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Walker Little reflects on impressive sophomore season | The O-Zone Podcast · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: All right, welcome to this week's Ozone podcast. And uh,
0:04
Speaker 1: they're all fun right now, because this is a fun
0:06
Speaker 1: team to be around. But I've been looking forward to
0:08
Speaker 1: this for a little while talking to this young man
0:10
Speaker 1: again because talked to him late last season and a
0:14
Speaker 1: little bit of a different kind of season for him
0:17
Speaker 1: and the team Jaguars left tackle now Walker a little.
0:21
Speaker 1: I appreciate you joining this. I appreciate you doing this today,
0:24
Speaker 1: of course, appreciate And it struck me when thinking about
0:28
Speaker 1: this today. Your life has changed a lot in the
0:31
Speaker 1: last six weeks. Does that ever strike you? You know,
0:36
Speaker 1: you went from a backup on a team that was
0:39
Speaker 1: two and six to a starter on a team that
0:42
Speaker 1: can't seem to lose right now. Yeah, I mean it's
0:44
Speaker 1: definitely been a world win of the last few weeks. Um,
0:47
Speaker 1: I had, you know, totally a chance to kind of
0:50
Speaker 1: graphs everything that's been going on, because it's as soon
0:53
Speaker 1: as you play one game, you roll in the next.
0:54
Speaker 1: But it's been really special, you know, into this year,
0:57
Speaker 1: I guess the beginning of the new year now, Um, yeah,
1:00
Speaker 1: I mean this this team has been uh so much
1:03
Speaker 1: fun to be a part of. And you know, I've
1:05
Speaker 1: been happy to build a play role in it. Um.
1:09
Speaker 1: I want to get to some of your story here
1:11
Speaker 1: in a little bit because it's fascinating the preparation that
1:14
Speaker 1: it must take to do what you've done. Uh, it's
1:17
Speaker 1: a pretty cool story. But tell me first about the
1:21
Speaker 1: feeling you sort of touched on it. But being a
1:25
Speaker 1: part of this when this sort of thing's uh starts
1:28
Speaker 1: to happen, fans love it and get energized by it.
1:32
Speaker 1: But as a player, do you realize what you're a
1:35
Speaker 1: part of right now? Yeah? I would say, Uh, we
1:38
Speaker 1: definitely realized that. You know, we're doing a lot of
1:41
Speaker 1: things right I don't know if we quite have a
1:43
Speaker 1: chance to get the full grasp of it, just because
1:45
Speaker 1: when you're in it, Uh, it's hard to kind of
1:48
Speaker 1: see the whole picture. You're just kind of laser focused
1:52
Speaker 1: on you know, that opponent that week, and then once
1:55
Speaker 1: that happens, uh, you kind of flush in. You gotta
1:57
Speaker 1: move on pretty quickly to the next week. Um. But
2:01
Speaker 1: I know at the end of the season we're a
2:02
Speaker 1: I'm gonna look back and realize how special it is.
2:05
Speaker 1: But at this point, you know, we're trying to make
2:07
Speaker 1: a run here and for us doing the jobs really
2:10
Speaker 1: not finished and um, we have the utmost belief that
2:12
Speaker 1: you know, we can win every game we play in.
2:15
Speaker 1: Have you had a chance at all? Um? I started
2:18
Speaker 1: the same question, but sure or not? Uh? To speak
2:21
Speaker 1: with any fans during this and what's the reaction right
2:24
Speaker 1: now when they see a Jaguar? Yeah, I mean I've
2:27
Speaker 1: I've spoken just to some of my friends that have
2:29
Speaker 1: you know, there aren't Jacks players that live here in
2:33
Speaker 1: Jacksonville and they're just so having one to just kind
2:35
Speaker 1: of see this team winning again. And uh in the city,
2:39
Speaker 1: I know is is having a good time with it
2:41
Speaker 1: just as we are, and that fuels us just you know,
2:44
Speaker 1: having the city behind us these last two home games,
2:46
Speaker 1: I mean night games, primetime games have been pretty special.
