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Making Monsters Draft Series: Toledo Safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren · 2nd City Gridiron

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to another episode of Making Monsters Continuing On, draft talk now talking some Toledo Prospects.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: One mainly joined now by Justin Feldcamp, program director Anchor for BCSN, covering Northwest Ohio Sports, including Toledo, suggesting thanks for hopping on.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, absolutely.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Love to talk NFL, college football anytime of the year, right?
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I do love it.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that most people probably familiar with the Quinion Mitchell, one of the guys out of Toledo recently, that defensive back group has has been good in recent years and that defense in general.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I do want to start there before we get into safety, a manual, make Neil Warren, because that defense fourth best scoring defense and college football this last season, they held
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're opponents too very little.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was like 13.3 points a game or something like that.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of good coming out of that It's Mac football.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I know some people are going to look at look in that side of things But when you look at some of the a Western Michigan some of those type of teams a they performed against There were some good stuff coming out of the steep fence.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's start there what really made this how it had it functioned how it looked when really what made that defense take
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Taylor a few years ago, they had to revamp the defense because they were given up the opposite of what you're mentioning there to many points and they brought in coach care says they're defensive quarter coordinator who actually has left and departed to take that same position with the Syracuse orange so going from the group of six to a power for school in Syracuse and they're trying to do.
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: what Cares did here at Toledo and they had playmakers and they've designed schemes defensively around the personnel that they had and they had a blueprint for who the type of kid that they're trying to recruit or bring into the transfer portal to fit some of the principal components of their defensive style.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the pressure, attack nature that UT had, but yeah, you mentioned that maybe not as many teams watched Toledo, but their defense hung tough against some lower tier SEC schools and dominated against some max schools in many cases.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it's in a pipeline of talent that UT has the most
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: NFL players of all of the Mac teams currently in the NFL so this latest one that we'll be able to talk about in the New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I always like to admit that the max goal, I think, I think some people are like, oh, but the competition, but then I mentioned to Quinion Mitchell and already what you've seen from him at the NFL level.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, a guy named Cleo Mac was a played a Mac football up Buffalo, obviously, at that time when he was in college.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you get some players out of there.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that sometimes is a underrated
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: kind of trajectory for some teams, but I may not know how to make near war and let's start with him specifically.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those defensive back room obviously have been able to be developed quite well.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's multiple in this draft that are projected maybe a little later, him higher than that.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: But chat his role on that defense specifically and really what he did with Toledo.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, he is what I like to call someone who has developed over the course of time as opposed to being a superstar, maybe your freshman year or sophomore year and your first reps at a starting position.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He came along.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He admitted to one of the interviews he did with us that his freshman year, he was immature and you know, which of us as an 18 or 18 year old is not immature.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But over to comes the college football he said, entering his sophomore year.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I guess he said he got enough feedback from the coaching staff and maybe fellow peers and teammates where he had the light bulb go off and he said, I have an opportunity to be special and set myself apart from maybe other players, even on his same roster, but he was a great teammate.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: He looked up to the upper classmen, guys like when you're on Mitchell and some others,
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: that have gone before, maybe not in the same position group, but just guys who have been drafted or got opportunities at the NFL from the University of Toledo.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So he evolved.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He got better.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He listened to coaches.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: He worked his way up all of the accolade list and the milestone lists.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as a six foot two, two hundred and two pound guy, what I liked about him is he impacted the game in a variety of ways.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes you say, as a secondary defender, you might be like a quarterback who says, okay, I'm going to take away one of your rest receivers, and that's my job, and that's the case that I'm going to do for that particular game and that particular game plan.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he was called the eraser.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now whether he gave himself that nickname or not or someone else did the racers a pretty cool nickname.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he was able to make plays tailored at multiple levels.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could break up passes.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could come up with some interceptions.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could have an interception return for a pick six like he did last year.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: For some fumbles.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: He makes plays.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: down the field and it makes plays coming up towards the line of scrimmage.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's the type of impact player.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He had 77 tackles and I know you get more tackles as a safety as opposed to a defensive bag.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: But still 77 tackles kind of stands out to me and that's why he was one of the top players in the bag.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Would you put that in one of his strengths as tackling ability when it comes to because we have safety's in a league that just maybe some of their knocks are that open field tackling some of that type of stuff.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I have one of my notes right here, not afraid to hit hard, not afraid to hit hard in the NFL, if you've got to be able to to make those plays because you're not necessarily taking down a smaller in stature running back, you're taking down some bigger backs who are.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: too good for the college level and are so good in the NFL and I got to tackle those guys as opposed to tackling somebody on a ball state to a central Michigan or Miami or Ohio roster, but he is definitely someone who can tackle.
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that you mentioned, obviously it talks about those tackles, 214 over his four seasons, five interceptions, nine force fumbles.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's something to your point that a lot of NFL teams are going to be looking at because he has multiple ways
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: forcing turnovers and that's something that bears specifically focused on they let the and a fell last year and takeaways but they lost four of the guys that were getting those takeaways including two of their safety.
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this is why a guy like Emmanuel McNeil warn is being mocked to the bears at that.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: at that 25-pick right now.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it will be interesting to see and you talk about the safety position being, you have to be pretty versatile when it comes to being able to be a good against the run, be good in coverage, kind of cover a lot of space at times, play closer to the line of scrimmage depending if you're free or strong.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So do you think that there's value in that of just his levelness of being able to do different things in different areas of the field?
