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Mac & Bone Show - Steve Wilks Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, everybody.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: It is the Mac and Bone Show in the Queen
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: City of Charlotte, North Carolina. It is Luke Keighley Appreciation Week.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: He is headed into the Hall of Fame on Saturday.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: We cannot wait to celebrate him, and we celebrate them
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: all week here, including conversations with people who know him well.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: And our next guest fits that description. A guy who
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: was on the staff here in Carolina from twenty twelve
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: to twenty seventeen. That was his first stint before he
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: came back to his hometown of Charlotte on the Panthers staff.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: He is Steve Wilkes, and he was DB's coach, assistant
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: head coach, and then a defensive coordinator all while Luke
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Keighley was here. And he's nice enough to join us
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: on the Mac and Bone Show. Coach Wilkes, how you doing.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Man?
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: I'm doing great today. Excited to be here with you
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: guys this morning.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you joining us.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: So you're coaching the DB's in twenty twelve, but I'm
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: sure when Luke Keighley hits the practice field, it's it
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter what position you're coaching, You're gonna know somebody
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: like that, what was what did he do? And what
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: was the first time that he kind of caught your
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: that he really caught your eye.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Well, Luke has that presence about him, as you know,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: and just really the heartbeat of that defense. And we
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: always talk about the linebacker being somewhat like the quarterback,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: and everybody respected him because of how he went about
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: his day to day operation. But being around him, man
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: was a joy each and every day because he was
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: just a pro.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: What what attribute made him so unique to coach? What
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: what did he have that was different than almost everybody else?
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: He had a unique form of discipline and dedication. Guys,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: It's something that is hard to describe. I give this
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: story about him. We were as coaches. Man, we would
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: probably come down for dinner maybe about seven thirty seven
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: forty five, and mind you, practice have been over since
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: maybe about three thirty four o'clock once we finish meetings.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: So we're sitting there conversing as coaches, and next thing
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: you know, here comes Luke coming around the corner. Uh.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: And he's been there since the end of practice in
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: that linebacker room, going over film and just watching tape
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: over and over and over again, trying to get a
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: true feel for exactly what's gonna happen on Sunday. And
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: when people see him out there calling the plays out,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: I just understand the time and effort that he put
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: into that.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, big time, big time, It's it's it's famous, no
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: doubt about it.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Rivera coach.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Rivera's got the story about Christmas Eve and there he
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: is watching films, so I definitely believe it. Do you
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: think I almost feel like coach because so much of
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: the focus is on his studying right and the way
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: he knew what players are gonna be called, like the
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: cerebral part of it. I almost feel like some people
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: underrate the athlete he was. I mean, his size, the
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: way he would move that ain't normal either, Like do
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: you kind of do you kind of feel like sometimes
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: people kind of forget this dude was a freak as
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: an athlete too.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Of course he was. And I think when you look
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: at the aspect of the game and where many people
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: say it's played between the ears, I think that's where
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: a lot of his credit comes from. But you're exactly right, man,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: this guy was a specimen. He spent a lot of
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: time in the weight room. He believed in taking care
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: of his body, you know, eating right, just doing the
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: right things to put himself in position. So, yes, you're
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: talking about sideline, the sideline, and he's such a nice guy.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Can't clark as everybody say, But this guy was nasty
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: as you know what on the field, and he had
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: that little mainstreak about him, which I loved him.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: And TD were as you know, unbelievable combo. What do
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: you think it was about those two in their games
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: and their personalities that allowed them to gel as well
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: as they did.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: Well, Luke, as great as he is, he is extremely humble,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: and he knew early on the role that Thomas possessed
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: and that he carried, and he allowed Thomas to be
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: that vocal point, the guy that got everybody going, you know,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: and everybody fed off Thomas just like they fed off Luke.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: But Luke was, like I said, humble enough to allow
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Thomas to be him and say that, you know, yeah,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: we're tandem here, but I understand your leadership and I
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: respect that he allowed Thomas to get out front.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: We're talking with Steve Wilkes, longtime member of the Panther
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: coaching staff. Charlotte native, of course, joining us here on
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: the Mack and Bone Show. It is Luke Appreciation Week,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and he's helping us appreciate what made Luke Keighley special.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Coach. You grew up, you were a dB.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: You know at app State, I mentioned DB's coach some
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: of your time with the Panthers, you coach DB's a lot.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Luke Keighley's coverage. We got to talk to you about
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: his coverage. Now, I'm not gonna say maybe he moved
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: around like one of you smaller, quicker dB, but I'll
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: be danged if that dude at his size wasn't amazing
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and coverage. I'll never forget the time Julio Jones caught
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: one on top of him, but I couldn't believe Luke
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: was even near him, like thirty yards downfield, like he
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: was even right there.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: What was you know? What was it like to see
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a guy like that covered the way he did well?
