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Travon Walker on Growth Heading into Year 2 | The O-Zone Podcast · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Soon.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast with Jaguars senior writer John Osher.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: All Right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast. And I'm
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: excited for this guest. I've gotten to know him a
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: little bit over the last year, so I've spent some
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: time with him and his family the last spring, close
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: followers of the Jaguars. But no, I'm talking about second
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: year outside linebacker now, Trayvon Walker. First of all, I
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: appreciate you doing this, sir, Thank you for having me.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: How does that sound second year rather than.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Rookie second year?
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: It definitely sounds a lot better than rookie. But you
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: know a lot of the guys in the locker room
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: still trying to try to joke around a little bit,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: like I got three games until this year, until I'm
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: not a rookie anymore.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, was that the rule?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: That's what they say.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: But they changed that rule from last year, right.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: They supposedly did, but you know some guys still hang
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: on to it. With you. I just take it all in.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: But obviously going into the second year, hearing second year,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: it just means a lot of growth for me. And
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: obviously I'm in the stage of my career now. While
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: I'm just playing and not doing a lot of thinking
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: as I was my rookie year.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Gotcha in games? Do you feel that meaning just seeing
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: stuff that you've already seen now.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, I definitely say just from rookie year to
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: the second year. Obviously I've seen a good I've seen
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: enough of what can happen in the league, formations, shifts
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: and things of that nature, just to be able to recognize, oh,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: I have some sort of idea of what's gonna happen.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Other than just being not there fishing blind, not knowing,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: not knowing what's gonna happen.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I can kind of predetermine somethings now.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: How you know? Again, knowing you a little bit, You've
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: always been a mature kid. But in terms of just
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: personal growth in the last year, do you feel a
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: difference in terms of just what you handle, how you approach.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: I definitely feel like I've grown an area that I said,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: I've grown a lot. Tremland would just have to be
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: my film study. Like I watched film. I used to
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: watch films, just my perspective on how I watch film
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: and the things that I'm looking for when I watch
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: film Now, so now I just have to say, it's
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: more critical to the details on the things that I
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: that I watch and over that it's just comes repetition
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: and also a lot of film study and just knowing
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: what I actually need to look look for and not
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: all the excess.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: It's something coaches talk about a lot that no matter
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: how we're prepared, somebody's coming out of college, it's rare
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: for pro athletes as rookies to know how to study film.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Did anybody specifically work with you on that to help
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: your player? Coach?
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: What I just say, like the coach, the coaches kind
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: of helped me out a little bit just by making
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: like little cut ups on things that I should actually
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: be watching.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: And you know, obviously I watch like.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Team segments of things that we do practice segments and
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: things like that and one on one rushes, but obviously,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: like I had, some coaches make like some extra breakdowns
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: for me on ping ten second to seventh places. Just
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: a little indicator of small, small little things like that
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: that a lot of people might not think could mean
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: a lot, but it actually holds a lot of weight.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I get this question all the time, and I don't
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: know how to answer it, but you know, in a
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: physical sport when you're trying to improve, either improve as
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: a run defender a pass rusher with not being able
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: to have contact a whole lot, maybe what fifteen not
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: contact practices in training camp? How do you improve if
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: you're a defensive player from year to year? Is it
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: just working on pass rush vision? How do you try
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: to in the off season when you're trying to get better?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: What are you doing?
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: I'd say for me, it just depends on kind of
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: how however that year is going for whoever the players
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: or me. So myself, I feel like every year going
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: into an off season, it'll always be what I felt
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: like I could have did a little better coming in
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: and from the last season. Obviously for the simple factor,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: that's things that I put on tape and that other
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: guys are watching that they see that though, whatever it
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: is is my flaw, so that's what I would taking
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: to the off season obviously work on mainly work on
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: that that for the most part, but then I also
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: still tie in any other type of drills to just
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: make me better as the player.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Got You tell me about this team. You've been around
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: it now long enough to see differences. What do you
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: guys talk about when you're together in terms of what
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: you want to achieve as a team, is that something
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: you guys talk about a lot.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: We all want to win, and that's something that coming
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: in from us playing with each other last year. We
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: all have a standard and the standard main standard to
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: us is to win. Like all the individual goals, we
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: all I feel like we all have an understanding with
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: individual goals, it comes with winning. So once we get
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: the winning and just prove ourselves as a team, then
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: that just accelerates a lot of more things for individual accolades.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Do you feel that it's it's been such a remarkable
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: growth in the last twelve games, you know, nine wins
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: dating back to last season, the only losses to Kansas
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: City and Detroit, which are hot good teams. It's teams elevated.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Anything to put on your finger, why or is it
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: just what you said? You're learning how to do it
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: and it takes some time.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: It was definitely simple factor.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Yes, obviously us learning how to win, but also last
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: year was coaches first year and a lot of a
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: lot of players first year playing together, and obviously coming
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: in the year two, a lot of us have played
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: together or been coached. We have that chemistry amongst each
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: other now to what we all on the same page
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: and we're not out there out there just running around
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: trying to make plays.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Got you.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: One question about sort of what you faced over your career.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: I'm curious about, do you feel any more or any
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: different going into year two about the whole pressure of
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: the number one pick? It didn't seem like you focused
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: on that a whole lot anyway, But is that sort
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: of something that you deal with or handle differently now
