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2004-04-25 00:45:41 UTC
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Mike Tice and Scott Studwell Quotes
Saturday, April 24, 2004
Listen to Tice and Studwell
Mike Tice: Well we are very excited. We got it in on time. I know you
all doubted us but we didnt doubt ourselves. We are very excited
because of two things. One, the plan that we put in place. We said our
prayers, we were hoping to get one of those defensive ends and we did.
On top of that we were able to work a trade with Miami and get another
fourth round pick. I dont think it could have worked out any better
for us. He is ranked in the top ten on our board and anytime that you
get one of your top ten players at nineteen it is an excellent thing.
Ironically, he is the only player that we brought in for a physical and a
visit. We had some questions on his shoulder also but we are not as
concerned about that at nineteen. We could have been if we were at seven
again. It is a similar injury to what E.J. Hendersen had. E.J.
Hendersen played the whole season and I think he played pretty well
myself. It is an injury that this young man played with in the bowl
game. At some point it will have to be addressed but we dont have any
problem thinking that this guy can come in right away and make a big, big
impact for our football team.
Q: When you say impact, does that mean start?
Mike Tice: Well I would fathom to say he is starting as soon as Sid
Pillai handed me the new depth chart which had him listed first.
Q: How many teams did you talk to?
Scott Studwell: We had some conversations with a handful of teams that
were down below us and down below Miami that wanted to potentially move
up to our pick. There is some validity to what we were doing and there
was some risk involved from Miamis perspective and some risk involved
from our perspective. We did not want to drop very far because we had a
handful of players still left on our board that we really like for our
football tem. We didnt want to jeopardize losing one of those players
and obviously Kenechi was one of them. There was, I dont know exactly
how many teams called but probably at least three or four teams.
Mike Tice: New England called and they are right behind Miami. They
wanted to do the same thing. They wanted to move up ahead of Miami.
Q: Did you do the deal right after Miami made the offer?
Mike Tice: At that point the other called stopped coming in. Seattle
came in with a late call. They are a little bit farther down. At that
point we didnt feel that at Seattles position that we were going to be
able get one of those players that we wanted; DJ Williams, Will Smith,
Vernon Carey, Kenechi or Micheal Clayton. Those were the guys that we
were hoping to get a peak at. We were able to get one of them and we are
thrilled to death.
Q: Was he a top 10 pick with a bad shoulder?
Mike Tice: We ranked him in the top ten and we have a system where we
dont put the injury into play. We have a system where we use letters to
give us an alert. We probably wouldnt have taken him at the ten if we
had the tenth pick but certainly at the nineteen pick it is a great value
and we are really excited about it.
Q: You cleared him physically?
Mike Tice: We are not concerned about it. Let me tell you something, we
are very, very cautious. We have had some history here that makes us a
little more tentative here to pull the trigger on injuries. When our
medical staff cleared the player we didnt have any issue at nineteen.
We had issues with other players that we wouldnt have taken at nineteen
on that list.
Q: Do you have a set starting lineup on defense now?
Mike Tice: No, we need more players. So we have to hope things fall our
way in the second round and we are going to address the linebacker
situation but if we cant, we cant, we are not going to reach.
Q: What position does he play?
Mike Tice: He plays right end.
Q:
Mike Tice: Now you have to remember that Rob has a relationship with
Miami. There were two different parts to that equation. Not only are
you promising that you are taking Vernon Carey but the other part is that
you are not going to trade out of the pick. Rob has a relationship with
the people there because he worked there and trained under those people.
They gave Rob his word that they were going to take Carey and not trade
our pick, then and only then were we comfortable to make the trade.
Q: Would you have made the trade if Rob didnt have this relationship?
Mike Tice: Well they gave us their word. There was another team that
called and said they were going in a different direction.
Q: Are you surprised by the way the receivers are going?
