Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / The O-Zone Podcast | Travon Walker on Fumble Return TD, Tuning His Pass Rush and Mowing the Lawn
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: All right, welcome into this week's ozone podcast. And I
- 0:03Speaker 1: always enjoy having Jaguars defensive end Trayvon Walker on this
- 0:09Speaker 1: and Trayvon, first of all, I appreciate you joining us.
- 0:11Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
- 0:12Speaker 1: So tell me about this team right now two and seven,
- 0:16Speaker 1: not where you want to be. What's the mindset going in?
- 0:20Speaker 1: How do you move forward right now?
- 0:22Speaker 3: Just starting off this is a obviously I feel like
- 0:25Speaker 3: everybody sees it's a great team. We have all the
- 0:27Speaker 3: talent in the world, but it's just like those little
- 0:29Speaker 3: small things to where we're not finishing or what we're
- 0:33Speaker 3: it's simple mistakes that we're messing up on the critical
- 0:37Speaker 3: moments of the game. That we can't do that if
- 0:39Speaker 3: we want to be a top team in the NFL.
- 0:41Speaker 3: But I feel like as long as everybody just continuously
- 0:44Speaker 3: have the mindset that we do have now still to
- 0:47Speaker 3: this day, which is come in, work hard, take it
- 0:49Speaker 3: day by day, and just try to go get one
- 0:51Speaker 3: win at a time, I feel like.
- 0:53Speaker 2: We'll we'll be pretty good. We just have to finish strong.
- 0:57Speaker 1: Tell me about your play. It seems to me from
- 1:00Speaker 1: the time watching as a rookie, you always talk about
- 1:04Speaker 1: just getting better every day. That's sort of your motto.
- 1:07Speaker 1: But it really seems like just progressively week to week
- 1:11Speaker 1: over the course of your career and even now just
- 1:14Speaker 1: a little better every day. Do you feel that Do
- 1:15Speaker 1: you feel that progress.
- 1:17Speaker 3: Most definitely as me personally, I do feel that I
- 1:19Speaker 3: am progressing every day. That's like you said, that's something
- 1:22Speaker 3: that I live by on a day to day basis,
- 1:24Speaker 3: and I just want to continuously grow as a person
- 1:26Speaker 3: on the field and off the field. And with that,
- 1:29Speaker 3: then no one can really say that, Oh he's whatever
- 1:34Speaker 3: they want to say. Yeah, just say I'm not progressing,
- 1:36Speaker 3: But I just want to continuously try to bring whatever
- 1:39Speaker 3: I can bring you to the table to help my
- 1:40Speaker 3: team win.
- 1:41Speaker 1: And then where's your confidence of it? Right now? It
- 1:44Speaker 1: strikes me you've always been confident. We've talked a few
- 1:47Speaker 1: times over the years, but it seems this year, and
- 1:50Speaker 1: I'm not sure how to quantify it, but just a
- 1:53Speaker 1: little more confident around the building, easier talking to the media,
- 1:58Speaker 1: taking more of a leadership. Maybe am I reading that
- 2:02Speaker 1: rioter or something there?
- 2:03Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, you can't say that. It's just for me.
- 2:05Speaker 3: I'm the type person the longer that I'm around, like
- 2:08Speaker 3: a certain individual as I meet. As a person, I'm
- 2:11Speaker 3: a person I'm very laid back at first once I
- 2:13Speaker 3: first meet you, but as I'm around you a lot more,
- 2:15Speaker 3: I sat back and observed you felter your energy. I'm
- 2:19Speaker 3: just the type person I don't like to invite any
- 2:21Speaker 3: negative energy in my space. So that could go for
- 2:24Speaker 3: anybody in the building or media, or whatever the case
- 2:27Speaker 3: may be. But the more I'm around somebody, the more
- 2:29Speaker 3: I grow comfortable with that person. And that's how I
- 2:31Speaker 3: feel like I am. I've been here a part of
- 2:34Speaker 3: the Jaguars for going on three years now, so obviously
- 2:37Speaker 3: I'll be a lot more comfortable in the building with
- 2:40Speaker 3: the coaches and the players as well, and then also
- 2:43Speaker 3: just with the media.