2:49
Speaker 1: Um to have the whole stadium, but you know, Jacksonville
2:52
Speaker 1: fans and and uh for us Bill to win both
2:55
Speaker 1: those has been an incredible experience for me and something
2:58
Speaker 1: that I know I won't you know forget. Um. So
3:00
Speaker 1: I know the city is loving this just as much
3:03
Speaker 1: as we are, and that definitely helps fuel us to
3:06
Speaker 1: go out there and practice each and every day and
3:08
Speaker 1: then definitely on game days to go out and uh,
3:10
Speaker 1: you know, I think that that especially helped us in
3:13
Speaker 1: this last game. Uh down. But knowing that, uh, we
3:18
Speaker 1: have the belief in us and the fans believe in
3:20
Speaker 1: us as well. What I know, you've in your second
3:25
Speaker 1: year maybe haven't been a part of a whole lot
3:27
Speaker 1: of professional locker rooms. But UM, I'm wondering if you
3:32
Speaker 1: have a perspective on, uh how special the relationships seemed
3:38
Speaker 1: to be between the players, the camaraderie. UM, I've been
3:42
Speaker 1: around in a while, I've been around good locker rooms,
3:46
Speaker 1: but this one is at the top level in terms
3:48
Speaker 1: of guys getting along with each other. Do you feel
3:50
Speaker 1: that as well? Yeah, I mean I would say, um,
3:53
Speaker 1: you know, you don't really get into a real locker room,
3:55
Speaker 1: would say until you get in college. Um. And you know,
3:58
Speaker 1: my four years in college and then in last year
4:00
Speaker 1: and this year, it has definitely been the best locker
4:01
Speaker 1: I've ever been part of. UM, which is I think
4:04
Speaker 1: hard to find in a professional team. UM. Oftentimes a
4:08
Speaker 1: lot of guys are only worrying about themselves, but this
4:10
Speaker 1: is really a selfless team, UM, and everyone really wants
4:14
Speaker 1: to go out and do as much as they can
4:16
Speaker 1: for the team and for each other. And we care
4:18
Speaker 1: a lot about each other, and I think that shows
4:20
Speaker 1: that on the field, how we play, and also just
4:23
Speaker 1: how we're able to regroup when when things maybe not
4:25
Speaker 1: aren't going our way. Initially intriguing thing to me is
4:28
Speaker 1: when I asked players about this question, they don't really
4:31
Speaker 1: have an answer in terms of who sets the tone
4:34
Speaker 1: for that. And it's not a locker room without leaders.
4:38
Speaker 1: But there's not really one leader, do you know what
4:41
Speaker 1: I'm saying? Yeah, I mean I think Coach Peterson has
4:43
Speaker 1: said that from us. Uh said that to us from
4:45
Speaker 1: the beginning, which is, uh, you know that we have
4:48
Speaker 1: a whole team full of leaders, and someone's always gonna
4:51
Speaker 1: be called upon. Uh, it's not just gonna be one
4:54
Speaker 1: guy here, one guy there, one guy on offense or
4:56
Speaker 1: one guy on defense. It's gonna be different guys in
4:58
Speaker 1: each game, and you're gonna have to stay up up
5:00
Speaker 1: and play that role both in you know, you're playing
5:03
Speaker 1: on the field, or just pick him up a teammate
5:05
Speaker 1: beside you. Um. And so I think that, uh, this
5:08
Speaker 1: team is full of leaders, and that's really helped us
5:10
Speaker 1: in a lot of the hard times you know we've
5:12
Speaker 1: gone through, being like you said, two and six, three
5:14
Speaker 1: and seven. Having a team full of leaders where you're
5:17
Speaker 1: not just not one guy just carrying the burden of
5:19
Speaker 1: that leadership, a full team of them who can really
5:21
Speaker 1: pick each other up and keep moving on. What tell
5:27
Speaker 1: me a good Brandon Sheriff story for a guy who
5:30
Speaker 1: really doesn't speak to the media a whole lot, but
5:34
Speaker 1: he is sort of I would say, the leader, but
5:37
Speaker 1: I guess the tone center the offensive line. Why yeah,
5:42
Speaker 1: I mean, I think Brandon stepped in here day one,
5:45
Speaker 1: um and really solidified himself as as one of the
5:48
Speaker 1: leaders of our offensive line. And uh, he's played a
5:50
Speaker 1: lot of football and play a lot a really good
5:52
Speaker 1: football at really high level. And I think off the bat,
5:54
Speaker 1: you know, we knew that, but you never know what
5:56
Speaker 1: you're gonna get from a high level player like that.
