Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily Special: NFL Draft OT Prospect Travis Burke On Why He Plays With A Mean Streak, Chat With Eagles

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The DiCecco Daily Special: NFL Draft OT Prospect Travis Burke On Why He Plays With A Mean Streak, Chat With Eagles · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's going on everyone? Andrew decheco here, Eagles beat reporter
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: for insidethebirds dot com, and welcome into a special edition
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of the Czech Odaily. And it's a special edition because
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: today I'm joined by a twenty twenty five first team
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: All AAC offensive lineman, and that would be Memphis Travis Burke. Travis,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I understand that it's been a very eventful pre draft process,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: so I do appreciate you carving out some time.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir, thank you for having me. I'm blessed to
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: be here and blessed to be sitting here and talking
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: to you and your fans. Thank you.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: So for those who don't know, you're a well traveled
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: young man, and you started your career at Gardner Webb.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: You spent two years there, then you go to Florida International,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and then you finish out your career at Memphis. So
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: my question to you is where do you feel you've
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: made the biggest leap in your game when you went
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: from Florida International to arriving at Memphis.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I feel like I made the biggest leap when I
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: actually realized that I had a chance, and you know,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I was around a bunch of people who really had
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: such a strong vision for me, and just really dialing
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: in being more disciplined than I've ever been, being more
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: consistent than I've ever been, and just honing in.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: On all the small details.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: I think that really enhanced my football and my IQ
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: and the way I played.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Now, looking back on your career, and I understand that
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: there's probably many answers you could give, But what's the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: biggest thing you learned about yourself?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: That you know, no matter the outcome, that I'm just
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: always going to be myself. You know, I had to
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: work my way from the bottom up from Gardener Wet
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: up to Memphis. So just knowing that I'm going to
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: make the best out of every situation, and I'm going
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: to give it to my all to whoever and wherever
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: I'm at, and like whoever picks me up or gets
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a chance to coach me, they're going to get a
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: full one hundred percent and nothing, nothing less than that.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Now, what someone may not know about you, Travis, is
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: that you come from a family of athletes, including your
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: father and your brother.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Is that correct?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir, my dad played center, but Dune Cookman coached
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: me at my whole life at offensive line.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: And then my.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Dad he played my brother he played tight end at FIU.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Right now, and how has your father maybe helped you
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: throughout this process?
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Man, He's probably one of the biggest reasons why I'm
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: sitting in all these rooms right now.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: He from just doing all the extra stuff, bringing the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: weight room home during COVID, going above and beyond to
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: make sure I had all the right nutrients and protein
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: on my plate, and just making sure I was always
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: being put in the right position with the best trainers,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and yeah, like just making sure I was always going
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: to camp getting the exposure I needed. So he was
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: really one of the main advocates in my life that
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: actually that I can really say that got me to
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: where I'm at.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: And when you were at South Broward, you not only
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: played offensive line, but you also played defensive line. How
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: did that perspective maybe help you as it pertains to
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the offensive line.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I've played quarterback, center, defensive end, long snapper. I've
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: played quite a bit in high school, but obviously the
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: first two years of JVS to move count those, but
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: playing defensive line, I feel like I was just one
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: of those bigger bodies out there that knew how to
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: play football and had I had somewhat of an aggression,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: So I guess being that big and had that leadership
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: role just kind of fitting in on the defense, but
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: my heart was really on the offense.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: So and you mentioned long snapper. Is that something you
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: feel you could still do if you had if you
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: were asked to?
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Oh? For sure. I was trained by one of the best,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Ed Perry for the Dolphins.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: He trained me from since I was super little, so
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I can definitely still long snap.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I want to hear your perspective on the growth spur
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: that you experienced at South Broward. May I believe you
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: were a freshman when you experienced it, Is that right?