- 2:45Speaker 2: I've learned as I've grown.
- 2:47Speaker 3: When I was younger, I just tried my best not
- 2:49Speaker 3: to say anything that would give the team another team
- 2:52Speaker 3: of advantage.
- 2:54Speaker 2: And now I think that's just how I go about
- 2:58Speaker 2: media in general.
- 2:59Speaker 3: And then I'm a I'm a very blunt person, so
- 3:01Speaker 3: I get straight to the point and that's it.
- 3:03Speaker 1: I got you. So the fact that you avoid me
- 3:05Speaker 1: in the lockerom means you don't trust me.
- 3:08Speaker 2: It's not that I don't trust you.
- 3:09Speaker 3: It's just more so that I have to We have
- 3:11Speaker 3: to build that trust. Just like respect, it's earned, and
- 3:16Speaker 3: I feel it's the same way with that I got you.
- 3:19Speaker 1: So tell me about the play. Everybody's talking about it,
- 3:21Speaker 1: the fumble return. I guess, having watched you over the years,
- 3:27Speaker 1: not surprising that you showed that sort of power athleticism.
- 3:32Speaker 1: But I guess take me through it. Have you watched it,
- 3:37Speaker 1: were you impressed or is that just another play to you?
- 3:40Speaker 3: I definitely watched it, and I was definitely impressed with myself.
- 3:43Speaker 3: But that's one of those things that were in the
- 3:46Speaker 3: moment of the game. It's just it's more sort of
- 3:49Speaker 3: an instinct feel. Like I said on a previous interview,
- 3:53Speaker 3: I seen the ball on the ground. It's kind of
- 3:55Speaker 3: like the Super Bowl commercial from a couple of years back,
- 3:58Speaker 3: where you see the ball and the commercial just holding
- 4:00Speaker 3: around god diving at it. That's one of those ones
- 4:02Speaker 3: you have to get on it as a defensive player,
- 4:04Speaker 3: and then my instincts just kicked in trying to score
- 4:06Speaker 3: help my team win. But in the end, once it happened,
- 4:10Speaker 3: I really I enjoyed it because I felt it once
- 4:12Speaker 3: I got on the sideline. I felt the energy that
- 4:14Speaker 3: it brought to my team, But I mean it would
- 4:17Speaker 3: have been a lot better food to one food on
- 4:19Speaker 3: that game, then that would have probably been a player
- 4:21Speaker 3: that'll be talked about a lot longer that and maybe
- 4:23Speaker 3: talked about.
- 4:24Speaker 1: It strikes me just watching you in that play several
- 4:28Speaker 1: others over the last few weeks, and maybe you've been
- 4:31Speaker 1: doing this before and people just didn't notice, but you
- 4:35Speaker 1: seem to be having fun playing football and sort of
- 4:39Speaker 1: feeling like, you know, I guess fun or in the moment,
- 4:48Speaker 1: maybe talking a little bit to opponents, just kind of
- 4:51Speaker 1: feeling like you belong and you're playing to your potential.
- 4:56Speaker 1: And I didn't say that very well, but there's something
- 4:58Speaker 1: in the way you're playing, almost backyardist, where it's like, yeah,
- 5:03Speaker 1: this is where I'm supposed to.
- 5:04Speaker 2: Be almost definitely.
- 5:05Speaker 3: It's just even though things aren't going going as playing
- 5:09Speaker 3: as far as the team wise, as far as our
- 5:11Speaker 3: record wins and losses, I just like, I love the
- 5:14Speaker 3: game of football and that's something that I don't want
- 5:16Speaker 3: to let the because I'm very hard on myself and
- 5:18Speaker 3: I'm very hard on I take losing very serious, so
- 5:21Speaker 3: I don't want to set aside the incite, the excitement,
- 5:26Speaker 3: and the enjoy that I get out of the game
- 5:27Speaker 3: of football. So that's why I just always try to
- 5:29Speaker 3: attack it every day, be that seven year old kid
- 5:32Speaker 3: that I was when I first started playing football, and
- 5:36Speaker 3: I just don't want the losses to start to take
- 5:39Speaker 3: strip my love away from the game. I don't think
- 5:40Speaker 3: that'll ever happen, So I just have to come out, attack,
- 5:43Speaker 3: attack the field, and have fun with my with my
- 5:46Speaker 3: fellow my teammates every week, every week we step on
- 5:50Speaker 3: the field, every practice that we step on the field,
- 5:51Speaker 3: I just try to make it enjoy for him. As
- 5:53Speaker 3: I continuously do that, I feel like I can bring
- 5:55Speaker 3: a lot of other people along with me who may
- 5:57Speaker 3: not be feeling the same way about the team or
- 6:01Speaker 3: whatever the directions that we're headed in. But I just
- 6:03Speaker 3: want to be that positive person on the field at
- 6:06Speaker 3: all times, or in the locker room, whatever it may be.