5:58
Speaker 1: And he's a super helpless player. UM. And you know
6:03
Speaker 1: his advice to young guys like myself and others, um,
6:06
Speaker 1: just helping us get better and helping us along the
6:08
Speaker 1: way and sharing knowledge. UM. I think a lot of
6:11
Speaker 1: it stems to that. You know, he wants to be
6:13
Speaker 1: around the guys. You know, he doesn't matter, he doesn't
6:16
Speaker 1: care if you're a rookie, if you're a year two,
6:17
Speaker 1: year three. He wants to be around everyone. And I think, UM,
6:20
Speaker 1: when you have the guys that are at the top
6:22
Speaker 1: of the top of the NFL playing in the best
6:25
Speaker 1: ball um there is to be played, but they are
6:27
Speaker 1: still willing to hang out with you on you know,
6:30
Speaker 1: Mondays and Tuesdays and you share a lot of time
6:32
Speaker 1: with them, it brings the team a lot together. I
6:34
Speaker 1: think that's what's been really special about this team. You know,
6:37
Speaker 1: there's there's no egos. Everyone um is on a level
6:40
Speaker 1: playing field, UM, and it brings the team a lot
6:44
Speaker 1: closer together when you when you have a group of
6:45
Speaker 1: guys like that. Speaking to your point for people who
6:47
Speaker 1: don't know there there's a big age difference in the NFL,
6:51
Speaker 1: even though you're all grown men, twenty nine or thirty
6:54
Speaker 1: with which Brandon is in twenty four is big age difference.
6:59
Speaker 1: A lot of veterans to take off after practice and everything.
7:01
Speaker 1: So for a guy not to be like that with
7:04
Speaker 1: his level experience as significant as you say, so you're
7:07
Speaker 1: down twenty seven nothing, What are you thinking? Yeah, I
7:10
Speaker 1: mean twenty seven nothing. It's you're you're kind of in
7:12
Speaker 1: a place where, like we said, you know, we're in
7:15
Speaker 1: more than just a whole we are kind of in
7:16
Speaker 1: a crater. UM. It was looking bleak for us, but
7:21
Speaker 1: at that point, you know, it's kind of what everyone expects.
7:24
Speaker 1: You know, you just think about, all right, next play,
7:25
Speaker 1: next drive. Uh, you just gotta get something on the board. Um.
7:29
Speaker 1: And so you know, we're down at the end of
7:30
Speaker 1: the second half, and we were able to kind of
7:32
Speaker 1: go down and you know, Chevor Thos a great past
7:34
Speaker 1: evan En Graham and we scored a touchdown going in
7:36
Speaker 1: a halftime UM. And I think that play was really
7:40
Speaker 1: significant in the whole uh, the whole game, because we
7:43
Speaker 1: were coming to halftime. But it sends of calmness about
7:45
Speaker 1: us that, hey, like, we're still the offense we think
7:48
Speaker 1: we are. We're still the team we think here we were,
7:50
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, the defense did a hell of
7:53
Speaker 1: a job all game and especially that second half getting
7:55
Speaker 1: key stops, and so as an offense, it was just
7:58
Speaker 1: kind of next play mentality and h Trevor along with
8:01
Speaker 1: the rest of us brother kind of turn around and
8:03
Speaker 1: just start making plays. And I'd be remiss if I
8:05
Speaker 1: didn't ask you about Trevor because it was such a
8:08
Speaker 1: unique game. But um, you know, what does it mean
8:13
Speaker 1: for a linement. I'm gonna assume, uh that what everybody's
8:17
Speaker 1: been saying is true, which is that never Wavered, never flinched.
