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O-Zone Podcast: Paul Posluszny · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone podcast featuring Jaguars dot Com Senior
0:13
Speaker 1: writer John Oser and Jack Buars executive producer Dave the Kennis.
0:18
Speaker 1: I like to go at the top here, Dave off
0:21
Speaker 1: the Beaten Path videos and podcast, So we'll get to
0:24
Speaker 1: football with our guests, who we won't mention because there's
0:26
Speaker 1: a little bit of mystery there. Uh, but I want
0:29
Speaker 1: to talk today about quarantine hair. You can't see Dave.
0:33
Speaker 1: I can see Dave because it's a zoom podcast. Dave.
0:36
Speaker 1: The hair, what are we doing here? It's fluffy, That's
0:40
Speaker 1: what it is now. The front of it's weird. My
0:43
Speaker 1: hair has this grown in the front, so I'm like
0:46
Speaker 1: right in between my eyes and the front and in
0:48
Speaker 1: the back it has not grown, which growing up I was.
0:54
Speaker 1: Growing up, I was has always have always been to
0:56
Speaker 1: rock music. I was really into punk rock as a
0:58
Speaker 1: teenager and always wanted like long, the long, shorter linked,
1:03
Speaker 1: shaggy air, and I try to grow it in college
1:06
Speaker 1: and it couldn't and I found out my hair doesn't
1:09
Speaker 1: grow down, it grows up. So I basically had like
1:12
Speaker 1: a afro when I was a freshman in college with
1:16
Speaker 1: big mutton chops. Ironically, that's when my wife met me,
1:19
Speaker 1: and she's still stayed around. And but yeah, when it
1:23
Speaker 1: gets long, it gets it gets uh pretty. Uh it's
1:27
Speaker 1: it's a scene. It's a thing. Have you had the
1:29
Speaker 1: haircut yet? Oh no, I have not. I'm I want
1:33
Speaker 1: to see where it goes. It's less about like I know,
1:37
Speaker 1: things are opening up and stuff. I'm not I'm not
1:39
Speaker 1: really right. I'm not really concerned about the hair actually
1:42
Speaker 1: getting cut. I just want to see what happens. I
1:45
Speaker 1: kind of want to just, yeah, see where it goes
1:48
Speaker 1: until it gets like to a point where it's just
1:50
Speaker 1: not controllable. I did turn my beard though during this
1:54
Speaker 1: I let that go for a while. You you know,
1:56
Speaker 1: now have the face layer which looks very or no.
2:00
Speaker 1: And I but I made the key tactical pre quarantine
2:06
Speaker 1: era error of I think I got my hair cut
2:10
Speaker 1: about three weeks before the combine, as I recall, maybe
2:14
Speaker 1: right before the combine because easy to go up there,
2:17
Speaker 1: because I got to do a lot of TV, so
2:18
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure you know all that. And
2:21
Speaker 1: then right before the shutdown, about two days for the shutdown,
2:27
Speaker 1: my son was going to get his hair cut, and
2:28
Speaker 1: I thought, well, maybe I should, but there was still
2:31
Speaker 1: that feeling before the shutdown if you recalled that it
2:34
Speaker 1: wasn't real, like you knew it was real, that it was,
2:37
Speaker 1: it was it was hard to believe that was really
2:39
Speaker 1: gonna happen. So I think I sort of convinced myself that,
2:44
Speaker 1: but I've I've still got a couple of days or
2:46
Speaker 1: just it was kind of lost track of it. And
2:48
Speaker 1: then the very last day I went to the place
2:52
Speaker 1: where using to cut my hair usually just do a
2:54
Speaker 1: walk in and it and it already closed. And at
2:59
Speaker 1: that point I felt like that was my first feeling
3:04
Speaker 1: of the movie, like I am legend, when he was
3:07
Speaker 1: sort of alone and there was and there's nobody there.
3:11
Speaker 1: You just had a lot of dress of society changing.
3:16
Speaker 1: So that has been two months and it's it's it's
3:18
Speaker 1: slicked back, and I've gotten many comments and I and
3:20
Speaker 1: believe me, I hear them from people listening. Hey, you
3:23
Speaker 1: don't look like Drew Carey anymore. What's wrong. So it's
3:27
Speaker 1: definitely changed that and I don't know if I'll cut
3:30
Speaker 1: it as short as I had it, but we'll see.
3:32
Speaker 1: So that's awesome. That's amazing to me. Dave, how much
3:40
Speaker 1: of a alternate universe. Do you feel like you're in
3:44
Speaker 1: right now? Because I know I'm quarantine on the phone
3:48
Speaker 1: about this the other day. I know I'm quarantine, and
3:52
Speaker 1: I know what my routine is and I'm alone in
3:56
Speaker 1: the house. It's still weird to me when I talked
4:00
Speaker 1: to people, like we talked to our guest today, we
4:02
Speaker 1: talked to Michael Silver last week. It's still odd when
4:05
Speaker 1: I talked to other people and realize that they really
4:08
Speaker 1: are doing it too. It still feels like something only
4:11
Speaker 1: you're like, nobody's going to the stadium right now, and
4:14
Speaker 1: we all know that because again to tell people what
4:16
Speaker 1: goes on each week, we have a Jaguars team meeting,
4:20
Speaker 1: which is our president, Mark Lamping talking to people. And
4:24
Speaker 1: it's still odd when I look there and see that
4:27
Speaker 1: Mark's not talking from the office. He's talking from his
4:30
Speaker 1: plush digs and pot of it. You know, he's he's
4:33
Speaker 1: actually talking from home. And and that's the only time
4:37
Speaker 1: that I get a real feeling of, oh, the entire
4:40
Speaker 1: world is doing this, not just me. It's still an
4:43
Speaker 1: odd feeling that this is real and it's not just
4:46
Speaker 1: sort of me being told no, John, you have to
4:48
Speaker 1: stay home. Yeah, Yeah, that's a good point. It's funny,
4:51
Speaker 1: like out in my neighborhood, like me and my family
4:54
Speaker 1: will go take a walk, you know, every day, every
4:56
Speaker 1: other day or whatever. It's funny to see it's like
4:59
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, like all these neighbors are out
5:00
Speaker 1: walking around that you've never seen before. It's like, oh, hey,
5:04
Speaker 1: what's going on? Hey, And it's funny. It's like yeah, right, right, right.