- 6:08Speaker 2: I just want to be positive.
- 6:10Speaker 1: Is some of that confidence too, more confident as you
- 6:13Speaker 1: go on to sort of be yourself on the field.
- 6:16Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that does. It does help boost up my
- 6:20Speaker 3: confidence as well. But I feel, like I said, I've
- 6:23Speaker 3: always been confident. It's just you know, once you start
- 6:26Speaker 3: making those plays that everybody expects you to make, it
- 6:31Speaker 3: kind of just becomes a little easier, you know what
- 6:33Speaker 3: I'm saying. Other than that, just going out there having
- 6:36Speaker 3: fun with my guys.
- 6:37Speaker 1: Now you're asked about this yesterday and you said no comments.
- 6:40Speaker 1: I'll ask you again the way you ran. Are you
- 6:46Speaker 1: going to Doug and saying I want to play fullback
- 6:49Speaker 1: or could you play full back? I know they probably
- 6:51Speaker 1: won't do that.
- 6:52Speaker 3: I could play fullback, but me as the person that
- 6:55Speaker 3: I am, no, I'm not going up to Dug and
- 6:57Speaker 3: being like you put me at fullback?
- 6:59Speaker 2: Da da dada dah.
- 7:00Speaker 3: But I mean, obviously, if he felt that way, and
- 7:03Speaker 3: if the offensive coordinator, if they felt that way in
- 7:06Speaker 3: order for us to win games, then I'll do whatever
- 7:09Speaker 3: to help my team win game. That's like I say,
- 7:11Speaker 3: I'm here for the love of the game.
- 7:13Speaker 1: Well, now we've talked before a bit how much offense
- 7:17Speaker 1: is in your background. How much have you carried the ball?
- 7:20Speaker 3: I like to say I carried the ball of pretty
- 7:22Speaker 3: good bit from my middle school to high school days.
- 7:25Speaker 3: And then you know, obviously college just starts to transition
- 7:27Speaker 3: more into a business. So I was more so just defense.
- 7:30Speaker 3: But high school I played a lot of wildcat, quarterback,
- 7:33Speaker 3: tight end, receiver, play some of everything.
- 7:36Speaker 1: I think we've talked about it before, but I'm sure
- 7:39Speaker 1: there were moments where when you were playing wildcat in
- 7:42Speaker 1: high school it was almost unfair.
- 7:44Speaker 3: Uh yeah, you could say that, But at that point
- 7:46Speaker 3: the defense, I already kind of expect what's going to happen.
- 7:50Speaker 3: But I feel like my high school coach did a
- 7:52Speaker 3: great job of kind of mixing in the little red
- 7:54Speaker 3: zone here and there. For me, the way the ball
- 7:57Speaker 3: is not always in my hand, it's just it's more
- 7:59Speaker 3: of a direction out to me. But I mean, I
- 8:01Speaker 3: feel like that's high school for it in Georgia. So
- 8:04Speaker 3: whatever you like, that's true, that's true. That's part of
- 8:07Speaker 3: my mindset as well. So I just did whatever my
- 8:09Speaker 3: team needed for me to do the win. Back then
- 8:11Speaker 3: and still to this day.
- 8:13Speaker 1: When you picked up the ball and bounced off the
- 8:15Speaker 1: first guy who hit you, did that come back, meaning
- 8:18Speaker 1: just the moves.
- 8:19Speaker 3: And as soon as I picked up the ball out
- 8:21Speaker 3: that instinctly, it just came back just like that.