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I definitely think so.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's hard to project some of these even the first round picks.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's plenty of busts as the term that everyone likes to use over the history of the draft where your projected coming out of college to be a worthy first round pick.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes it doesn't always pan out.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I still think with all of the analytics and data points that all of these teams have at the NFL level to look at, to try to make certain that this pick will pan out and will work.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: your degree of painting out, are you a pro-boulder, or are you a starter, or are you a top player on your individual team type of deal?
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's still hard to predict, but with what he is able to do on the field,
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then the fact that he's playing with the chip on his shoulder just being from a team at a Mac level that maybe he thought he was good enough to be a power for type of recruit coming out of the high school ranks, but wasn't given that opportunity, but came to Toledo, delivered the goods, stuck with Toledo.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's another product that a manual
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: in the age of transfer portal, he stuck with him just like when Yon Mitchell did.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are plenty of suitors that came along, offered him the bag to go elsewhere and when Yon Mitchell stayed and it paid off.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a pro-bola with the Eagles, a manual make note or a horn, stain and opportunity here to potentially be another first round pick and if not, at least the second round pick.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then he's the first guy tailored to be a college graduate in his family.
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's a unique story line and I get sometimes as a fan.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't necessarily care about the story, just give you some production on the field.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's how fans tend to go with, but those human interest components.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I think, yeah.
• 9:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: that human interest side can play a role in heaven impact at the NFL level because you want to prove maybe all the doubters wrong or maybe turn on the coin and say prove all the ones that didn't believe in you right at the next level.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So he has a lot of attributes going for him.
• 9:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's a few things out of that number one I think that I have a lot of respect for the guys in this world where we're seeing guys transfer three and four times in college football.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's been several prospects I've done a lot of podcasts for the draft this year and I did one for Texas Tech where all three players went to at least three schools and I'm like okay we're in this crazy world now where that's where college football is because of the portal because of NIO and so I do for me it's a little extra layer when you you commit to a school and you
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: your college career with that school and so I think it's really cool to me that's a positive check mark and I think that Ryan Pulse would probably think the same thing.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's been very vocal about the type of human so maybe the fans don't care as much you want the player to win but Ryan Pulse are the general manager for the bears has been very vocal about he wants good humans on the bears and I think that when you fit in that category you want a good player but being able to fit someone that fits the culture I think is just as important too and it seems like Toledo kind of rides with
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, definitely, you hear about that adage of your best ability as your availability and a manual make new worn for the most part by and large of the course of his entire college playing career, not just this past recent year.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was on the field.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was productive.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was there on first down, second down, third down, fourth down.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I sometimes think at the NFL level, maybe if you're not in every down back as a running back,
• 10:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're a defensive player when you're only there when you think the team is going to run the ball versus passing the ball or vice versa.
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's the type of player that can and could be on the field no matter what down.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, the loyalty component that you were talking to, I think that can speak volumes about the
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: the personal side of making a connection with the team, with the coaching staff, and that could parlay its way from Toledo to to being a tournament team in the NFL.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just some final one before I let you go, you talked about that in Klein, how he kind of had this start where you saw his development, progressed through his time at Toledo.
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you were to name one thing that you that you really saw, just get better throughout the time there, what would, what would that be for you?
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think a nose for the football type of deal is not necessarily pointing to a stat on a piece of paper, but it's to be where the action is and in many ways, especially as a safety that's by large your job, so I think that that ability to know where the play and maybe a little bit of forecasting or.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: film study can play a tremendous role in what actually happens in between the lines and I think that he developed that through good coaching, through listening to a coaching, and then morally in that turning that into action and results of you mentioned all the tackles and the pick sixes and the interceptions and force fumbles, all that type of production.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's the guy that I point to even at the high school college pro level.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so many times as a fan, you just want to go watch your team.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you make Neil Warren for Toledo, I'd say a lot of the fans, he, he was worth the price of admission because you knew that there was a chance when UT was on defense that he was going to make a play that stood out, that forced a three and out or the pick sick, the biggest example of turning defense into offense immediately.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he was a guy that people pointed to that,
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's coming up the ranks and now he is on full display this past year and now he could be a draft deck.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love that these are the stories that I love.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I started making monsters which but the normal times right now it's draft coverage strictly but normally I do go back and I'll talk to the players that the bears are that are on the bears and I'll talk to
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dads and brothers and former coaches and high school mentors and stuff like that because I like hearing the story of how they got all the paths of these guys are very different of how they get to the NFL and how they found success and who helped them in that path and so the stories are called to me Seems like he has a pretty neat one being that first college graduate.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we'll be interested to see save Toledo gets another first round of drafted defensive back drafted
• 13:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it should be fun, and the pipeline continues.
• 13:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: A new coaching regime is here now at Toledo, but for Mike Jacobs, for the departing Jason Candle, who went to UConn, but yeah, I, we here in Toledo, were hopeful that the pedigree of top-tier talent continues to come here and then excels beyond UTE at the NFL level.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you're great.
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: We love the good stories.
• 13:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: We love the back football just thanks for your time as always and I'm sure we'll follow along as time goes if the bears end up getting him maybe we'll have another another chat.