5:10
Speaker 1: So that's always I always think that's kind of uh,
5:12
Speaker 1: is you get so caught up in what you have
5:14
Speaker 1: going on that you forget like, right, hey, everything else
5:17
Speaker 1: everybody else is affected by this, But I was far
5:20
Speaker 1: too different for us. I know, your wife has been home. Uh,
5:25
Speaker 1: my wife has been for her fortunate enough because she
5:28
Speaker 1: likes to work. Her job was being essential. She's at
5:33
Speaker 1: a place, uh, she works for a manufacturing It was
5:37
Speaker 1: deemed essential because she's really been going to work every day.
5:39
Speaker 1: So maybe one day we swore from home. And my son,
5:42
Speaker 1: who lives with us, he's also been going to work.
5:44
Speaker 1: So I guess to me, it feels like I'm the
5:46
Speaker 1: only one because they've been out of the house and
5:49
Speaker 1: they've seen fairly normal. So I know a lot of
5:52
Speaker 1: people are have been doing both people at home thing,
5:56
Speaker 1: and that's I don't think we'd handle that very well.
5:59
Speaker 1: We'll get to our us today. So I'm really excited
6:01
Speaker 1: about night segue right there. That was a player that
6:04
Speaker 1: I respected as much as any player I've ever covered
6:07
Speaker 1: in terms of talking to him in the locker room.
6:09
Speaker 1: The guy who always had incredible perspective on the game
6:12
Speaker 1: and incredible respect for the game. I know it's hard
6:15
Speaker 1: for your walk away from the game, and I'm anxious
6:17
Speaker 1: to talk to you about those things today. Former Jaguars linebacker.
6:21
Speaker 1: Still sounds weird to say that. Former Jaguars linebacker Paul
6:24
Speaker 1: for BLESNI Paul, how are you good? Thank you very
6:28
Speaker 1: much for having me on. Well, it's uh, it's odd.
6:32
Speaker 1: I'll be honest. It's still odd not to talk to
6:34
Speaker 1: you in the locker room every week. Um. I always
6:37
Speaker 1: enjoyed your perspective on football. We'll get into football later on,
6:41
Speaker 1: but take me through what you're doing. I know I
6:44
Speaker 1: talked to you at your retirement ceremony and then I
6:48
Speaker 1: think last summer for a series we were doing. But
6:51
Speaker 1: what has life been like and just the details of
6:54
Speaker 1: what you've been doing since football. I know you you said,
6:57
Speaker 1: it's it's it's odd for you. It's very odd for
7:00
Speaker 1: me not to be not to be a Jacksonville Jaguar.
7:03
Speaker 1: It still feels I mean, this is going on. You know,
7:06
Speaker 1: once this season starts, it will be year three away
7:08
Speaker 1: from the game. UM, but it still feels different, and
7:13
Speaker 1: it's been a it's been an interesting process trying to
7:15
Speaker 1: figure out what's next. You know. Once, once I stopped playing,
7:18
Speaker 1: I started a graduate school program to get my m
7:21
Speaker 1: b a UM in an effort kind of just to
7:23
Speaker 1: learn what else is out there. I had a great
7:26
Speaker 1: opportunity in my first year out of ball to work
7:30
Speaker 1: UM at Malone Air Charter, local air charter company that um,
7:36
Speaker 1: you know, just a chance to be around aviation and
7:38
Speaker 1: aircraft and be surrounded by great people, and that was
7:41
Speaker 1: that was an unbelievable opportunity. I loved every day of it.
7:44
Speaker 1: And that was a passion for you, right, absolutely. Yeah.
7:47
Speaker 1: I've always um, you know, I always loved everything about aviation.
7:52
Speaker 1: And my father was a longtime aircraft mechanic for US
7:56
Speaker 1: Air and then American uh So it was always a
8:00
Speaker 1: round in some aspect, and I guess I just wanted
8:01
Speaker 1: to learn more and then you left that to go
8:05
Speaker 1: pursue graduate school. I was doing doing both. I started
8:10
Speaker 1: graduate school and was doing that, and then actually another
8:15
Speaker 1: opportunity came up that had that was more geared towards
8:18
Speaker 1: I guess my educational background. That was with T I
8:21
Speaker 1: A Bank. So I'm actually with t I A right now.
8:24
Speaker 1: I was joking with you beforehand, I wanted to stay
8:26
Speaker 1: connected to the Jaguars in some way, so, um, it
8:30
Speaker 1: took the corporate relationship. But another thing, great people, awesome
8:35
Speaker 1: learning experience, and I love what I'm what I'm doing,
8:39
Speaker 1: and it's a it's more associated with with my education
8:44
Speaker 1: in the NBA program that I'm in. So it's been
8:46
Speaker 1: an unbelievable experience. Now, what motivated you? Clearly, Um, you
8:51
Speaker 1: financially well in football, so you had options after football.
8:55
Speaker 1: What motivated you to want to go T I A
8:59
Speaker 1: Bank to stay in that route because that's that's hard work.
9:03
Speaker 1: You probably wouldn't have to do that yet. I think
9:05
Speaker 1: that the biggest thing was, you know, getting away from
9:09
Speaker 1: the from the game. You you almost you almost try
9:11
Speaker 1: to find something that replicates it in a sense of
9:15
Speaker 1: not obviously not the not the on field aspect, but
9:18
Speaker 1: being a part of the team, um, you know, being
9:21
Speaker 1: able to rely on other people, do you know, having passion,
9:24
Speaker 1: doing something important, doing something very challenging. So this was
9:30
Speaker 1: an area that that that kind of fulfilled all of
9:33
Speaker 1: those where you get to work with great people, um,
9:36
Speaker 1: be a part of something special and and and and
9:39
Speaker 1: working in a challenging area. So that that was uh,
9:44
Speaker 1: I mean, this opportunity has kind of fulfilled that when
9:47
Speaker 1: you see yourself long term, you know, five year gold
9:50
Speaker 1: do you see yourself? People have always asked me, would
9:54
Speaker 1: you ever coach? Because it just seems like something that
9:56
Speaker 1: you would be very good at. And I always tell
10:00
Speaker 1: people sometimes ex players don't want to coach because it
10:02
Speaker 1: can be a tricky transition and it's it's a lot
10:06
Speaker 1: of hours away from family. Is that something you'd ever
10:09
Speaker 1: want to do or is this your path? Or are
10:10
Speaker 1: you still figuring that out? I would say I'm still
10:14
Speaker 1: very much in the process of figuring that out. I
10:16
Speaker 1: can said that when I, you know, towards the end
10:18
Speaker 1: of my career, and then right when I got done,
10:20
Speaker 1: I said, uh, you know, I don't know if coaching
10:23
Speaker 1: is really for me, you know, just and that's another thing,
10:25
Speaker 1: just because if you if you play ball for a
10:27
Speaker 1: long time, that doesn't mean you would be a great coach.