- 8:24Speaker 1: It was like you swing me, had a swim move
- 8:26Speaker 1: at the end I do.
- 8:27Speaker 2: That was just a little.
- 8:28Speaker 3: I seen how it was pursuing Jarry, and he gave
- 8:31Speaker 3: him a nice little shove to get him off of
- 8:33Speaker 3: his ain'to a little bit, So I just took cut
- 8:35Speaker 3: back inside with swim over the top of him. He
- 8:37Speaker 3: didn't want to tackle me for real anyway, So I
- 8:40Speaker 3: had to finish that play.
- 8:41Speaker 1: At what point did you know you were scoring?
- 8:44Speaker 3: That was probably at the point once I seen Jared's
- 8:46Speaker 3: get the nudge on him, and then I was like, oh, yeah,
- 8:48Speaker 3: I got this, because I mean I had the idea
- 8:52Speaker 3: that he was probably going to try to cut me
- 8:53Speaker 3: at first, but once he got that nudge on me,
- 8:56Speaker 3: he had a little too much moment.
- 8:57Speaker 2: I'm going forward and I just cut back inside.
- 8:59Speaker 1: He wouldn't to try to bring it.
- 9:00Speaker 3: Yeah, Nah, he wasn't gonna try to hit me up top.
- 9:02Speaker 3: Sure here's a strong guy, don't get me wrong, but
- 9:04Speaker 3: he wasn't to go try to hit me up top.
- 9:06Speaker 1: So a topic with you ever since your rookie has
- 9:08Speaker 1: been pass rush and it seems again going back to
- 9:12Speaker 1: what we talked about earlier, week to week, month to month,
- 9:15Speaker 1: whatever it is, it seems like you just get better
- 9:18Speaker 1: and better and better. There are you improving. Are your
- 9:21Speaker 1: moves improving, is your technique improving? Just tell me about
- 9:26Speaker 1: that a little bit.
- 9:26Speaker 3: What you've worked on personally, I like to think that.
- 9:31Speaker 3: I mean, I've still been doing a lot of the
- 9:33Speaker 3: same moves that I did. Coming in as a rookie
- 9:35Speaker 3: is just more of a set up feel of when
- 9:38Speaker 3: I'm going to work this power rush or when am
- 9:41Speaker 3: I going to work this edge rush, because like I said, I.
- 9:44Speaker 1: Still past rush plan.
- 9:45Speaker 3: People talk about it, yeah, coming in with a plant
- 9:48Speaker 3: more so coming in with a plan. That's from my
- 9:50Speaker 3: rookie year to now. As a rookie coming in, I
- 9:53Speaker 3: really didn't understand how to set up my rushes. But
- 9:57Speaker 3: as the years went along, obviously I've gotten a lot
- 10:00Speaker 3: more comfortable with doing different things, attacking all three edges
- 10:03Speaker 3: instead of just going speed to power to help set
- 10:06Speaker 3: me up. So I feel like with me working all
- 10:08Speaker 3: three edges, that's that's part of my game plan. So
- 10:11Speaker 3: as we're coming into a game that just keeps the
- 10:13Speaker 3: offensive tackle on his heels on not always expecting my power.
- 10:17Speaker 3: Even though I am stronger than a lot of guys.
- 10:19Speaker 3: I mean, we're all grown in, but I feel like
- 10:21Speaker 3: I'm stronger than a lot of guys. And my mentality
- 10:23Speaker 3: with what I run, my power rush with that helps
- 10:27Speaker 3: set up every other move that I got my rush
- 10:30Speaker 3: And that's just part of my athleticism as well.
- 10:32Speaker 1: And that's just also part of a growing from a
- 10:35Speaker 1: rookie to a vet understand what it takes in the
- 10:38Speaker 1: NFL when the margins are that slim in terms of talent.
- 10:41Speaker 2: Right, that's just the details of being a professional.
- 10:45Speaker 1: What in your third year do you still feel like
- 10:52Speaker 1: there's a lot more to go for you?
- 10:56Speaker 3: I mean, if anybody who really knows me from a
- 10:59Speaker 3: football respect them and how I attack the game of football,
- 11:02Speaker 3: they know I really still I'm still just now scratching
- 11:04Speaker 3: the surface as far as past rushing things of that nature.