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: than before.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: I say, the way did I just kind of like
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: deal with that situation is just continue to know why
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: the Jags brought me here. They brought me here to
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: affect the quarterback, get to the quarterback, get sacks or whatever.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: But obviously I'm in competition with you, know what I'm saying,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: all the edge rushers in the league. But first and foremost,
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: I'm in competition with myself.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: So I got you.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: I hold myself to a way high standard than anybody
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: would ever hold me to. I know when I need
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: to do better at this, which pass rushing. So I
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: just take full accountability, full accountability on things like that.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: How do you and Josh handle the whole like all
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: off season, pass rush, pass, rush, past ruts. It's all
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: you heard on Twitter about the Jags. What do you
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: guys talk about? Do you ever talk about that or
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: is it more just hey, we can be the guys.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's never It was never about what people said
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: on social media or whatever. It was just all amongst us,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: like things that we will always tell each other, like
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: we always just stay on each other, like just know
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: that you're him, know that you're that guy, Like you're
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: very capable of having fifteen twenty plus acts, Like we're
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: great athletes and it's not a lot of guys with
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: our body type, strength, speed, right that can kind of
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: marit the things together. It's just we have to tell ourselves.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: It's a lot of self talk within it. You just
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: have to tell ourselves that we are the best, We
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: are him and we can't be stopped.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Not that you needed a lot of guidance, because again
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: you came in with a very professional approach, But have
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: you learned anything from Josh who obviously it's a couple
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: of years ahead in the league and also a very focused,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: driven guy. Have you learned any him along those lines?
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: I could definitely say I've learned a lot throughout Josh,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: especially with me. He once as soon as I came
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: in last year, he took me right under his wing
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: and just everything that he knew from as far as
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: on the field, film studying, just my mind, sure think
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: the way I think, like things like things like that, I.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Feel like just part of adjusting to the NFL, just
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: like I.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Feel like he's been planning a lot into me that
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: now going into year two. Like he may have said
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: it last year, but now I really realized what he
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: meant when he was saying it, even though he might
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: have explained what he meant at the time. It just
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: makes a lot more sense to me now now that
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: I've been through it and know kind of what he
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: was going through when he told me that.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: When you watch film from a player's perspective, what impresses
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: you about Josh when.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: You watch him play Josh, He's he rushed rushes with
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: relentless effort. And relentless is a word that I've been
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: coached upon amongst ever since high school, college mainly and
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: planning it to me in college. Just once you a
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: lot of a lot of times like high sacked guys,
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: I won't say they don't have clean clean rushes, but
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: they're clean enough. Sometimes nine times out of ten, you're
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: not gonna get a sack off of a clean rush
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: nine times out of ten, to just be off of
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: you being relentless, staying that after the quarterback. You might
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: not win on your first move, but as long as
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: you continue to keep your feet moving and being active
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: around the quarterback, then obviously a lot more sacks of
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: come to you by just being relentless.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you didn't see that many guys beat at this level.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Beat the guy right off the line.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Everybody is pretty.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Good, right, Juwan Taylor went agains him in practice some
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I assume you'll see him a lot of Sunday. You've
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: known him for a while, Sir. I talked about that
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: matchup a little bit looking forward to.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: That's something that I'm definitely looking forward to. Like I,
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: like you said, just me coming in as a rookie,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: that's who offensive lineman. If I had questions about anything
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: that the offensive tackles will do, like gimmicks and things
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: like that, that was somebody I went to and asked questions,
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: not saying that he probably gave me all the game
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: that he knows, but he gave me enough game to
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: where I feel like, you know, I have a I
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: went against him enough as well to have an understanding
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: for things he do. Like a lot of people was
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: just now catching on to the stancey indicator with him
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: getting out of his set earlier. That's not That's something
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: I was seeing all last year as a Rickie first
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: coming into the league. So I feel like, you know
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: what I'm saying. I'm definitely looking forward to this matchup.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: And he's a great athlete, don't get me wrong, but
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: we definitely got to get out of it.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Did you guys yaw a little bit in practice? That's
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: not really your style anyway, right.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: I mean we did a little bit, but Juwan, he's
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: really not a guy to initiate something like that. But
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, if it would ever get to that point
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: somebody say something that I feel like disrespectful to me, obviously,
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: I'll drop back a little bit.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Now. Again, from talking to your family a little bit
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: this summer, you're not a big talker all but occasionally
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: you will and or one of your sisters said, yeah,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I heard he was talking to somebody and that really
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: surprised me. But every once in a while you'll do it.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: On the fields. I mean, that's that's that's where I
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: look at it.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: To myself as well, like as far as on the
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: football field, I know, me being the number one pick,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: the things of that nature, just being a leader, stepping
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: into the leadership role, I have to be a little
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: more vocal. Even though my style of leadership is not
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: more vocal. I'm more of an action to just go
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: out there and do what I'm supposed to do and
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: then bring other people along the way. But I know
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: with the type of player that I want to become
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: in the NFL, then obviously I have to take those
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: strides to be a little more vocal. I don't have
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: to be a rock rock guy, just be a little
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: more vocal. And obviously, like specially with some of the
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: rookie guys like each here in my room, like I
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: can be vocal to those guys because I was in
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: those shoes before I got you.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: And Thomas in this summer, I remember you telling me
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: that you're a fun guy off the field. It takes
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: a while to get to know you, and I think
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: for fans, they usually see the interview Trayvon, which is
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: a very serious, very particulous what makes you laugh man,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: what's fun for you?