10:30
Speaker 1: But um, I said, I thought I always wanted to
10:34
Speaker 1: try something something different or move on and realize that
10:37
Speaker 1: football is such an enormous part of my life and
10:39
Speaker 1: I loved every every minute of it, but then also
10:42
Speaker 1: find a new challenge. But I can say the more
10:45
Speaker 1: that I'm away from the game, the more I want
10:47
Speaker 1: to be close to the game. So if so, I won't.
10:51
Speaker 1: I won't say no to coaching. But I do know
10:55
Speaker 1: that I'm still very much in the process of trying
10:57
Speaker 1: to figure out what's truly next. So how about playing it?
11:00
Speaker 1: In everybody? I still get questions from people, would you
11:04
Speaker 1: come back? And and I'm half joking but or or
11:08
Speaker 1: or mostly joking, but you look like you could play
11:10
Speaker 1: obviously if you trust me. If I if I could,
11:14
Speaker 1: I would have. I would have never stopped. I would
11:17
Speaker 1: have never stopped. I miss it. I missed it so bad.
11:20
Speaker 1: And yeah, so unfortunately, I mean thirty five, I wait,
11:25
Speaker 1: I wait to fifteen right now? I lost a lot
11:29
Speaker 1: of weight, and it's just yeah, unfor unfortunately. If I
11:32
Speaker 1: trust me, if I could, I would be out there
11:34
Speaker 1: and that was an interesting dynamic to me, and I
11:36
Speaker 1: was gonna asked about this later, but we talked about
11:38
Speaker 1: it now. I remember talking to you, I think even
11:42
Speaker 1: before your press conference, and we were just talking about
11:45
Speaker 1: the decision, not for anything I was gonna write, but
11:48
Speaker 1: you said over and over again, I didn't want to
11:51
Speaker 1: go out there if I didn't feel like I was
11:53
Speaker 1: at my best. And clearly you could have played at
11:56
Speaker 1: some level, but that mattered so much to you didn't
11:59
Speaker 1: and it that was something that you didn't want to.
12:01
Speaker 1: I guess cheat the game, cheap teammates, whatever that is.
12:06
Speaker 1: You knew right absolutely. I mean the thing was I
12:10
Speaker 1: just I didn't want to You've seen it. You've seen
12:13
Speaker 1: it happened so many times before with players who have
12:15
Speaker 1: played a long time and the last couple of years.
12:18
Speaker 1: You would just look and say, man, that's that's not them.
12:21
Speaker 1: And for a lot of different reasons, I wanted I
12:24
Speaker 1: wanted to avoid that, just because you know, we all
12:28
Speaker 1: know what what our best is and how we feel
12:31
Speaker 1: when we're at our best, and if we're not there,
12:35
Speaker 1: it just it didn't feel right to line up with
12:38
Speaker 1: those guys knowing that I wasn't able to do things
12:41
Speaker 1: that I that I could before. So that was that
12:44
Speaker 1: was the hardest part, because you still want to play
12:46
Speaker 1: and you know you and like you said, you know
12:48
Speaker 1: you can play at some level. I feel like I
12:50
Speaker 1: could have played another year, but what it would have
12:52
Speaker 1: been my absolute best? Probably not your biggest adjustment after football.
12:56
Speaker 1: I guess you can't talked about it a little bit,
12:58
Speaker 1: but I remember were talking to you last I guess summer,
13:02
Speaker 1: and you were very candid. Some guys when they walk
13:04
Speaker 1: away say great, this has been an adjustment for you
13:07
Speaker 1: that you've worked on, and you've been pretty candid that, hey,
13:09
Speaker 1: I did this for a long time and something's missing
13:12
Speaker 1: a little bit and I can deal with it. But
13:14
Speaker 1: it's difficult, and it feels like you felt like it
13:17
Speaker 1: was important to be honest with yourself about that. I know,
13:20
Speaker 1: I didn't want to hide from the from the problems
13:23
Speaker 1: that uh that can come up. I mean because football,
13:26
Speaker 1: when you play it, I mean and you're around it,
13:28
Speaker 1: football is it's an addicting drug and I mean you
13:33
Speaker 1: get every everything about you, um, I mean you're surrounded
13:37
Speaker 1: by it. That's all you think about all day and
13:39
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden that's taken away, and it's
13:42
Speaker 1: hard to not not not taking away forcefully, but you
13:45
Speaker 1: decide to move on. I mean every every day you
13:48
Speaker 1: thought about it between how what time you were gonna train,
13:51
Speaker 1: what you were gonna eat, what your recovery process. So
13:55
Speaker 1: I mean your your hoold everything was structured around that, um.
14:00
Speaker 1: And then when that's not they're just being able to
14:02
Speaker 1: find something to replicate that structure and order that in
14:06
Speaker 1: passion and and and being on a team. Um, it's
14:10
Speaker 1: it's hard to do. Take me through a quarantine day,
14:15
Speaker 1: for pause, what do you like working t a bank?
