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Mac & Bone Show - Aaron Hall Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But right now, though, we're going to talk to a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: guy that I think we're all happy for, man. A
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: guy that was undrafted out of Duke. A guy, Bone,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I know is a Duke fan. You pulled for big time.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: And he made a bunch of big plays for your
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Blue Devils. And now he is on the 53-man roster
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: as an undrafted rookie. And Dan Morgan could not say
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: enough nice things about him in the presser this week.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: He is Aaron Hall, defensive end for the Carolina Panthers,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and he joins us here on the Mac and Bone Show. Aaron,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: what's going on, man? How you doing?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: What's up, Matt? What's up, Bo? How are you guys doing?
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: What's up, man? Dude, we're doing great. We're not doing
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: as good as you, man. I mean, for you to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: make this roster in your rookie year, like, truth be told,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: you were one of the undrafted guys who we knew
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: about and who we said, man, this guy could be
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a factor. But I think we wondered, oh, will he
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: be on the practice squad, you know, right away? You
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: jumped on that roster right away. Did you surprise yourself
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: or did you like sign with the Panthers and believe
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: in my mind I'm going to be on that opening
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: day roster?
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, absolutely. When you sign, the first thing
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: you tell yourself is your goal is to make the roster.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, nobody comes into the NFL hoping to be
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: on a practice squad. You want to make the roster.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: You want to make an impact on that field. But
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I think most importantly, I just came in here and
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I just put my head down every day, take it
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: one day at a time. I didn't try to look
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: forward to that moment of making a roster, making practice squad,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: because in the truth be told, it's just too far ahead.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: It kind of takes away from your focus from OCA's
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: and from camp, gaining your trust of your teammates and
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: your coaches.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Aaron, you kind of have a crazy bio when we
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: read it now because there are times we look at
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: players and they'll have three or four schools that they
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: went to, but you were at Duke the whole way through.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: You stuck it out and you stayed there all conference.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: What does that mean for you in this day and
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: age that, hey, you were at one school the entire
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: time and not all these multiple schools?
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think if anything, it just shows the perseverance
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: of my character. Because if we're going to be honest here,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: the way college football, the game that it's become, it
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: can be quite easy to change schools sometimes when you
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: look at the factor of money, when you look at
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: the factor of playing time, or what type of team
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: you're trying to build there just off of the other
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: factors that you have. But I think at the end
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: all be all, I continue to have great coaches to
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: come into the Duke facility regularly. continue to raise me
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: as a growing man. I continue to have a great
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: group of brothers around me, guys like the Dwayne Carters,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: the Neal Peebles, the Jamie-Ann Franklins, who just continue to
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: pour into me as a football player. And then the
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: different position coaches, Coach Jess Simpson, Coach Alex Devine, and
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Coach Afonte. I mean, having that group of individuals around
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: you with the peer strength coach of David Seeley, there
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: was no reason to ever leave. I knew everything I
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: ever needed was going to be at Duke University.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Now, it Now, Aaron, I need to ask you to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: make sure. You're not going to leave the Panthers and
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: join Lane Kiffin at LSU, are you? You're good?
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Just making sure. Just making sure. Let's talk about the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Panthers and the team that you are on now. There's
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: an opportunity. I mean, for all you young, it's so
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: many young guys. It's Derrick Brown, Bobby Brown. And the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: other four of you guys, interior D linemen, are all young, right?
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: It's rookies. It's second-year guys. There's an opportunity to get
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: some snaps there. What do you think about the defensive front?
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: And what do you think you guys can accomplish up
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: front on this defense this year?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're a violent, we're a physical group.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I think every day the leader of the room, Derrick Brown,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: he just comes in and challenges every day to do
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: things right, to take the hard route on things, to
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: come in and just be keyed into details. It's something
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: that he told me a lot coming into this process
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: and just throughout OTAs and camp was to see a little,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: to see a lot. And by saying that, that's the
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: way you guys see him make plays on Sunday when,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's just at the ball in the backfield
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: or reading pass plays before you guys know they're there.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: And so... With his teachings and with the way he
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: just commands his D-line room, I think there's a lot
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: that we can accomplish in there this year.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Aaron, you're so well-liked right now on our text line.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Even Tar Heel fans are saying, hey, this guy's awesome.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: That's big.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: You've done that rare thing. You've crossed over right now, Aaron.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: So congrats on that. What are some of your interests
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: outside of football? What do you like to do when
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: you're not playing?