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: I'm just I would say that I'm a goofy guy.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I just liked laughing. Surround myself with people who genuinely
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: have the same goals that I have in life, and
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying, people who strive to be
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: the best at whatever they do. But once I surround
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: myself around those people, I feel like it's just my
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: inner childhood comes out. I don't know, some of everything
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: makes me laugh. I feel like I'm a very comedian,
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: my favorite comedian. And I have to say, Mike ups
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: burning Matt Okay, all.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Right, that's good stuff. All right, we'll get to the
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: other zone five. I'll get you out of here. What's
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: your current binge watch?
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I'm not really a show guy.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I watched movies, but I say a shoulder I
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: was really into was Shooter.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: That was one of my.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Favorite shows, one of the first shows I actually ever finished.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Who's the you get that much chance to prove it?
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I think I know the answer. Who's the best basketball
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: player on the Jaguars?
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Me?
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Okay, have you ever been on a football team where
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: you weren't the best basketball?
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: But I will never say I would never say I'm
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: not the best at anything.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Is there somebody on the Jaguars that you know has
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: game that could play with U?
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: I think d Will was a pretty good athlete at basketball.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: I've heard, I haven't seen him play, but that's about it.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: You told me this summer that you had you gone
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: that route and just maxed out basketball, then maybe Draymond
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: was the guy. You would have been a little bit
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: like this, could you play in the league if he
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: kept going?
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I definitely could have played in the league.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: Like I said, I would have probably been that Draymond
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Green type of guy because I was always one of
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: the most physical guys on the floor and I could
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: do it.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I could. I didn't have to shoot, but if I
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: needed to, I could.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: And I was mainly an inside player of shots from
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: the free throw line, fifteen plus and rebounds.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: So that's what I really prided myself on.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Now, when the NBA is going, are you fall into it?
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't say during the regular season, I'm not really
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: all into it as as I am once the playoff
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: time comes around.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I got you the song you're listening to right now?
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Song I'm listening to right now? Artists, I had to
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: say us by way TV.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Fat not what I'm listening to, but it's fair. When
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: did you know as a kid that you had a
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: shot at this?
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: That's that's kind of that's a good question for the
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: simple fact that I always had people telling me that
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: I was that I was good, and I was always
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: a lot bigger than a lot of the other kids.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: But when I was growing up, I really wouldn't say
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: I caught on that at an early age. I had
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: to say, really my ninth grade year, middle school, ninth
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: grade year for the simple fact that I got my
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: first offer of ninth grade and yeah, and then I
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: had a defensive end in front of me that was
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: also committed to Georgia that played for me in high school.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: So that's when I really started to be like, yeah,
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: I could, I could do this.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I feel like.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: I'm you know what I'm saying, I do some things
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: better than I just started power myself to a lot
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: of players that played collegiate balland a lot of players
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: that I knew.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's when I was with you, like.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I Okay, this is a million dollar question. NOWT better
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: barbecue Piggy Park or something in Jacks Piggy Park.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, for sure home.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that Piggy Park is the barbecue place in thomasin fantastic.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: I used the barbecue sauce from there last night. Good stuff.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: And the big question is when Mom's following the Jacks,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: t Wig or Rosa.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: She loves both of you all, but I have to
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: go at Tea Wig. Okay, that's somebody who I was
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: hoping to.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Be honest because I figured it was t Wig and
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: I've told t Wig that, so who I don't know.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: The Walkers, big Jaguars fans follow it to wonderful people.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Uh as is Trayvon. Trayvon, I appreciate you doing this.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: I know you got to get out of here. I
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: always always enjoy this and thank you for joining the
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: ozone podcast.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Sir, thank you for having me