14:20
Speaker 1: But I get a feeling most people during the quarantine
14:24
Speaker 1: are Netflix, They're they're chilling. You don't seem to mean
14:29
Speaker 1: to be a guy who's doing that. You must have
14:31
Speaker 1: something else you're do in quarantine. What I mean we try,
14:35
Speaker 1: We try to stay as structured as possible. I mean
14:38
Speaker 1: still get of course try try, um, I mean's still
14:44
Speaker 1: you know, wake up early, try to get you know
14:46
Speaker 1: six am or six dirty wake up too, to work
14:50
Speaker 1: out in the backyard and get up early because then
14:54
Speaker 1: because then you beat the kids out of bed. So
14:56
Speaker 1: you get up early, get your workout done. Then then
14:58
Speaker 1: you know we have our or year old and three
15:00
Speaker 1: year old. They'll get up, um, you know, make breakfast
15:04
Speaker 1: with them. And then if it's if it's a day
15:06
Speaker 1: that so with T I A, you know, we're working
15:08
Speaker 1: from home eight thirty or nine am. We'll get on,
15:13
Speaker 1: get on, you know, or I guess you know, log
15:15
Speaker 1: onto our our company instrument and and get going on
15:19
Speaker 1: on the day's tasks. Take a take a break around
15:22
Speaker 1: lunch to spend some time with the kids, and then
15:24
Speaker 1: and then get back to it. Got you Now, I
15:28
Speaker 1: have my version of a backyard workout. I run on
15:31
Speaker 1: the treadmill for five minutes. There you go. It's something.
15:34
Speaker 1: What's your version of the backyard I pickure your backyard
15:38
Speaker 1: being golds gym. At this point we said, it's it's funny.
15:42
Speaker 1: So I always I always trying to separate that. I
15:44
Speaker 1: would always go work out of the gym and then
15:46
Speaker 1: when you're home, you're home. But once this happened, uh around,
15:50
Speaker 1: my wife said, hey, can we get a couple of things,
15:52
Speaker 1: and so ending the purchase purchasing some dumbbells and cantabells.
15:56
Speaker 1: So we have those on the back porch. And so
15:59
Speaker 1: I'll go through a route team what with everything that
16:01
Speaker 1: we have back. One question I had was when you
16:06
Speaker 1: move to a new city as you did when you
16:09
Speaker 1: came from Buffalo in here. It's been ten years, um,
16:14
Speaker 1: but you came to Jacksonville, maybe not knowing what it
16:18
Speaker 1: was going to be. And now it strikes me that
16:22
Speaker 1: you're a part of jackson Not everybody has done that
16:25
Speaker 1: in the last few years with the organization because has
16:29
Speaker 1: been that good. But on the field, do you feel
16:33
Speaker 1: a part of the community and are you surprised or uh,
16:38
Speaker 1: are you ever surprised by how much a part of
16:40
Speaker 1: the community are and how recognize you are. I guess
16:43
Speaker 1: it's the question. I mean, I think to go with
16:47
Speaker 1: your first part. When when I first got here, it
16:49
Speaker 1: was it was strictly because it seemed like it was
16:51
Speaker 1: a great opportunity to to win and play football, right,
16:55
Speaker 1: and then the more we had an opportunity to stay, well,
16:59
Speaker 1: you know, my wife and I you know, our three
17:01
Speaker 1: kids were born here and now we view this is
17:04
Speaker 1: this is home to us and we don't want to leave. Um.
17:09
Speaker 1: And that's that's because I mean, obviously the the area,
17:12
Speaker 1: the people have been have been unbelievable. I mean, you feel,
17:17
Speaker 1: especially when you have opportunity to play some different places
17:20
Speaker 1: or grow up in different areas. You realize that this
17:22
Speaker 1: is a truly special place where you're surrounded rounded by
17:25
Speaker 1: great people obviously, be whether the beach, every everything that
17:29
Speaker 1: Jacksonville has to offer. Um, it makes it. It makes
17:33
Speaker 1: it really really hard to leave. And you still have
17:36
Speaker 1: that type of I mean a hometown or small town field,
17:40
Speaker 1: you know. I mean Jacksonville is a major a major
17:42
Speaker 1: city in the Southeast, but you still have it. It's
17:44
Speaker 1: a very you feel like it's a very close knit community.
17:48
Speaker 1: Is ever crazy to think how much a a decision
17:53
Speaker 1: like that, which you made for certain reasons sort of
17:57
Speaker 1: shapes life going for it. That's how life works, obviously,
17:59
Speaker 1: but it I'm sure at that point you had no
18:02
Speaker 1: idea that was how I was gonna play out. You're
18:04
Speaker 1: coming here to play football and and you sort of
18:06
Speaker 1: found out home. It's pretty cool, absolutely. I mean it
18:10
Speaker 1: speaks a lot about this area. I mean, you came
18:13
Speaker 1: here for work because this was gonna be a great
18:16
Speaker 1: opportunity to play ball, and then all of a sudden,
18:19
Speaker 1: you know, your your kids start to grow up here
18:21
Speaker 1: and you may and you have great friends here and
18:23
Speaker 1: you say, I don't. I don't know what what really
18:26
Speaker 1: forced us to leave? Now, you I was there's no
18:30
Speaker 1: football going on now. But I think when I talked
18:33
Speaker 1: to you maybe in your first fall away, you really
18:36
Speaker 1: didn't watch the games that much. Is that correct? Just? Yes,
18:41
Speaker 1: it was too it was too it was too fresh.
18:43
Speaker 1: Right now? Did that change a little bit last year
18:47
Speaker 1: or you back to being a little bit of a
18:48
Speaker 1: fan or is that still difficult or where are you
18:51
Speaker 1: at with that? Yeah, I'll I'm just I find myself
18:54
Speaker 1: starting to watch more and more during during the last season,
18:57
Speaker 1: because you know, you love the game so much, and
18:59
Speaker 1: I think it's finally set in the um, I'm not
19:03
Speaker 1: gonna play anymore. And then once and then once you
19:06
Speaker 1: you truly it's easy to say that, you know, it
19:09
Speaker 1: was easy to say that, I know I'm done playing,
19:12
Speaker 1: but then deep down you feel like you could have
19:15
Speaker 1: been out there. You know. Now it's at the point
19:17
Speaker 1: where okay, I know, I know that playing football is
19:21
Speaker 1: is truly pass me. So now I can just I
19:25
Speaker 1: can enjoy watching it and appreciate the great game that
19:28
Speaker 1: it is. It is the I'm not sure the word
19:31
Speaker 1: I'm looking for, but was the body clock different last fall.
19:36
Speaker 1: Meaning I'm sure that first fall, everything is still sort
19:39
Speaker 1: of cycled around. It's Friday, it's Saturday, it's not you know,
19:42
Speaker 1: game days coming up. There was still a little bit
19:44
Speaker 1: of that. Did that go away a little bit? Yes,
19:46
Speaker 1: I'm getting that because it's such a schedule, such a routine. Absolutely.