Mike Tice: No, people had them ranked a little differently. We had
Clayton ahead of a couple of those other guys but they are all good
players. They are all big, they can run, catch, jump.
Q: Were you glad to see the way they were going?
Mike Tice: We were glad to see three or four players that were ranked
behind us go ahead of us.
Q: There were a lot of receivers out there?
Scott Studwell: We said from the get go that the receivers were going to
set the tone for the first round. I think there are five now that have
been taken. Then you factor in the Miami factor, there are six players
from Miami that have been taken in the first round. So we knew all along
that this was going to set the tone and fortunately for us although we
really like those receivers and we would have drafted any one of them.
Obviously we had some great players on defense that we really liked for
our football team that could do more for us right now. So they pushed
some players down to us. So we got some help that way.
Q: When did you turn in the pick?
Mike Tice: We turned it in with about twelve minutes to go.
Q: What were the realistic odds of getting Udeze?
Mike Tice: Well we obviously felt that he might be because he was the
only player that we brought in and we didnt want to waste any time
bringing him in. There is buzz everywhere, you hear stuff, we hear
stuff. We thought if he got past a couple of teams, we might have a shot
at him. When he got past those teams we started feeling a little better
and a little better.
Q: Why did you wait three minutes to make the pick?
Mike Tice: We were waiting to see if New England was going to call back
and see if we could trade down one more pick and get another pick. We
were getting a little greedy and we decided that maybe we shouldnt get
greedy.
Q: What is his downside?
Mike Tice: Like any player he could get stronger and he uses his hands
real well, at times they might get a tad high in the run game. We will
be able to coach that and fix that. He is a good knee bender so we know
can get low. He uses his hands extremely well for a rookie. Most of the
time college players come out, both offensive and defensive lineman and
they are not really up on the usage of hands which is what are league is
really all about. It has really turned into a hands league. We are
going to make sure that he continues to work as hard as he has worked
because the kid has worked extremely hard to get his body to where it is
at and to play at this level.
Scott Studwell: We might experience some growing pains with this kid
because he is an underclassmen, you know he is a junior. Technically he
is a sound player, Mike eluded to the fact that he needs to learn how to
use his hands a little better but one of the things he does very well is
use his hands pretty well for a young player. He had 16.5 sacks so
obviously he runs well enough. He is probably a 4.8 and change kind of a
guy on Astroturf. He can play on the left side, he can play on the right
side so he is more explosive than he is fast. He has a tremendous amount
of tools to work with and improve upon. Obviously we are pretty giddy
about getting him and we think he is going to be a great fit here.
Q: Did you talk to Pete Carroll about Kenechi at all?
Scott Studwell: I have had some conversations with Pete about Kenechi
when he was deciding if he is going to come out. Pete had nothing but
praises to say about Kenechi as a person. He loved the kid. So that
helps, the relationship we have with Pete you know you are going to get
the straight scoop with Pete and he is very honest with us about his
player, not only Kenechi but all of them. So that helps
Q: Do you like him even though he is an underclassmen?
Mike Tice: Yeah, we had a great time with him at the combine and we were
able to interview him and spend some time with him. We were very
impressed with this mans focus and knowledge of the game and when we put
him on the board how aware he was. It shows intelligence but also great
coaching at USC. His awareness on the board was very, very good. One of
the better kids we put on the board. His understanding of what the
players were doing behind the linebackers. We were very impressed with
that. His brother is an attorney here in Minneapolis and a big Viking
fan so we think it is a perfect fit for both of us. We are excited to
have the kid.
Q: Do you want to put more responsibility on the D-line?
Mike Tice: We put a lot on them anyway, we put a lot on all of our
players. We need players to make plays in the back field. He makes a
lot of plays in the backfield and we are looking forward to adding him to
the mix.
Q: Are you excited about him coming from a top flight school?
Mike Tice: Well it great to have him come from a winning program because
they know how to win and they know what it takes to win and it becomes
habit forming. Those are the players that you would like to add to the
mix.