8:20
Speaker 1: Even if there's his fourth pick, He's still Trevor. What
8:24
Speaker 1: does it mean to a teammate when the quarterback responds
8:27
Speaker 1: like that in that situation? I mean, I think it
8:30
Speaker 1: just when you have a guy like him that you
8:32
Speaker 1: know has so much pressure to perform, um, and you
8:35
Speaker 1: know he's you know, has a tough start to the
8:37
Speaker 1: game throwing four interceptions, but he still has the confidence
8:40
Speaker 1: to go out there, you know, coming over the offensive
8:42
Speaker 1: line and explain to us that, hey, it's it's the
8:44
Speaker 1: next play. Uh. And you see that, you know, he's
8:46
Speaker 1: not flinching, He's ready for the next drive. Um, he
8:49
Speaker 1: still has hope in this whole thing. Uh. It makes
8:51
Speaker 1: you want to fight for a guy like that, and
8:53
Speaker 1: as an offensive lineman, Um, you know, our job is
8:56
Speaker 1: to protect him. And it just it gives you, uh,
8:59
Speaker 1: you know, not that we anything more, but just a
9:00
Speaker 1: little extra motivation to go out there each and every
9:02
Speaker 1: drive and give it. You're all give it just a
9:04
Speaker 1: little bit more because you know he is as well
9:06
Speaker 1: and um, and all we we know we've got to
9:09
Speaker 1: give him time because once he gets rolling, Uh, you know,
9:12
Speaker 1: a lot of special things can happen. Do you question
9:17
Speaker 1: how to phrase this question, But it just struck me
9:19
Speaker 1: as a parent to ask it. What's the last time
9:23
Speaker 1: you played and started as many games in a row
9:26
Speaker 1: as you are right now? Yeah, I mean it's definitely
9:28
Speaker 1: been a while. Yeah, two eighteen would probably be the the
9:32
Speaker 1: last times. The nineteen only I played the first game,
9:34
Speaker 1: So yeah, So that is interesting because obviously you've come
9:39
Speaker 1: in and are playing at a high level. Um, does
9:44
Speaker 1: that strike you at all? I guess yeah. I mean
9:46
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people from maybe the outside
9:48
Speaker 1: I've kind of asked me more than I've even never
9:50
Speaker 1: thought about it. Um. I think it's just because, uh,
9:54
Speaker 1: you kind of go out there and you prepare for
9:55
Speaker 1: each game like you're gonna be playing, and so obviously
9:59
Speaker 1: the pounding on your body might be different and that
10:01
Speaker 1: approach changes, but mentally, week to week it doesn't really
10:05
Speaker 1: change much. And um, you know, physically during the week,
10:08
Speaker 1: you're still going out there, you're still doing the practices.
10:10
Speaker 1: It's just kind of a difference on game to itself.
10:11
Speaker 1: And so The only approach that has to change on
10:14
Speaker 1: my end is just kind of recovery. I'm sure I
10:16
Speaker 1: see this when you're on before, but the adversity you overcame,
10:19
Speaker 1: and people who don't know some devastating injuries in college
10:24
Speaker 1: that you had to come back from a lot of
10:25
Speaker 1: time off, a lot of rehab. Um. It's sort of
10:29
Speaker 1: a cliche question, but how much has overcoming that sort
10:34
Speaker 1: of helped with what you've dealt with so far in
10:37
Speaker 1: the NFL, because it hasn't been an easy road for
10:38
Speaker 1: you less two or three Yeah, I would say those were,
10:43
Speaker 1: you know, some of the tougher times during the end
10:46
Speaker 1: of my college careers, having a lot of injuries and
10:50
Speaker 1: things not maybe going the way I would have like
10:52
Speaker 1: dreamed them up to be. UM, But a lot of
10:55
Speaker 1: resilience I think was formed around that time and has
10:57
Speaker 1: helped me, you know, through these first a few years
11:00
Speaker 1: in NFL s it's uh, never easy. Every season has
11:03
Speaker 1: its ups and downs and its challenges and UM. If anything,
11:06
Speaker 1: that's just kind of taught me to stick the course,
11:09
Speaker 1: uh and and just have trust to come in your
11:11
Speaker 1: teammates and your coaches in the process. UM and things.