19:49
Speaker 1: I mean the first year, it was no you you
19:53
Speaker 1: you felt, okay, this is I'm supposed to be in
19:55
Speaker 1: training camp, all right, the fall, Okay, I'm some I'm
19:59
Speaker 1: supposed to be playing football. And and now I'm at
20:03
Speaker 1: the point where, okay, it's it's uh, you know when
20:06
Speaker 1: the fall comes around, it's okay, I'm taking my daughter,
20:09
Speaker 1: I'm driving my daughter to school in the morning. You know,
20:11
Speaker 1: So that the feeling of the change of the seasons
20:14
Speaker 1: and now corresponds with different things. How did your wife
20:18
Speaker 1: handle that first year? Just keep an eye on you
20:20
Speaker 1: a little bit? Hey, you doing okay? I mean she
20:23
Speaker 1: loved it because I was I was home or you
20:26
Speaker 1: know there. I know I know that she she knows
20:30
Speaker 1: that I that I miss it, you know, and especially
20:33
Speaker 1: then in the beginning that I that I really missed it.
20:35
Speaker 1: But she was always very supportive, and I know she
20:39
Speaker 1: it was it was great that we had. We had
20:41
Speaker 1: so much more family time than before. Sure that makes sense. Um,
20:46
Speaker 1: A few football questions that maybe never asked you, but
20:48
Speaker 1: I think fans I love hearing how you guys felt
20:52
Speaker 1: about their players, teammates, et cetera. Best Jaguars player you
20:56
Speaker 1: ever played with that I ever played with? Wow, I
21:00
Speaker 1: mean the one the name that immediately came to mind
21:04
Speaker 1: was Maurice Jones Drew. Yeah, you know that. Offensively, I
21:09
Speaker 1: would say, I just he was. He was an unbelievable player.
21:12
Speaker 1: He was great to play with when we were teammates,
21:15
Speaker 1: and you know, playing against him several times prior to
21:18
Speaker 1: becoming teammates, obviously had the ultimate respect for him. Darryl
21:22
Speaker 1: Smith on on defense, I still have I have. I
21:26
Speaker 1: hold him in the highest regard because he was I mean,
21:29
Speaker 1: I just when I first when I got to Jacksonville,
21:31
Speaker 1: he was that. He was the leader of the defense,
21:34
Speaker 1: leader of the linebackers, and we all looked up to
21:36
Speaker 1: him just because it made him different. You've talked about
21:39
Speaker 1: him to me before. Um, it strikes me that to
21:43
Speaker 1: get that kind of respect from you, a guy just
21:46
Speaker 1: can't be talented. He's gotta be more than that. So
21:48
Speaker 1: he must have been a prose pro and I've done
21:51
Speaker 1: a lot of things well that you respected. I mean
21:53
Speaker 1: absolutely so truth professional when it came to how we
21:56
Speaker 1: approached the game and then the the on field aspect,
22:00
Speaker 1: it was just his overall versatility that didn't The coaches
22:05
Speaker 1: and players are like, knew that whatever you asked him
22:07
Speaker 1: to do, he had the ability to do it, and
22:11
Speaker 1: he was going to do it in an extremely high
22:12
Speaker 1: level regardless of what it was. If it was well
22:15
Speaker 1: we need you to rush off the edge, just play,
22:16
Speaker 1: he'd say, Okay, I can do that. Or now we
22:18
Speaker 1: need you to cover the title you know, man and
22:20
Speaker 1: man on this play, Okay, I can I can do that.
22:22
Speaker 1: Just his his the range of his skill set was
22:25
Speaker 1: so impressive to me that, um, regardless of the situation,
22:30
Speaker 1: he could easily adapt and do in such a smooth
22:34
Speaker 1: way that it was. It was just really really impressive
22:37
Speaker 1: to see him play. Did you watch when you were playing?
22:40
Speaker 1: Did you watch a lot of football like other NFL
22:44
Speaker 1: You can't on Sundays, I get that, But did you
22:47
Speaker 1: study other players? If so, were there guys that you
22:51
Speaker 1: particularly admired, be it's your position or others? I know
22:55
Speaker 1: when I especially when first getting into the NFL and
22:58
Speaker 1: then and then in my career to route. So it was, uh,
23:01
Speaker 1: for the vast majority of time, I was in a
23:03
Speaker 1: four three defense, very similar to you know, the old
23:06
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay or Chicago Bears. So when I first got
23:09
Speaker 1: into the NFL, it was I was given cut ups
23:12
Speaker 1: and Brian or Lacker and they and that that was
23:15
Speaker 1: told basically, just watch him and try to replicate what
23:18
Speaker 1: he does. And I continue to to watch him, you know,
23:22
Speaker 1: throughout his career because he was um obviously whole you know,
23:26
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame caliber player, and so to learn from
23:30
Speaker 1: him and to watch him. He was a guy that
23:32
Speaker 1: that I really really paid attention to anybody else in
23:36
Speaker 1: terms of just maybe not at your position, that you admired,
23:39
Speaker 1: respected for any other reason. I mean, there were there
23:42
Speaker 1: were so many guys that when you look back and
23:45
Speaker 1: you say, wow, they really did things right. I think
23:48
Speaker 1: when I'm going back to my town in Buffalo, Kyle Williams,
23:51
Speaker 1: who and who was a interior d lineman. So I
23:54
Speaker 1: had a close relationship with him, but then um, you know,
23:58
Speaker 1: would watch him throughout our career. And then I got
24:00
Speaker 1: got to Jacksonville still kept an eye on him to
24:03
Speaker 1: see how he was performing, because he was another guy
24:05
Speaker 1: true professional, but then highly skilled and then just played
24:09
Speaker 1: with such passive passion and aggressiveness on the field was
24:12
Speaker 1: something that you could you could appreciate regardless of what
24:16
Speaker 1: team you were on. Got you something I've never asked you.
24:19
Speaker 1: I can't believe I haven't because I've talked to you
24:20
Speaker 1: so often over the years. Um, when somebody would draw
24:26
Speaker 1: a Penn State linebacker, it would probably be modeled after you.