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Mike Tice and Scott Studwell Quotes
Saturday, April 24, 2004
Listen to Tice and Studwell
Mike Tice: Well we are very excited. We got it in on time. I know you
all doubted us but we didnt doubt ourselves. We are very excited
because of two things. One, the plan that we put in place. We said our
prayers, we were hoping to get one of those defensive ends and we did.
On top of that we were able to work a trade with Miami and get another
fourth round pick. I dont think it could have worked out any better
for us. He is ranked in the top ten on our board and anytime that you
get one of your top ten players at nineteen it is an excellent thing.
Ironically, he is the only player that we brought in for a physical and a
visit. We had some questions on his shoulder also but we are not as
concerned about that at nineteen. We could have been if we were at seven
again. It is a similar injury to what E.J. Hendersen had. E.J.
Hendersen played the whole season and I think he played pretty well
myself. It is an injury that this young man played with in the bowl
game. At some point it will have to be addressed but we dont have any
problem thinking that this guy can come in right away and make a big, big
impact for our football team.
Q: When you say impact, does that mean start?
Mike Tice: Well I would fathom to say he is starting as soon as Sid
Pillai handed me the new depth chart which had him listed first.
Q: How many teams did you talk to?
Scott Studwell: We had some conversations with a handful of teams that
were down below us and down below Miami that wanted to potentially move
up to our pick. There is some validity to what we were doing and there
was some risk involved from Miamis perspective and some risk involved
from our perspective. We did not want to drop very far because we had a
handful of players still left on our board that we really like for our
football tem. We didnt want to jeopardize losing one of those players
and obviously Kenechi was one of them. There was, I dont know exactly
how many teams called but probably at least three or four teams.
Mike Tice: New England called and they are right behind Miami. They
wanted to do the same thing. They wanted to move up ahead of Miami.
Q: Did you do the deal right after Miami made the offer?
Mike Tice: At that point the other called stopped coming in. Seattle
came in with a late call. They are a little bit farther down. At that
point we didnt feel that at Seattles position that we were going to be
able get one of those players that we wanted; DJ Williams, Will Smith,
Vernon Carey, Kenechi or Micheal Clayton. Those were the guys that we
were hoping to get a peak at. We were able to get one of them and we are
thrilled to death.
Q: Was he a top 10 pick with a bad shoulder?
Mike Tice: We ranked him in the top ten and we have a system where we
dont put the injury into play. We have a system where we use letters to
give us an alert. We probably wouldnt have taken him at the ten if we
had the tenth pick but certainly at the nineteen pick it is a great value
and we are really excited about it.
Q: You cleared him physically?
Mike Tice: We are not concerned about it. Let me tell you something, we
are very, very cautious. We have had some history here that makes us a
little more tentative here to pull the trigger on injuries. When our
medical staff cleared the player we didnt have any issue at nineteen.
We had issues with other players that we wouldnt have taken at nineteen
on that list.
Q: Do you have a set starting lineup on defense now?
Mike Tice: No, we need more players. So we have to hope things fall our
way in the second round and we are going to address the linebacker
situation but if we cant, we cant, we are not going to reach.
Q: What position does he play?
Mike Tice: He plays right end.
Q:
Mike Tice: Now you have to remember that Rob has a relationship with
Miami. There were two different parts to that equation. Not only are
you promising that you are taking Vernon Carey but the other part is that
you are not going to trade out of the pick. Rob has a relationship with
the people there because he worked there and trained under those people.
They gave Rob his word that they were going to take Carey and not trade
our pick, then and only then were we comfortable to make the trade.
Q: Would you have made the trade if Rob didnt have this relationship?
Mike Tice: Well they gave us their word. There was another team that
called and said they were going in a different direction.
Q: Are you surprised by the way the receivers are going?
Mike Tice: No, people had them ranked a little differently. We had
Clayton ahead of a couple of those other guys but they are all good
players. They are all big, they can run, catch, jump.
