are good in coverage. You
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: know what I mean? They're better than what you have.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: And so you can be more free on defense to
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: bliss a little bit more, to play a little bit
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: more man. So I think that's the style that they're
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: morphing into, and the playbook is open for the defensive
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: coordinator because the talent has allowed him to open it up.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: So you don't want to stray away from too much
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: for what you do, or you'll be back in the
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: same boat. You know what I mean? So those guys,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: those backups, they're probably not the starters because that's really
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: their backups, but you know this system, and you're here
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: because you've fit this system. And so you just want
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: to keep on running your system and running your system.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: Buck, Smitty was on with Kyle Bailey the other day
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: in his weekly spot, and they were talking about not
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: just the Panther injuries, but the league-wide injuries right now.
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: It's running rampant, all teams. I mean, look at the Niners,
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: for crying out loud.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: He had a theory that, you know, the surfaces that
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: the players are growing up with now are so much
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: different than they used to be and not just the
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: natural grass. They're playing on turf as kids. They're playing
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: on turf as kids. Do you buy into that? And
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: what do you think is leading to just the– the
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: rash of more injuries than ever before?
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: I think the surface, of course, because, you know, grass
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: is more forgiving. Grass is more healing towards your body.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: When you're playing on this turf, this synthetic turf, it
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: adds more force into your joints. And if you do
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: it time after time, because, you know, figure when I
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: was coming up in high school, I never touched the turf.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: When I got to college, I touched it twice at
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Georgia Tech and at Virginia at the time. Both of
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: them had turf fields. But then when I got to
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: the NFL, everybody in the L.C. Central back at the
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: time had turf itself for the Cleveland Browns. And your
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: body just felt– my body felt different being on that turf.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Another factor is I just think these guys– these guys
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: grew up playing football year-round now. You know, you got
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: fall ball, you got winter ball, you got spring ball.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Some guys play for two and three teams during the
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: season because they're playing travel ball. And then once you
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: go off to college, you're practicing. But then in the offseason,
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: they're training, they're job specific. They're not giving their body
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: time to heal or sort of morph. to what they're
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: trying to do. So I think it's wear and tear
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: on the body from an early age, whereas when I
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: was in middle school, you played football. Football, you went
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: to basketball. Basketball, you went to track or baseball. And
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: it was always through high school. And then your body
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: got a chance to do different things. But when you're
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: playing the same sport year in and year out, you know,
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: you start to wear those joints out because you're doing
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: the same movements too much.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense. It definitely makes sense. All right, Buck. Well, hey,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: you are the man.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you answering the questions that you know. Buck
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: coached in the league, too, in addition to all those
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: years playing. We appreciate you. Buck, next time you come on,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: maybe we'll make it after a win, and maybe I
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: will clean my game up, all right? And we'll not
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: distract from your segment with a bunch of mistakes.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I'll be better, Buck.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: Did Mack lose his spot on the Buck Naked Truth podcast?
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: No.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll probably sit you on the bench
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: a little bit. We'll have to send you down to
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: the D-League for a podcast.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: Okay, yeah.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: I'll prove myself down there at the lower levels, Buck.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: All right, Buck, you the man, baby.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: All right, one love.