24:30
Speaker 1: You know, I mean, you know, I know you're not
24:34
Speaker 1: gonna take that, but Um, when you were a kid,
24:39
Speaker 1: was that always a goal? A dream? And if so,
24:44
Speaker 1: when do you first remember thinking, Man, I want to
24:46
Speaker 1: play football at Penn State? Is good? You know, because
24:50
Speaker 1: you're sort of the dictionary definition of it. And I
24:52
Speaker 1: know you're not gonna say that, but was that always
24:54
Speaker 1: the case when I was so? I mean, I loved
24:58
Speaker 1: Penn State, especially because when I was when I first
25:01
Speaker 1: truly started to appreciate football and love the game. That's
25:05
Speaker 1: LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short we're playing linebacker Penn State.
25:08
Speaker 1: At that time, Courtney Brown was playing d N so
25:11
Speaker 1: you know, great Penn State football teams. When I will
25:15
Speaker 1: say though, when it when it was time, if I
25:18
Speaker 1: could have had the ultimate would to go play for
25:21
Speaker 1: was to go play for Notre Dame. Um. I didn't
25:25
Speaker 1: get recruited by them. It wasn't good enough. It wasn't
25:28
Speaker 1: good enough to go to Notre Dame. And at that
25:30
Speaker 1: time and thing, and you know, thankfully had an opportunity
25:32
Speaker 1: to play at Penn State and that it all worked
25:34
Speaker 1: out the way it should. But I can remember when
25:37
Speaker 1: I was, you know, sophomore junior in high school, I said, man,
25:41
Speaker 1: to play to play college ball for the Fighting Irish,
25:44
Speaker 1: that would be that would be unbelievable. Obviously I loved
25:48
Speaker 1: my time at at linebacker, you um, but it was there,
25:53
Speaker 1: there was a transition there, that's uh, you know that
25:56
Speaker 1: that was you know, Notre Dame football was always kind
25:59
Speaker 1: of the this this legendary, this legendary idea and it
26:04
Speaker 1: would have been exciting to be a part of that.
26:06
Speaker 1: But like I said, I for with Penn State, I
26:10
Speaker 1: believe blue and White. Now where you grew up to
26:12
Speaker 1: go to Penn State, was that a big deal? Was
26:15
Speaker 1: that uh the goal of the dream for people that
26:19
Speaker 1: you were around? Yeah, I mean yeah, in western Pennsylvania.
26:23
Speaker 1: Penn State football is huge. Obviously, there's there's an enormous
26:28
Speaker 1: draw to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but then after that, it's
26:32
Speaker 1: it's Penn State football. That's gonna be pretty cool. Your
26:36
Speaker 1: last big moment, big game was beating Steelers up there.
26:40
Speaker 1: That's pretty good way to go out right. To do that,
26:43
Speaker 1: you know, to go up there twice in that in
26:45
Speaker 1: that season and beat them twice, unbelievable experience. I was
26:49
Speaker 1: gonna ask you about that season that run, as I
26:52
Speaker 1: was you're sort of apairing this thing about your career. Well,
26:55
Speaker 1: it could have ended better had you won two more games.
26:59
Speaker 1: That had to be almost an ideal way to finish
27:04
Speaker 1: it off, you know. I mean without that, I would
27:07
Speaker 1: think it would have been a lot tougher to walk away. Absolutely,
27:10
Speaker 1: I mean you think to finally have an opportunity so
27:14
Speaker 1: to when the NFC South, you know, um have a
27:18
Speaker 1: have a great run in the playoffs and being being
27:20
Speaker 1: so close to the to the big one. But just
27:22
Speaker 1: the fact that you you know, it was you were
27:24
Speaker 1: able to to end knowing that, um, I finally had
27:29
Speaker 1: that success that you're that you were after your entire
27:31
Speaker 1: career that was. It was, it was. It was a
27:33
Speaker 1: great way. It was a great way to to end
27:36
Speaker 1: a career. The players, the teammates made no bones about
27:41
Speaker 1: that part of what was special to them. I was
27:44
Speaker 1: allowing you to go through it. They had to be
27:46
Speaker 1: pretty cool too, righte. That was I was. I was
27:49
Speaker 1: so appreciative of that. You know about how the the
27:51
Speaker 1: the guys, um, I mean it is you you kind
27:55
Speaker 1: of get a sense of of of things in the
27:57
Speaker 1: locker room and uh, players across the board from you know,
28:02
Speaker 1: Marquis Lee, you know to Klais Campbell. You you have
28:06
Speaker 1: a young up and coming star versus a season veteran
28:10
Speaker 1: who were They would talk to me all the time
28:13
Speaker 1: about that, you know, so that it was a special
28:16
Speaker 1: run because of that, because of the players and the
28:19
Speaker 1: people involved. Only two guys played for del Rio Gus
28:26
Speaker 1: and Doug Morn and that was you and Mercedes. I
28:29
Speaker 1: guessed the question. You saw a lot and you saw
28:32
Speaker 1: a lot of weird times, tough times, good times. Um,
28:37
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not even sure what I'm asking, but
28:39
Speaker 1: does it strike you that you saw a lot with
28:41
Speaker 1: this organization. We went through a lot of changes and
28:45
Speaker 1: it's I feel like you can only you can only
28:48
Speaker 1: really appreciate it, you know, the the challenges you know,
28:52
Speaker 1: in the highs and lows that we experienced. When you
28:54
Speaker 1: when you talk to some other guys and you say
28:56
Speaker 1: they you said, yeah, I played seven right years on
28:58
Speaker 1: the same coach the whole time. That wasn't you know,
29:01
Speaker 1: that wasn't the environment that we were in at that time.
29:05
Speaker 1: So it's it's the great thing is it provided you
29:08
Speaker 1: with a lot of learning opportunities to see how see
29:12
Speaker 1: how things were done, how different people things. Um formed
29:17
Speaker 1: a lot of relationships, you know, with with great people
29:20
Speaker 1: that for for different reasons they got they got to
29:23
Speaker 1: stay or they didn't. But um, yeah, so it was
29:27
Speaker 1: it was an interesting experience. For sure. People could look
29:30
Speaker 1: at it and say, wow, you played for the Jaguars
29:33
Speaker 1: during a lot of tough years and there was probably
29:36
Speaker 1: more losing than there was winning. Um boy, don't you
29:40
Speaker 1: wish you'd sign somewhere else? But from talking to you,
29:44
Speaker 1: it never seemed like that was ever the case. And
29:48
Speaker 1: maybe it was the dedication to the call, you know
29:51
Speaker 1: that that it wasn't what made you tick. But no
29:55
Speaker 1: regrets about ever signing here were there. No, not at all.