11:14
Speaker 1: You know, if you do things right repeatedly, you know
11:17
Speaker 1: things will go your way, and so UM, I think
11:20
Speaker 1: just you know, having that as a truth and following
11:24
Speaker 1: that has really helped well when you learn not covering
11:27
Speaker 1: the league as long as I have is there's no
11:30
Speaker 1: path too for a player on where they're going. And
11:34
Speaker 1: number one recruiting high school big time player coming out
11:37
Speaker 1: probably would have been a top ten pick without the injury.
11:39
Speaker 1: And then you get in the NFL and you don't
11:41
Speaker 1: play it first, How do you maintain confidence to come
11:46
Speaker 1: in and right now be playing like the player but
11:50
Speaker 1: he thought you were if you follow me, yeah, I
11:52
Speaker 1: think I think it's just um in a way, I
11:58
Speaker 1: would just try to keep every practice as much as
12:01
Speaker 1: I could like a game, UM, and just keep that
12:03
Speaker 1: mentality of just kind of always like sharpening the sword, UM,
12:07
Speaker 1: always kind of working on the skills and so UM
12:10
Speaker 1: when the time did come, UM, which you inevitably it
12:14
Speaker 1: always will in terms of guys are always getting hurt
12:17
Speaker 1: UM on any team, and so you know that that
12:19
Speaker 1: time is going to come, and you hope it doesn't. UM.
12:21
Speaker 1: You never want another player to go down, especially another teammate. UM,
12:25
Speaker 1: But inevitably those things happen, and so um, I think
12:29
Speaker 1: as well as you can just trying to keep every
12:31
Speaker 1: practice this game luck as you can in your head
12:33
Speaker 1: in your head, um, And you know, I was lucky
12:35
Speaker 1: to go against really good guys here, um with Trayvon Walker,
12:39
Speaker 1: with Josh Allen, with Art and Key and those guys. Um,
12:42
Speaker 1: you know, be on the work moves and and and
12:44
Speaker 1: just go against them each every week. Now that's easy
12:47
Speaker 1: to say, but not as easy to do every week
12:51
Speaker 1: preparing like you're playing. Um, obviously it's important. Obviously you've
12:55
Speaker 1: done it harder than it sounds. Yeah, I think sometimes
13:00
Speaker 1: it can be hard just um to kind of keep
13:03
Speaker 1: almost like fooling your mind in a way of like hey,
13:06
Speaker 1: like this is gonna be uh, like, you gotta prepare
13:09
Speaker 1: for this week as you will next week, and though
13:11
Speaker 1: you know that there is a chance that you don't
13:13
Speaker 1: even step on the field that week. Um. But it
13:16
Speaker 1: is the nature of the job, and it's there's challenges
13:18
Speaker 1: to being a starter in the challenge just being backup.
13:20
Speaker 1: And that's one of the challenges I think comes along
13:22
Speaker 1: with being a backup is uh, keeping your mind in
13:24
Speaker 1: the right headspace of hey, like you gotta be serious
13:27
Speaker 1: about your preparation. You gotta be serious about each ripe
13:29
Speaker 1: you get into practice because you may not get those
13:32
Speaker 1: game reps this week, but you have to keep improving
13:34
Speaker 1: as the team improves. Um when a swing tackle comes
13:39
Speaker 1: in and plays at a high level, by definition, it's
13:42
Speaker 1: it's a little surprising to people. Have you surprised yourself?
13:45
Speaker 1: Uh No, I mean I always have great expectations for
13:48
Speaker 1: myself what I can do ever since I've been in
13:52
Speaker 1: high school to college, so now and so, UM, I
13:54
Speaker 1: don't think I would say it's a surprise, but I've been, um,
13:57
Speaker 1: you know, happy we've been able to do so far,
13:59
Speaker 1: but there's still lot of things that I know I
14:01
Speaker 1: got to fix and um I know, um, I gotta
14:04
Speaker 1: progress on if I want to, you know, keep being
14:06
Speaker 1: the player I want to be on this team and
14:07
Speaker 1: just keep hoping this team. One people who watch tape
14:11
Speaker 1: say they see increased aggressiveness, increased level from you each week.