Q: Were you glad to see the way they were going?
Mike Tice: We were glad to see three or four players that were ranked
behind us go ahead of us.
Q: There were a lot of receivers out there?
Scott Studwell: We said from the get go that the receivers were going to
set the tone for the first round. I think there are five now that have
been taken. Then you factor in the Miami factor, there are six players
from Miami that have been taken in the first round. So we knew all along
that this was going to set the tone and fortunately for us although we
really like those receivers and we would have drafted any one of them.
Obviously we had some great players on defense that we really liked for
our football team that could do more for us right now. So they pushed
some players down to us. So we got some help that way.
Q: When did you turn in the pick?
Mike Tice: We turned it in with about twelve minutes to go.
Q: What were the realistic odds of getting Udeze?
Mike Tice: Well we obviously felt that he might be because he was the
only player that we brought in and we didnt want to waste any time
bringing him in. There is buzz everywhere, you hear stuff, we hear
stuff. We thought if he got past a couple of teams, we might have a shot
at him. When he got past those teams we started feeling a little better
and a little better.
Q: Why did you wait three minutes to make the pick?
Mike Tice: We were waiting to see if New England was going to call back
and see if we could trade down one more pick and get another pick. We
were getting a little greedy and we decided that maybe we shouldnt get
greedy.
Q: What is his downside?
Mike Tice: Like any player he could get stronger and he uses his hands
real well, at times they might get a tad high in the run game. We will
be able to coach that and fix that. He is a good knee bender so we know
can get low. He uses his hands extremely well for a rookie. Most of the
time college players come out, both offensive and defensive lineman and
they are not really up on the usage of hands which is what are league is
really all about. It has really turned into a hands league. We are
going to make sure that he continues to work as hard as he has worked
because the kid has worked extremely hard to get his body to where it is
at and to play at this level.
Scott Studwell: We might experience some growing pains with this kid
because he is an underclassmen, you know he is a junior. Technically he
is a sound player, Mike eluded to the fact that he needs to learn how to
use his hands a little better but one of the things he does very well is
use his hands pretty well for a young player. He had 16.5 sacks so
obviously he runs well enough. He is probably a 4.8 and change kind of a
guy on Astroturf. He can play on the left side, he can play on the right
side so he is more explosive than he is fast. He has a tremendous amount
of tools to work with and improve upon. Obviously we are pretty giddy
about getting him and we think he is going to be a great fit here.
Q: Did you talk to Pete Carroll about Kenechi at all?
Scott Studwell: I have had some conversations with Pete about Kenechi
when he was deciding if he is going to come out. Pete had nothing but
praises to say about Kenechi as a person. He loved the kid. So that
helps, the relationship we have with Pete you know you are going to get
the straight scoop with Pete and he is very honest with us about his
player, not only Kenechi but all of them. So that helps
Q: Do you like him even though he is an underclassmen?
Mike Tice: Yeah, we had a great time with him at the combine and we were
able to interview him and spend some time with him. We were very
impressed with this mans focus and knowledge of the game and when we put
him on the board how aware he was. It shows intelligence but also great
coaching at USC. His awareness on the board was very, very good. One of
the better kids we put on the board. His understanding of what the
players were doing behind the linebackers. We were very impressed with
that. His brother is an attorney here in Minneapolis and a big Viking
fan so we think it is a perfect fit for both of us. We are excited to
have the kid.
Q: Do you want to put more responsibility on the D-line?
Mike Tice: We put a lot on them anyway, we put a lot on all of our
players. We need players to make plays in the back field. He makes a
lot of plays in the backfield and we are looking forward to adding him to
the mix.
Q: Are you excited about him coming from a top flight school?
Mike Tice: Well it great to have him come from a winning program because
they know how to win and they know what it takes to win and it becomes
habit forming. Those are the players that you would like to add to the
mix.
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