I think I'm very good at reading coverage and knowing where I want to go with the ball before the ball is snapped.
I've had the liberty of having a lot of control in the offences I've been a part of because I get the game pretty well, and I pick things up fast.
I think you have to have a high football IQ. Obviously, you have to have the physical ability to run fast and get open. But you also have to have a high football IQ.
Put on the game tape. The game tape speaks volumes because I'm in live action, I'm out there making reads, going through progressions, redirection protection, signaling hot routes, getting the offense in and out of the right play.
Linebacking is easy. Hike the ball, and I know where to go.
I prefer to play inside linebacker.
The film room teaches you how to do the job, how to study the game, how to teach the game from film. How to create an advantage for your team by knowing your opponent, and all their plays and tendencies. And there's no better guy in the world that I've been around than Jim O'Brien at breaking down film.
It actually took me a year to learn how to play running back - to understand what they were doing defensively and then what our guys were doing every single play.
I feel like I know what defensive backs are going to do before they do it.
If you watch most quarterbacks in the league, if you take more than two hitches, there's a good chance you'll be sacked. By recognizing things, it allows you to get to your fourth or fifth read on your second hitch and get the ball out of your hand.
I'd say that, 99 percent of the time at Nevada, I knew what the coverage was and where I was probably going before the ball was snapped. It makes it very easy when I only had to read one person and know that I was going from here to here, and if not, I'm checking it down.
The game's just slowed down for me a little bit and I'm able to read the defenses and see how they're playing me.
Oftentimes, the post safety will eye me up pre-snap a lot of times and know where I am.
The instincts and reaction and having to move - that's what football is. You have to learn how to deal with different adjustments, and know how to react to different types of plays. And do it on the fly.
When you can recognize hot throws and blitzes, that's when they can slow down their blitz and they don't want to blitz you as much because you're getting the ball out.
Football's always been cerebral. The most important thing is thinking fast.
The five big mistakes in football are the fumble, the interception, the penalty, the badly called play, the blocked punt - and most of these originate with the quarterback. Find a mistake-proof quarterback and you have this game won.
I feel I can rush the passer well. I feel like I can play the run even better than what I did starting off to when I got in my senior year as far as making plays in the backfield and just being able to break down film a lot better.
You have to be able to recognize defenses on your own in pro football. You can't look to the sideline and read some board. You've got to recognize the defense on your own, and then you've got to communicate to your offensive teammates what you want them to do.
To be a great NFL player, you have to know what your opponent is doing, not just opposite your position but what they're doing all over the field. All the contingencies.
I want to know what coverage it is every single time. I want to line up and be able to read what the defense is trying to do to me so I can get open.
Understanding the intentions of a play is so key because you can block a guy into the running back if you don't know how the play is supposed to work or where the back is going to come out.