14:17
Speaker 1: Is that just because as you play more, you sort
14:19
Speaker 1: of gain Hey, I can do this and here's what
14:21
Speaker 1: I need to keep doing. Not a very good question
14:24
Speaker 1: by me. I know what you're though, but um, I
14:26
Speaker 1: would just say a lot of it just comes from
14:28
Speaker 1: confidence and getting the time to get out there and
14:30
Speaker 1: have those real live reps in a real game, and um,
14:33
Speaker 1: you start seeing things that are similar from week to week,
14:36
Speaker 1: an opponent's opponent. Um, and as time it was on,
14:40
Speaker 1: I think it's easier to have a little more confidence,
14:42
Speaker 1: and that might show itself in different ways, but UM,
14:45
Speaker 1: I feel like that just ultimately makes you more comfortable.
14:47
Speaker 1: When you're more comfortable and more confident, you can play
14:49
Speaker 1: a little faster. You're showing yourself you can do this. Yeah, exactly,
14:52
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool. Um. The last thing we do here
14:55
Speaker 1: is that is that what I call the ozone five
14:57
Speaker 1: five quick questions wasn't fun to get you out of here?
15:00
Speaker 1: Walco there. What's your last binge watch? Uh? There was
15:04
Speaker 1: a show on Netflix called Kaleidoscope. I just finished. It's
15:07
Speaker 1: a like a heist. That's pretty deep. Track. That's not
15:10
Speaker 1: one that's on the top ten. Okay, I think it
15:12
Speaker 1: might have been. It was only one of the new
15:14
Speaker 1: releases like last week or the week before. Um, so
15:17
Speaker 1: I watched that all time binge watch Game of Thrones. Uh,
15:24
Speaker 1: pregame song if you have one. I really don't listen
15:27
Speaker 1: to music preum which is kind of I would say different.
15:29
Speaker 1: I just kind of people play music in the locker room,
15:31
Speaker 1: but um, I think it either hypes me up too much,
15:34
Speaker 1: or when I try to play slower music it calls
15:36
Speaker 1: me down too much. I try to just listen to
15:38
Speaker 1: the noises. I'm gonna assume the first answer is Saturday,
15:42
Speaker 1: best game you played in before that? Uh, if you
15:46
Speaker 1: had the best game before that, I mean, the atmosphere
15:48
Speaker 1: of the week before that Tennessee game is great. Um,
15:51
Speaker 1: so I would probably put that right up there. Run
15:54
Speaker 1: block or pass block. I mean I prefer prefer to
15:57
Speaker 1: run block. I mean, I think most often something would
16:00
Speaker 1: kind of it's set. It's more of a chance to
16:01
Speaker 1: kind of set the tone. Even as a left tackle. Yeah,
16:04
Speaker 1: I mean I would say people put people put more
16:07
Speaker 1: importance on the past bobbing. But um, I would say
16:10
Speaker 1: just from an offensive alignment perspective, you're able to kind
16:12
Speaker 1: of set the tone of the game. If you're able
16:14
Speaker 1: to run block well and just kind of control the
16:17
Speaker 1: control the clock and control the ball, it kind of
16:19
Speaker 1: puts the game more in your favorite more in your control.
16:22
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to this one because I think the
16:24
Speaker 1: answerill be impressive blow by blow. What was your waffle
16:26
Speaker 1: house order? Uh? It was the All Star with was
16:31
Speaker 1: it bacon? Hash Brown's over easy eggs and then chocolate
16:36
Speaker 1: chip waffle. It's solids more or less than Trevor eight
16:43
Speaker 1: always more Walker. It's a playoff week. I can't thank
16:48
Speaker 1: you enough for joining us. I know, I know people
16:50
Speaker 1: are going to enjoy this Good Luck Saturday, and thank you.
16:53
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining the ozone Podcast. I appreciate it.
16:55
Speaker 1: Thank you,