00:00Conor, congratulations. Welcome to Cincinnati.
00:04I appreciate it.
00:05You're welcome.
00:07I guess when the Bengals first, when did the Bengals first indicate their interest in you?
00:15I met with the Bengals first back at the Combine.
00:18We had an informal meeting and then we had a Zoom during kind of just that gap after the Combine.
00:25And, you know, I met with the O-line coach, the assistant O-line coach.
00:28And, you know, they said they would be super happy to work with me.
00:33And, you know, hopefully they would get a chance to and it came true.
00:38What scheme did you run at Auburn?
00:41What was your offensive system?
00:43Yeah, so Auburn, we did a little bit of both.
00:46When I first got there, we leaned more on like more of a zone scheme.
00:49And then the last couple of years, we were more of a gap scheme team.
00:53But we've done a little bit of both.
00:55How's your knee and what's the timetable look like?
00:59The knee is great.
01:01I mean, I haven't had any setbacks, any problems.
01:03If anything, I'm a little bit ahead of schedule with the recovery timeline.
01:07So we're thinking I'll be 100% for camp.
01:12You're only 20, obviously.
01:15And I'm just curious, you've already started 25 games.
01:20Why do you think that you've been able to develop at such a young, relatively young age?
01:25And how will that prepare you for the NFL?
01:28Yeah, I think it comes back to I've been fortunate enough to play with a lot of veteran guys,
01:33especially when I first got to Auburn.
01:36And just kind of absorbing and learning as much about the game as possible from them.
01:40You know, they have all the tricks, all the nuances,
01:43because they're the ones actually that have gone out there and done it.
01:46So just kind of sticking with them and, you know, learning as much as I can from them
01:50and obviously the coaches, that's been the biggest help for me.
01:54When you get hurt, are you thinking, man, you know, I mean, not right when you get hurt,
01:58but you're thinking that this might impact your draft stock.
02:00But then kind of with that adversity,
02:02what does it mean to get an exciting opportunity here with the Bengals?
02:06You know, I didn't know when my opportunity was going to come.
02:09And obviously the knee injury played some role in it.
02:14But, you know, just to get the opportunity, I'm super excited and, you know, I'm ready to get to work.
02:19What about Joe Burrow, the potential now to play with one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL?
02:26Yeah, I think as a center, I mean, as an offensive lineman in general,
02:30but especially as a center, the opportunity to play with an elite quarterback,
02:33I mean, it just makes it that much more exciting to get up, go to work,
02:36and, you know, play football for a quarterback like that.
02:40Scott Peters, the outline coach, is an interesting guy.
02:44What were your impressions from meeting him?
02:47Very detailed.
02:48Like he went in, you know, some of the Zoom meetings that I was on,
02:52it was kind of you just go over, skim over some of the install and pass teams and whatnot.
02:57But we went into a lot of detail, and they quizzed me,
03:00and they were trying to just see how much I remembered in the span of the Zoom.
03:04And I just remembered how much detail we went into in that short amount of time.
03:09During the pre-draft process, did teams talk to you about potentially trying at guard?
03:14I know all of your snaps are at center at Auburn.
03:17Yeah, so I played a little bit of guard when I got to Auburn,
03:21especially in that spring when I early enrolled my freshman year.
03:24So I have experience there.
03:26I obviously can play it mentally, and then just physically I'd have to switch over.
03:30But, you know, some teams have talked about it, and it's certainly a possibility.
03:34I'm comfortable doing it if that's what I need to do.
03:38There's a need.
03:39There was a need here for a backup center.
03:41And Ted Karras is in the latter stages of his career in all likelihood.
03:47Did you look at the landscape of what teams need centers in the NFL?
03:53For sure.
03:53I think that's part of doing your due diligence, especially, you know,
03:57when I had the choice to go back to college or coming out.
04:01You've got to think about things like that.
04:03Why did you decide to stay in the draft this year?
04:07The biggest thing was I just felt ready.
04:09You know, I talked to the people close to me, talked to my coaches.
04:12And, you know, it's always been a dream of mine to play in the NFL
04:15and get an opportunity.
04:16And, you know, I felt ready.
04:19Who's your favorite center in the league?
04:22My favorite center in the league right now, I will say, he's not playing right now,
04:28but Jason Kelsey, obviously, just really cool to see.
04:33I try to watch as many of them as possible, just kind of steal a little bit here from there.
04:37I watched a lot of Tyler Linderbaum last year.
04:40I watched a little bit of the center from the Dolphins.
04:43I'm just trying to learn and pick parts of everybody's game that I can apply
04:46and make myself better.
04:47Connor, I'm not sure if you saw.
04:49Jeremiah Wright just got picked and went to the Saints, so I figured I'd let you know.
04:54That's awesome.
04:57The centers you named are all guys that are known for their speed
05:01and their ability to get out and block, you know, away from immediately snapping the ball.
05:06Is that your skill set as well?
05:10Yeah, for sure.
05:11I think just, like I said, taking as much, you know, all those guys are athletic, obviously,
05:17and just trying to take what I can apply from their game and apply it to mine.
05:22So just anything I can do, really.
05:24I think that's all we need.
05:25Appreciate it.
05:26Congratulations.
05:27I appreciate you guys.
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