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a big thing I like to do
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: is cook. I mean, I'm a defensive lineman. I like
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: to eat. But I was in a household where I
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: was blessed to have both parents in the house. And
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: that's just all glory to God, understanding how some situations
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: end up in the world. But I was one of
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: those places where I wanted to play the game all day.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And my dad was like, hey, man, get downstairs and
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: help your mom cook. And so I was always in
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: there learning recipes, experimenting with stuff, just helping her. I
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: like being on the grill. Sometimes I like doing artistic work,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: a lot of sipping paints with the fiance. So I
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: think that's kind of more of my speed, but I'm
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: not too much of an outgoing person. Sometimes I can
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: travel a little bit.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: You're talented, though. Cooking and arts, you got talents off
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: the football field. You're doing stuff we can't dream of.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: So what are your go-to dishes? Like if you really,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: you and your fiance are hanging out, and you're like,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: I got to make a killer dinner tonight. Like what's
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: one or two of your go-tos?
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I have to make a killer dinner. I think I'm
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: going to go with– I'll start with the vegetable first.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go red cabbage for sure. Red cabbage
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: is up there. I think I'm going to go baked
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: mac and cheese. Nice. For green, we're probably going to
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: go with like a sauteed asparagus probably. And then for protein,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it depends. We could do a
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: stuffed chicken. We can definitely do some grilled steak. We
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: can do– There's a good amount of things. We can
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: definitely do a style of salmon, more so not heavily flavored,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: but more like the lemon and herb side of salmon.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: So we could definitely do a lot of things on
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  Speaker 2: the protein side, but I think the baked mac and
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: cheese and the red cabbages, Those are definitely the two
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: things that I lean towards.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Man, you are versatile.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: We get an invite or what?
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: When are we coming over?
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Just let me know whenever you guys want to come down. Oh, man.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: I'm getting hungry now, Bo.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: One of our texters says, Aaron's throwing out words that
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: even Bo doesn't know half those words. Yeah, you're right.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Look up some of those things.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I love it, man. Hey, what's Derek Brown like in
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: that locker room? We were talking about him the other day, Aaron.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: He is such an awesome leader. And I'm saying this
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: as a fan and a media guy. What he says publicly,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the clips from the locker room the Panthers share, I'm like,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: that dude's a leader. But you see it every day.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: What does he do to be a leader behind the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: scenes every day?
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing is he's the same guy
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: every day, in and out. He doesn't say anything to
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: you guys and then come do something differently with us.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Everything that you guys hear is everything that we hear.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: So I think the biggest thing is just his consistency.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: He's going to be the same person every day, uh
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: in and out and then he also takes that on
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  Speaker 2: the field derrick brown isn't somebody who comes out and
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: there's like one mistake this day and another mistake this
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: day i mean it's just down the line consistently with
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: his technique with his play style uh with with how
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: much he wants to get better and so at the
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: end of the day i think that's what i can
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: ask for that's what anybody can ask for when you
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: need a leader on the defense side of the ball
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: especially in the d-line room um where it's up to
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: those guys up front to dominate in order to win games.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Hey, Aaron, before we let you go, we were just
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: talking Duke in a previous segment. How good of hands
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: is that program in right now with Manny Diaz at
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: the helm?
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's in excellent hands. I think you guys have
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: seen the work that he's been able to accomplish in
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: his past two years there. Last year, I mean, we
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: go to the ACC Championship, and we went against Virginia,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: who ended up beating us in the season to kind
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: of knock us off of that reign that we were
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: on to go. And so, I mean, I think you
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: guys have seen what he's able to do. We're in
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: excellent hands, and that just– It also just comes down
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: to his staff. We talk about at Duke, there's only
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: one type of culture of people that you meet around there.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: And at the end of the day, Coach Diaz has
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: done that exceptionally well in terms of his staff and
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: his players. And so when you have guys like David Feely,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: who's the strength coach, and that's somebody who's going to
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: push you every day, no matter what it is. He
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: doesn't care if you squatted 500 pounds the day before
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: or bench-pressed 350 the day before. You're going to get
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the same guy who's going to push you the same
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: way the next day. And you have just the position
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: coaches around you who push you every day to be better.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's just never a place for complacency in
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: the building. And so, They're in great hands with him,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: and I think he'll just continue to show how excellent
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: the program is in these next years that he's here.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: That's cool, man.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: All right, Aaron. You became a fan favorite instantly today.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: People want to buy your jersey. They want you to
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: have your own cooking show.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: This is better.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Thank you guys for having me up here. Hey, man.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: It was great chatting with you. Now we're all hungry.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: But thanks for coming on, man. Stay healthy. Best of
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: luck this year, man. Appreciate you.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. You guys have a wonderful day.