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: No, I was five to nine as a freshman at
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: South I was five to nine, and then I was
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: six four of my junior year and six seven my
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: senior year. It was kind of just out of nowhere,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Like I had no idea I was going to be
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: this tall.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I had no idea I was going to be where
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: I'm at.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: You know, there was one point where I didn't even
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: think I was going to go to college, to be honest.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: So it just all happened so fast and out of nowhere,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm beyond blessed to happen.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: So what were some of the challenges or learning curve
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: to being able to play to that size, Because I
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: imagine it takes a little bit of an acclimation as
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: you're growing to be able to play offensive line and
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: do some different things.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, like I was going through, I had
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: the knee pain, I had all that stuff going on.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: But I was always athletic growing up with playing baseball.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: I wrestled for one year, like a couple months and then,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: but playing baseball like when I was little definitely helped
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: me out a lot because I was always doing like
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: playing outfield, playing third base, pitching, Like you got to
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: have good feet and coordination and all of that. So
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I think playing offensive line can kind of somewhat relate
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: to maybe an outfielder the way they have to flip
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: their feed and you know, keep their feet moving and
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: running and keeping their eye on the balls up in
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: the air. Like there's a lot of similarities with baseball
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: and football.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: But now at Memphis, it was a zone heavy scheme. Travis,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: what do you like about outside zone?
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: It just gives me a chance to show my athleticism.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: It gives me a chance to really sell the run
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and sell the wide zone run. It allows me to
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: be physical at the point of attack. I know, passing
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: off a defender to my guard and getting up to
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: the second level and burying people is probably one of
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: my favorite things.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So how do you work on your fluidity and movement
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: ability in the offseason and really over the last couple
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: of months.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Well, our coaches, Coach Myers, David Dial, they really coach deal,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: really over emphasized, you know, just working on the basic steps,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: building the foundation over again. Just having me and the
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: other tackle in the indoor working on first steps, working
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: on no wasted movement like ankle flexibility and stuff.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: So I feel like that's what really helped me.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: One of your Memphis teammates, your fellow bookend, Chris Adams,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: is also a member of this draft class, and have
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: you and Chris would have leaned on each other throughout
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the last couple months.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, we're definitely, you know, we keep close contact.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm just always praying for.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: The both of us and everybody else in this draft
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: class because we all deserve to be here, and we're
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: all here for a reason.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So anyone who's watched your game, Travis can fully appreciate
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that you play with an edge. You're always looking for work,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: you're finishing blocks. Where does that mainstream come from?
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: It just comes from within myself.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: You know, I have I have something to prove, and
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: you know that's just my aggression. That's like, it's just
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: fun to do it. It's part of the game. I
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: don't really like being soft and timid. That's you know,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: that's not a part of my game. So you know,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I feel like, especially a lot of people saying that,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: you know, just because I'm at Memphis, you know, you
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: could say I played smaller competition, but you also got
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: bigger teams like Miami playing with Dune Cookman, or you
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: have all these teams playing small teams and you can
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: watch I'm not saying any line specifically, but you know,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I do the same results to every team I play.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: So sometimes it seems like, if I'm fair to say,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: you take it right up to the line, how do
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: you how do you go about knowing when to reign
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: it in? And has you have you ever had to
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: be coached on that my aggression?
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I definitely have.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously there's a time and a place to
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: be aggressive situationally.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: You know, there was the UAB game.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: It was like third and third and long and I
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: was driving some dude to the floor and we had
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: to get back on the ball. So obviously there's a
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: time and place, and I definitely it also comes with maturity.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Obviously you only have a certain time span to actually
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: drive a guy to the floor before the whistle, So
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: just making sure you stayed within.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: That time span and not going any further.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: But you know, sometimes a little extra curricular activity doesn't hurt.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Now, you missed the final two games of the season
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: last year with an injury. What was the injury if
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: you don't mind, and how do you feel? You know,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: since sustaining.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: It, I fractured my fibula, so I feel great.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: It's they've the Panthers and the Ravens have both cleared me.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh's cleared me, so I'm definitely clear to returning normal activity.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Even though I've been returning to normal.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Activity, I've been doing everything normal, running, jump and cutting.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Setting.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: So what will you bring to an NFL team traps.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: I'm just gonna bring my best, you know, A positive
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: role model, definitely somebody who works hard. Definitely somebody who
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: can you know, be there if like just a leader role,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: you know, trying to work my way into you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: help that team in whatever way.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: I can definitely go in there work to be a starter.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: But you know, I'm not gonna settle for the benefit
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: of the doubt to be a practice squad guy or
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: second string. Like my job and my goal is to
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: go in there and like play on Sundays.
• 10:44
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• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Who are some NFL offensive tackles that you really focus
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: in on?