30:00
Speaker 1: Not at all, I think, because I mean when you
30:02
Speaker 1: think about, yeah, so we didn't have it, we didn't
30:05
Speaker 1: win a ton, But when it's all said and done,
30:09
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't remember what our record was during
30:12
Speaker 1: our time here, but I do know that they had
30:16
Speaker 1: an opportunity to meet some unbelievable people, to make some
30:19
Speaker 1: great relationships, to find a permanent a place that you
30:22
Speaker 1: can call a permanent home, to be surrounded by great
30:26
Speaker 1: fans and have great experiences, And in the end that's
30:30
Speaker 1: going to mean more then then the amount of games
30:34
Speaker 1: that you want, you know, so that those are going
30:37
Speaker 1: to be the things that last forever. Are the people.
30:41
Speaker 1: The experiences and relationships that you formed in those aspects
30:45
Speaker 1: were all unbelievable. Here. See, I've known you long enough now,
30:49
Speaker 1: almost ten years, believe it or not. Where I can
30:52
Speaker 1: remember when Paul faz Lesnie Hercules got to Jacksonville with
30:57
Speaker 1: a hair ever any thought during the quarantine, and going
31:00
Speaker 1: back to that, I mean, I haven't had a haircut
31:03
Speaker 1: in in eight weeks now. My wife actually asked me, said,
31:06
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do. I'm just gonna I'll just
31:09
Speaker 1: keep throwing it out like it's like it's two thousand
31:11
Speaker 1: twelve again, right, so no thought of going back to that,
31:15
Speaker 1: but not quite that far. No, there, there's there's too
31:19
Speaker 1: many bad stages between how short it is now and
31:22
Speaker 1: long head down to your shoulders. It's it's not worth it.
31:26
Speaker 1: It's right. It was down to your shoulders when you
31:27
Speaker 1: first got here, wasn't it. Yeah, that was quite a
31:29
Speaker 1: story when you came back that year. Yeah, yeah, different times.
31:34
Speaker 1: It's hard to believe that that. It's hard to believe that.
31:37
Speaker 1: So we've been doing this for ten years. It's amazing quickly.
31:41
Speaker 1: I mean you you say it all the time. It's
31:43
Speaker 1: all the time flies, but that's unbelievable. Has gone by fast, well, Paul,
31:48
Speaker 1: I could do this forever. I can't thank you enough
31:51
Speaker 1: for joining us. I can't thank you enough for sharing
31:53
Speaker 1: your thoughts on on our retirement and how difficult that is.
31:57
Speaker 1: Because although you talk about it, you talk about it
32:00
Speaker 1: very well, very candidly. It's something that I do think
32:03
Speaker 1: when people hear it, I think it would be very
32:04
Speaker 1: interesting people. So I appreciate you sharing that and everything
32:06
Speaker 1: else today. And uh, I hope to talk to you soon.
32:09
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks for spending hopefully get to see you
32:11
Speaker 1: this fall. All right, Well, I want to thank Paulter's
32:14
Speaker 1: Lessons for giving us some time. Uh, and it is
32:17
Speaker 1: always appreciated. These guests, they all have other lives, the
32:20
Speaker 1: all have things going on, but they're willing to talk
32:22
Speaker 1: to us for a while. It's kind of cool. And
32:24
Speaker 1: I know for days. Uh, that was maybe the best
32:29
Speaker 1: minutes of your life since the wedding. Or I mean,
32:33
Speaker 1: it's up there, right, you're a big it's up there.
32:35
Speaker 1: I would sit talk about definitely. So it's like marriage,
32:38
Speaker 1: birth of kids and then pause, kind of we've in
32:41
Speaker 1: there somewhere. No, I do Paul Plauz Lesnie when it
32:45
Speaker 1: comes to like all time favorite Jaguar players, he maybe,
32:51
Speaker 1: I mean he is like one, two or three or
32:54
Speaker 1: a combination of all three. He is. Well, so I
32:57
Speaker 1: gotta explain the background of it first. Why the big fan.
33:01
Speaker 1: So I grew up a Penn State fan. My family
33:05
Speaker 1: was for him up there. My brother went there, my
33:07
Speaker 1: dad went there. So a linebacker you and pause pause
33:12
Speaker 1: and I are about the same age or are the
33:14
Speaker 1: same age? Um? And when I was I went to
33:17
Speaker 1: college at UCF and he was at Penn State at
33:21
Speaker 1: the same time. So like I still was like had
33:24
Speaker 1: I on Penn State on what they were doing, and
33:27
Speaker 1: Pause was a two time uh Bnertic Award winner there
33:31
Speaker 1: at Penn State, and he was awesome. He wore thirty one,
33:35
Speaker 1: which is also kind of a Penn State thing because
33:37
Speaker 1: there was a linebacker there in the eighties named Shane
33:40
Speaker 1: Conlin who in the NAST Championship game had the big
33:43
Speaker 1: interception to basically ended in six. I think it was
33:49
Speaker 1: also drafted by the Bills. There we go so more
33:52
Speaker 1: you know, um so that was cool. And plus it
33:55
Speaker 1: was like like before he was the last of well,
33:58
Speaker 1: I guess Navar Bowman came up him, but the line
34:00
Speaker 1: of like it was LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short and
34:07
Speaker 1: then then there was somebody else and Sean Lee was
34:10
Speaker 1: at the same time as as paused. It was just
34:13
Speaker 1: like he was the of course with Jack Hamm Jack Well,
34:17
Speaker 1: I was when I was I was not born when
34:19
Speaker 1: Jack Camp played, but my dad and I was Jack Camp.