- 11:08Speaker 3: But I feel like I can go out there and
- 11:10Speaker 3: continuously get better every day and I can be a
- 11:14Speaker 3: lot better than what I've been playing.
- 11:16Speaker 2: As well.
- 11:17Speaker 1: You mentioned earlier like what people say noise, that's always
- 11:22Speaker 1: a thing around you. People have their thoughts how do
- 11:25Speaker 1: you not pay attention to that? But again from talking
- 11:29Speaker 1: to you over the years, a few times everybody says
- 11:31Speaker 1: they don't listen to it. I sort of get the
- 11:34Speaker 1: feeling that you have the capacity to not listen with
- 11:38Speaker 1: the most guys.
- 11:39Speaker 2: Me just how my mind says wired.
- 11:41Speaker 3: I'm the type person I control what I control, and
- 11:44Speaker 3: then obviously people are always going to have something to
- 11:48Speaker 3: say about everyone in the world, no matter what's the situation.
- 11:51Speaker 3: I just I just tend to go about it and
- 11:55Speaker 3: do what I have to do amongst what I'm being
- 11:58Speaker 3: asked to do. You know what I'm saying, other people,
- 12:00Speaker 3: they're going to have their opinions. Everybody's opinion is not
- 12:03Speaker 3: going to be the same. So that's why another reason
- 12:05Speaker 3: I don't pay the critics any attention then, for one,
- 12:08Speaker 3: like I told somebody as well, I mean, people are
- 12:11Speaker 3: always going to critique, but if they was good enough
- 12:13Speaker 3: to do it, then they would be in my position
- 12:16Speaker 3: as well. So obviously they're not there. It's social media
- 12:20Speaker 3: for a reason. Everything on social media is more so
- 12:22Speaker 3: for clickbait or just for attention, and.
- 12:26Speaker 1: That's an intriguing thing. I've talked to a lot of players.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Where does that come from? That sort of it's a
- 12:34Speaker 1: maturity beyond your years, I would say.
- 12:36Speaker 3: I'll just say it mainly comes from how I was raised,
- 12:39Speaker 3: my mom and dad, how they brought me up. I
- 12:43Speaker 3: was always the biggest kid growing up as well. Too soon,
- 12:46Speaker 3: and at the same time I was, I was still
- 12:48Speaker 3: dominating as when I was younger. It's just as I
- 12:51Speaker 3: got older, they still had things to say, whether it
- 12:54Speaker 3: was good, bad, or kind of mediocre. But somebody's always yeah,
- 12:59Speaker 3: it's always going to always want to have something to say.
- 13:01Speaker 2: Just block it out.
- 13:02Speaker 3: They're gonna when I do good, they gonna have something
- 13:04Speaker 3: good to say by me, and then they go find
- 13:06Speaker 3: the little smallest thing that I do wrong just to
- 13:08Speaker 3: try to critique it. Because I've been doing good for
- 13:10Speaker 3: so long. I mean, what can you explore?
- 13:12Speaker 1: You as sure? I got you, so you have that perspective.
- 13:15Speaker 3: Just I just stay levelhead and keep going and block
- 13:18Speaker 3: out out the noise and know that I'm in the
- 13:20Speaker 3: position that I'm in because of God put me in
- 13:22Speaker 3: that position, and if He didn't want me in that position,
- 13:24Speaker 3: I wouldn't be there in the first place.
- 13:27Speaker 1: The solut to service, what does that mean to you?
- 13:29Speaker 1: To be involved with that this way and it's very
- 13:31Speaker 1: important to.
- 13:31Speaker 2: You salute the service.
- 13:32Speaker 3: It means a lot to me just for the simple
- 13:34Speaker 3: fact of I come from kind of the service background.
- 13:39Speaker 3: My dad he served as a marine. His father as
- 13:41Speaker 3: well was in the Service as well, and then obviously
- 13:44Speaker 3: all the hard work that all of the branches that
- 13:47Speaker 3: they that they put into it, it kind of helps me.
- 13:51Speaker 3: I look at it kind of like how we attack
- 13:53Speaker 3: the game of football is how they attack whatever that they.
- 13:56Speaker 2: Have going on.