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: I think it goes back to your initial question. He
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: talked about how people don't give him enough credit of
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: an athlete that he was. You know, he was extremely fast,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: as you mentioned, quick, can cover pretty much, you know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: receivers in a slot, any tight end in the NFL.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: We weren't concerned about that, but he just had a
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: knack for really finding the ball, being in position and
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: knowing when to get his head turned around and make
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: a play on the ball. I mean, I've seen that
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: time and time again, just being in position. We talked about,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: you know, the same dig combination. He's running vertical and
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: he knows that dig is coming. I mean I can
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: see it right now Thanksgiving Day when he just comes
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: off on the vertical and just picks Romo and goes
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: in for a touchdown. It was amazing just to see
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: the things that he just brought to life.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: Coach, wife, has come full circle for you where it
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: all began in college. At least you're back at Apps State.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: Explain what you're doing now and how much it means
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: for you to be back now you're alma mater.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: It means a lot to be back up there. You know,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: they gave me, I think they felt sorry for me.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Say they gave me some kind of a title special,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: you know, special assistant to the athletic department. So it's
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: been great. Man. I spent a little bit of time
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: with with Di Loo and the football team. I went
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: through spring with those guys just being out there, and
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: like I said, I'm excited about this year and what
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: he has put together with his staff. The players look great.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: They're going back in on Wednesday. Uh, So I'll be
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: back up there and really doing a lot with Adam
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: athletic department as a whole.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: This revenue share nil whatever you want to calls, really
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: changed the game. So I'm trying to bring a lot
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: of awareness to alumni and what we got to do
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: to really stay in the game. You know, And a
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: lot of times, you know, we don't like and I
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: say we as alumni don't like the fact that this
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: NIL revenue is really taking over. But I have a
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: concept that, Man, I love the AID more than I
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: hate NIL, So I'm willing to do whatever I need
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: to do to make sure that we're competitive.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I love it. And it's a coach.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: It's for the group of six schools like app and
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: we see it here with Charlotte. I mean, this NIL
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: portal combination has been tough, right because these these bigger
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: schools can just poach players at will, and they have
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: the funds.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: To do it.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, that's a tough part about it. And you
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: have to understand and realize and know that you're not
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: going to keep them all, but you have to put
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: yourself in the position that when you can save one
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: or two, that you have the capacity to do that,
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: which really means the funds. You know, some guys gonna
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: get you know, approached and whatnot, and you're gonna get
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: out bid. But you know that's a mere fact of
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: having good players and you're develop and whatnot, and that's
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: why you got to make sure you have a pipeline.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: Coach, don't don't tell Coach Loggins this. I was using
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: app State as my dynasty team in College Football twenty
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: seven the video game, and I got us, I got
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: us fired.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Coach.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: It was not a good scene. So please don't tell.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: Don't tell Logins that he doesn't need to.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Don't do that. Don't do that.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: I threw thirteen picks, coach in three games, and they
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: told me to get going.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Wow, Yeah, we don't need we don't need you playing quarterback.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: That's what they told me. Yeah.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Oh man, all right, coach, last question I have to
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: ask you. I'm dying to ask you this question. It's
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: been bothering me in a lot of Panther fans. Baker Mayfield,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: who you coached here in Carolina. I was watching the
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Quarterback Show, and I don't know if you've heard about
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: this or on Netflix or whatever, but like when he
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: played against you with the Jets, he had this whole
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: thing with his teammates trying to fire them up to
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: go against you because he keeps talking about coach Wilkes
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: cut me when I thought the story was you guys
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: were gonna give him his release and kind of work
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: with him.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: But I don't know if you heard about this.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: He had a whole chip on his shoulder and the
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: huddle yelling about you. Did you hear about any of
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: the stuff he was saying? And did that bother you?
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Someone sent me a text about it regarding it. No,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: it didn't bother me. I got a lot of respect
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: for Baker, a tremendous amount of respect. You gotta understand.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: I was with him in Cleveland, and that was really
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: one of the main reasons why I wanted to go there,
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: because I felt like being a defensive guy, I still
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: look at the offense and because you can have a
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: good defense, but three and out, three and out, it
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: doesn't matter. And I felt like, you know, we had
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: a quarterback because he's very competitive. He's gonna will the team.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: And that's just who he is. You got to know
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Baker to know Baker's gonna fabricate whatever he can, uh,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: to try to create that monster within himself to motivate
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: his team. You know, Baker and I had a great
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: conversation the year that I went to the Super Bowl
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: with San Franz. I ran into him out there. We
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: talked about the whole situation. So when I got the text,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: I sort of giggled a little bit because I was like,
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Baker and I talked about this. He's just trying to motive.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: He trying to motivate his team, you know what I'm saying.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: So that's just that's just who he is. Man. So
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: a lot of respect for him, but yeah, it's it's
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: all good. Like I said before, if if I had
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: any control of that, Christ Maccapero would have never left
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Bank of America Stadium. So I had no I had
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: no control of any any of that at that time.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: So and and and then speaking of that, man, Uh,
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: I'm excited about uh this year with with the painters.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: I know, Mac, it's a little superstitious and whatnot. I
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: believe it's Matt maybe you bod, I can't remember. Yeah, yeah,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I think the guy is gonna win the South again.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I think Bryce is coming into his own and I
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: don't I don't think the defense gets enough respect. I
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: think coach he has done a tremendous job and and
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: really where it stems from. I think Dan Dan is
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: really formulate the roster the where it needs to be.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: And I'm excited about this year and watching those guys play. Man.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I love that, love hearing that, coach. We are fired
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: up here too, no doubt about it. I'm glad to
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: see a Charlotte man still pulling for those Carolina Panthers.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm a I'm a Panther fan, so I'm definitely
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: pulling for him.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: We're not superstitious. We just make predictions that go wrong
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: all the time. Coach, That's that's the issue we have.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, Well, don't say anything, man, how
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: about that?
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, tell us that speak for a all right?
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Coach.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Hey, we had a pleasure talking about you. Love talking
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: about Luke, but love catching up with you. And the
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Baker's story has been set straight.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you for coming on and best of luck up
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: there at Boon with your alma mater.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Appreciate you, Thank care, enjoy your day.