34:23
Speaker 1: Uh so, and also like I mean look at him
34:26
Speaker 1: when he came to Jacksonville with the locks and the
34:28
Speaker 1: hair and you know, I mean he was he was
34:32
Speaker 1: the man and they played well here and uh and
34:35
Speaker 1: also now working I guess I always think it's working
34:40
Speaker 1: with him. I guess you know as a player, as
34:42
Speaker 1: a player, and you're just hasty. Very much is to
34:45
Speaker 1: explain to people in your capacity. I talked to him
34:49
Speaker 1: in the locker room very similarly to when I was
34:52
Speaker 1: a newspaper reporter. So it's not signally different. You came
34:56
Speaker 1: from TV for a long time, you were shooting behind
35:00
Speaker 1: a camera with these guys and got to know him
35:02
Speaker 1: a little bit. But now with the Jaguars, you approach
35:05
Speaker 1: him for things like Mike Depp segments. You're more of
35:08
Speaker 1: a producer where you talk to these guys and get
35:11
Speaker 1: to know him a little better. And I don't want
35:13
Speaker 1: to speak for you, but I know from my experience
35:17
Speaker 1: with Pose that's where he's terrific in terms of the professionalism,
35:21
Speaker 1: in terms of he treats everybody with a great deal
35:26
Speaker 1: of respect, which in any walk of life is it's
35:31
Speaker 1: not a given. It was always very nice, very cordial,
35:34
Speaker 1: very you know, always ask you how you were doing,
35:36
Speaker 1: how's your family. And the other part of it too
35:38
Speaker 1: is we both had our first kid about the same time,
35:41
Speaker 1: so we were during that whole thing we're talking about,
35:44
Speaker 1: you know, buying crib putting together cribs and toys and
35:47
Speaker 1: getting rooms ready, and uh so I always appreciate him.
35:50
Speaker 1: I think it's a good good dude. And uh it
35:53
Speaker 1: was fun to stear him talk about it talk today
35:55
Speaker 1: and my heart was a flutter. I thought, Dave, what
36:00
Speaker 1: was interesting to hear Pause talk about this. One reason
36:06
Speaker 1: why the media I think enjoyed Pause so much, mean
36:10
Speaker 1: was there is it is his willingness. When you asked
36:13
Speaker 1: him a question, he always tried to give you a
36:16
Speaker 1: thoughtful answer for the most part. And that held true
36:20
Speaker 1: after a lot of tough losses held true and a
36:22
Speaker 1: lot of tough times. But hearing him talk about retirement
36:28
Speaker 1: as candidly as he does, here's a guy with I mean,
36:34
Speaker 1: most people who meet him would think if anybody could
36:38
Speaker 1: adjust to life after football, it was gonna be paused.
36:42
Speaker 1: He he had a plan. I definitely see him being
36:46
Speaker 1: a coach at some point, but right now, his his
36:48
Speaker 1: plan is that he wants to use his education. He
36:54
Speaker 1: was ready to take that step, and I'm sure it
36:56
Speaker 1: thought about it, had contacts, the whole works. He's very
37:00
Speaker 1: candid that it's a struggle. It's tough when, especially for
37:04
Speaker 1: somebody like him who. I was never around him when
37:08
Speaker 1: he was working out or training, but you can only
37:10
Speaker 1: imagine that he had a plan every day off season.
37:13
Speaker 1: He was going to be working out at this point,
37:15
Speaker 1: like he said, he's gonna be eating this. And when
37:18
Speaker 1: your whole life is geared towards that and your identity
37:21
Speaker 1: as a player and you live for those sundays, anything
37:24
Speaker 1: gets taken away from you, it's an adjustment. Football, especially
37:28
Speaker 1: because it's it's such a unique any sport. That was
37:33
Speaker 1: fascinating to me. As I think we talked about what
37:38
Speaker 1: we're talking about this, I can't imagine him not being
37:41
Speaker 1: a coach at some point. I think he'll be a
37:43
Speaker 1: great coach. I think my anticipation is that he'll be
37:48
Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator within six or seven years, and he'll
37:51
Speaker 1: be a head coach. He's thirty five now, I think
37:53
Speaker 1: he'll be a head coach in the NFL by the
37:55
Speaker 1: time he's forty five or forty six. I think he
37:56
Speaker 1: will be on the fast track. He will be great
37:59
Speaker 1: at it, and I look forward to watching them. But
38:02
Speaker 1: the biggest thing I took away as a pause fan
38:06
Speaker 1: is I wanted to go to the other Dame. What's up?
38:08
Speaker 1: With that dude, you can grow up in Pennsylvania. Gonna say, okay,
38:12
Speaker 1: kind of went down a notch in my book. I
38:13
Speaker 1: mean western Pennsylvania. That Notre Dame has got a strong appeal.
38:19
Speaker 1: I get there to day. But come on, man, come
38:22
Speaker 1: on right. So that hurts you, It hurt a little bit.
38:26
Speaker 1: He didn't go to UCF and that bothers you too,
38:28
Speaker 1: So that's true. That's true. So all right, well the
38:33
Speaker 1: final segment today, um, and we're gonna try moving forward.
38:37
Speaker 1: I'm not sure this will be the question every week.
38:38
Speaker 1: We're gonna work on this and see if we can
38:40
Speaker 1: get it right. The Ozone five, it's we're gonna talk
38:44
Speaker 1: to each guest as some five quick questions, try to
38:48
Speaker 1: get a little bit into the first personality has some
38:50
Speaker 1: fun with it. So right now to close the show,
38:53
Speaker 1: The Ozone five with Paulpa's like Paul last Binge watch
39:03
Speaker 1: Outlander on Netflix. Were watching it with my wife right now,
39:07
Speaker 1: just about through season four. What's in your pockets on
39:11
Speaker 1: a normal day when you leave the house, go through
39:14
Speaker 1: the checklist, it's it's wallet, phone, keys, that's all I need.
39:18
Speaker 1: Last station or song listen to in your car? Last
39:22
Speaker 1: station would be nine point nine dat country for sure.
39:26
Speaker 1: Last shore you did around the house, did the dishes
39:29
Speaker 1: this morning, and uh your go to take out Alice Pizza.
39:36
Speaker 1: When you tell people that you had to do the
39:39
Speaker 1: Ozone podcast, what are you gonna tell I'm gonna say
39:42
Speaker 1: that I enjoyed every minute of it, good lie. Uh,
39:48
Speaker 1: we appreciate it as always and I do look forward
39:51
Speaker 1: to seeing any buddy. Thank you. I appreciate you having
39:53
Speaker 1: me on all right. Well that did for the Ozone
39:55
Speaker 1: podcast when I thank Joe Fortnado for putting all this together,
39:58
Speaker 1: Thank Dave Mechanis for being days. I appreciate everybody to
40:01
Speaker 1: listen and hope it didn't stop