- 13:56Speaker 3: And with me being a part of salute the Service
- 13:59Speaker 3: for a little while on the NFL, I've started to
- 14:02Speaker 3: learn a lot more from all these different branches, just
- 14:05Speaker 3: to see their perspective on life. And at a lot
- 14:08Speaker 3: of times they don't choose to be put in certain situations,
- 14:12Speaker 3: and that's kind of like us as football players. But
- 14:15Speaker 3: they still have to go out there and serve the country,
- 14:17Speaker 3: and a lot of people really take that for granted,
- 14:19Speaker 3: and that's something that I really don't take lightly. These
- 14:22Speaker 3: people are really out here fighting hard tooth and nail
- 14:25Speaker 3: for the country of the United States, and I mean
- 14:28Speaker 3: they should be committed for that.
- 14:29Speaker 1: That moment's gonna matter to you a lot.
- 14:31Speaker 2: On Sunday, yes, sir, almost definitely.
- 14:33Speaker 1: The last thing we do the ozone five. Five quick
- 14:36Speaker 1: questions Trevon Walker, what was your last binge watch? If
- 14:40Speaker 1: you have.
- 14:41Speaker 2: Last bench watch.
- 14:42Speaker 3: I'm really not a TV show God, But I want
- 14:45Speaker 3: to say, the last full TV show that I watched
- 14:48Speaker 3: was BMF.
- 14:49Speaker 1: Okay, the last song you heard this morning on the way.
- 14:52Speaker 2: In the last song be Different solo.
- 14:59Speaker 1: You I know about your most recent touchdown? What was
- 15:03Speaker 1: your first touchdown that you can recall?
- 15:06Speaker 2: My first on the defense side of the ball.
- 15:09Speaker 1: Even if it's back when you were playing offense when
- 15:11Speaker 1: you were a kid. I mean, if you remember.
- 15:13Speaker 3: Your first score, it's so many on offense from playing offense,
- 15:16Speaker 3: But I remember my first defense touchdown in high school.
- 15:18Speaker 3: It was on a little screen. Caught it for like
- 15:21Speaker 3: twenty twenty five.
- 15:23Speaker 1: Yards, picked off the screen. Sir, okay, got you best
- 15:30Speaker 1: Georgia player other than yourself?
- 15:34Speaker 2: That's a hard one. Uh.
- 15:39Speaker 3: I'm a defensive minded guy, so it's definitely gonna be
- 15:41Speaker 3: somebody on the defensive side of the ball. I'm gonna
- 15:44Speaker 3: go a cocann He's one of those ones that you consistently, consistently,
- 15:50Speaker 3: consistently see every week near the ball, making plays, impactful
- 15:55Speaker 3: plays up and that helps bring his team to win.
- 15:58Speaker 3: And the mindset that he brings to the game put
- 16:00Speaker 3: me in in the mindset of Ray Lewis and Ray Lewis,
- 16:02Speaker 3: He's one of my favorite defensive players.
- 16:04Speaker 1: I got you, when's the last time you mowed the lawn?
- 16:08Speaker 3: Last time out? Probably like two years ago when I
- 16:12Speaker 3: went home.
- 16:13Speaker 1: Just and always.
- 16:16Speaker 2: It was a year.
- 16:17Speaker 3: It was probably the beginning of this year or in
- 16:20Speaker 3: the last year sometime. Whenever I went home, I just
- 16:22Speaker 3: helped my dad. He was out cutting grass, so I
- 16:24Speaker 3: just went out to help him.
- 16:25Speaker 1: And it's always, I mean, for the backstory of people
- 16:28Speaker 1: don't know, your dad always had you mowing the lawn,
- 16:30Speaker 1: and it was always a thing growing up. I used
- 16:33Speaker 1: to wear your helmetself or not wearing the helmet anymore,
- 16:36Speaker 1: but still the lawn still mold alawn to this day. Traymond,
- 16:40Speaker 1: I always enjoyed talking to you and this. I always
- 16:42Speaker 1: enjoy you giving the time to do this. People appreciate it.
- 16:45Speaker 1: Thank you for joining the ozone Podcasts, sir.
- 16:47Speaker 2: Thank you all for having me again as well.