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AJ Barner: "This Is A Great Place To Be" · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: What's the last week or so in life from getting drafted. Yeah,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I'll be excitment for that and coming out here it's.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Been sick great place to be, great coaches, great football fans,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: and great tradition too, So I can't ask for more
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: than that.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Did Did Ryan Grudg give any craft for the National
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Championship game?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Anything? No? Just I mean it is a great game,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: two great teams, two great programs, and you know, I
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: mean that's what happens when you get when you get
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: you know, good people and good players together, you know,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: there's gonna be a great competition. So I just can't
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: wait to work with them.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: How does it feel to be on the same team
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: as the starting tight end from the National Championship give
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the other team?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jack's my guy. We were able to, like, you know,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: hang out during the pre draft process too and just
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: chop it up, talkball and just get to know each
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: other too. And I mean, you know, he knows Seattle
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: well in the state. He's from here, so you know,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: even outside of football, just you know, getting the lay
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: of the land a little bit. It'll be it'll be
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: great to be with him.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Is that somebody that you would lean on a little
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: bit to learn the offense too, since he played.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. I actually when I was at Indiana,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: you know, there was a lot of ties in my
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: first offense to this one. But yeah, definitely gonna lean
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: on Jack, Coach Mac, you know, the veterans that are
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: in that room, just you know, soak up as much
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: information as I can.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: How did you get to know Jack first?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: So well, just through the combine and like all that stuff,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: just being with the tight ends and then we had
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: coached Nick Sheridan, who was his tight ends coach at
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Washington was one of my coaches at Indiana, So just
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: knowing him through that.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: When you transferred from Indiana, Michigan, J Harbaugh involved at all.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: In your career year, Yeah, a little bit. Definitely, Coach
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Jay a little bit. Really just the whole Michigan staff.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I felt like, you know, they had an opportunity for
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: me to go and compete and be challenged every day
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: and be on a team that was you know, had
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: goals of winning a national championship. And you know, coach
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: j was definitely a piece in recruiting me. You talk
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: about it to day. Were drafted, but now that you're
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: here and you see a sinilarity of how Michigan compared
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: with the system PERC. Yeah, I think, you know Michigan.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure there's you know, a few other
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: programs that are like it, but terms of getting ready
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: for Sunday, like, we put a lot of guys up here,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: and you know, I had a lot of coaches that
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: have been up here too, And yeah, I think there's
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: definitely similarities with the scheme. Coach Jay. You know, he's
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: going to be very detail oriented, but he also has
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: fun too, like and he also emphasizes the importance of
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: special teams, like it's the National Football League. Games are
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: won and lost, and you know, a couple of plays
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and that special teams can be a big difference. So
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: that's an area that I definitely, you know, want to
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: help out as much as I can on special teams
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: when you have the most fun you know, kickoff. Actually
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I'm a tight end, but you know, growing up, I
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: played linebacker my whole life, and uh, you know, football
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: is a violent sports. So anytime you get to run
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: down there and kick off. It'll be a little different
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: now with these new rules, but yeah, we'll see. I'm
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: excited though.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: So when we talked to you last week, you you mentioned,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: you know, you'd heard a lot about Mike McDonald from Michigan. Yeah,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: now you've actually been around, and what been your first impressions?
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: You know, just you know, wants to play the play
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: the game the way I want to play, a physic cool,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: holds his guys accountable, just talks about stacking days, stacking wins,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: and you know, I just know that. You know, he's
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: a really really talented, you know, defensive mind and headball coach.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: And you know the staff that he's put together here,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: you know, it's legit. And uh I already touched on,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: you know, the tradition of playing for the Seahawks. You know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: it's you know, when I was growing up leading a
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: boom baby, So you know we're gonna hopefully bring that back.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: There's any similarities to coach Harbost since he had worked under.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Coach Yeah, I'm sure, yeah, definitely. You know, Unfortunately coach Mike, uh,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: he had left by the time I got there, so
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: I really wasn't able to see them side by side.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: But I'm sure, you know, as I get more comfortable here,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I'll definitely you know, pick up little things that they
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: both harp on. Never practiced by a lake before, and
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: it's pretty sick. I'm a Midwest guy, so I'm not
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: used to these mountains. You know, it's pretty sick out here.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I like it, Michael, you know, a little hans to
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: sit out and be super tough. I'm a competitor and
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I love, you know, being out here. And one thing
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: to me, like, I'm gonna do everything I can to
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: be back as fast as possible, and I'm on a
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: track to be to be you know, back really soon.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: And you know, whatever they asked me to do, I'm
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: gonna ask for, you know a little more as well,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: just to get back as soon as possible. But I'm
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: feeling really really good and should be out here any
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: day before you got here. Yeah, a little uh, you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: sprint your train as a track athlete, not football player.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: But now I'm gonna get it right, so anything else,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: of course. Appreciate you guys,