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I definitely like to watch a lot of like Spencer Brown,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Galenchi and Taylor Lewan, Trent Williams. But I want all
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: of them for their different characteristics. Like some one of
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: them may have better technique than the other. One may
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: do something I like, one may do something else I like,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: one may play with the same aggression I have.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: So it's all for different characteristics.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: How about someone like Lane Johnson. I'm sure you've watched him.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: What's something that What's something that you really like about
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: about his game?
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: He's, you know, one of the best to do it. Man.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: He's super consistent, very strong at the point of attag
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: very you know, settled in his set. Like he gets
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: to his point and settles and strikes violently. So I
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: feel I don't watch them enough to really go into depth,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: but just of what I've seen before, Like, he definitely
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: does a great job in his profession.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Now, you've played left tackle and right tackle collegiately, do
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: you have a preference and which one do you feel
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: that you project best at at the next level.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean I played all left at FIU and
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: then go to Memphis played al right.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: I would probably say I'm more dominant on the left side.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Like, even though I was very dominant on the right,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: I think I was more comfortable on the left just
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: because I played in the whole season.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: So it's definitely I'm definitely a more violent player on
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: the left.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Now, this is an Eagles podcast, so of course I
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: have to ask, and I understand that you had a
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: thirty visit with the Eagles in late March.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Uh No, that was just miscommunication. The guy he spoke
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: to he thought he worked at the Eagles. He really
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: works at the Steelers. So but I did talk to
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: them this morning.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: So, oh, you spoke to them virtually, Yes, sir, I
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: imagine that offensive line coach Chris Cooper was the coach
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: that you spoke to.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Uh No, I spoke to Greg Austin, the assistant coach.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay, and what was what were your impressions of
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: that conversation.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Well, me and him know each other because he was
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: the guy who recruited me to FIU, so he when
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I went to FIU, he left to Jacksonville. Now he's
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: at Philadelphia, So you know, he was very excited and
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: happy that he got the chance to speak to me,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: and he was just excited to see what the.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Next couple of weeks hold for me and these teams.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: So what do the next couple of weeks hold for you?
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: What's on your docket coming up?
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Just you know, finishing up these traveling with the thirty visits.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: I'm in New York right now, and then I'll head
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: over to New England.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Then I go back to Miami for a thirty visit
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: and then that's really it. Finally stopped training in the
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: travel hotels, but get to get some training back home.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Just staying you know, just staying humble, staying modest, just
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: knowing that I'm going to be put where I deserve
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to be put, and you know, God has a plan
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: for me.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: So we'll just see.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: And I'm not expecting you know, everybody can sit here
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: and say round three UDFA, like it doesn't matter. I
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: just need an opportunity, need a chance, and we'll just
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: see where things go from there.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: How about as far as you're outside interest, Travis, what
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: do you like doing when you're not on the field
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: playing football?
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Uh, to be honest, taking care of my body, working out,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: getting bigger and stronger, like everybody.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: I don't think people really.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Know, but like everybody in these little like posts they
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: put on like three fifteen, three twenty five, I'm actually
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: three forty. I've gained weight, like a lot of weight,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: so I'm three forty. I'm lean with it. I don't
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: even look three forty, to be honest, but I am
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: moving well and feeling strong powerful.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: So you mentioned taking care of your body. What are
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: some of the best practices that you've learned and that
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: you sort of implemented to help make you keep you
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: in shape and all that flexible.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Recently I've started doing hot yoga and pilates with my girlfriend.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: We would do that when I had the time.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: And then you know, getting in the ice tub, stretching
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: with the bands I have at home to do ankle flexibility,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: just staying active, getting a good sweat, kind of getting
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: my heart rate up so I can, you know, lose
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: my wind a little bit to make it stronger.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: How do you plan on spending Draft weekend?
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: I just have an Airbnb. It's gonna be a few
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: few of my family members, not too much.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: So have you given any thought yet to what it's
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: going to feel like when you hear your name called, Travis?
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: It's gonna feel like the best thing ever. Like you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I really, I really came. Hello, I really came a
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: long way. And it's just not many people know my story.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: A lot of people just see a six' nine, Tackle
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: but you, know just coming from WHERE i came, FROM
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: i it's gonna it's just gonna be, exciting very.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: Blessed so.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: WELL i look forward to saying what's ahead for, you
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: AND i wish you all the best in YOUR nfl. Journey,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Man thank, you thank you so much for carving out some.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Time this has been To Checko. Dely I'm andrew De
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: checko For Travis. Burke I'm andrew De, checko And i'll
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: catch you all on the next. One