Christian Wilkins – June 4, 2019
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Tuesday, June 4, 2019
DT Christian Wilkins
(How goes it for you out there?) – “It’s going pretty well, honestly. I’m loving each and every day, honestly. I’m just living the dream right now. The NFL, so far, is everything I could’ve asked for, could’ve hoped for. I’m literally getting paid to play the game I love so much, so I couldn’t be in a better position knowing I’m not working in an office. I am, but I’m with another 90 other guys, get to show up to work every day in sweatpants, so it’s pretty awesome. I’m living the dream right now.”
(I know it’s only been a few weeks since the draft. How far have you come the first time you stepped on this field to today?) – “I definitely see and feel an improvement. The first day, everything was real fast and you’ve got to adjust. You’re going up against guys who’ve been in the league so long. You’re throwing things at them that they’ve seen before. It’s kind of a challenge, but I love the challenge. I feel like each day I try to come in with the mindset to improve. Not to be the most down-to-play on the field, but have the mindset I’ve got to improve and get better every day.”
(Other than every guy here was almost an All-American, a really good college football player. What is different than the last few years for you out on that field?) – “You just said it: this is the best of the best. There are going to be times where I might slip up and do right and lose or even when I do my best and it’s just a stalemate. It’s part of the growing process and the growing pains. I’m loving it and enjoying it. It’s pretty awesome.”
(In college when you slipped up and you didn’t do your best, you were still the best player.) – “Exactly. And there’s times where you can mess up and still make the play. Now, you can’t make as many mistakes. As you get better and better and as you improve, now you’ve got the best of the best, the air gets thinner and that margin of error gets real small, too, so you can’t make as many mistakes. You’ve got to be on it from knowing your job, executing your job and playing at a high level.”
(Who are the teammates that’ve helped you out the first month?) – “There’s a lot of those guys. I really like Charles (Harris). He’s been a good vet for me so far. The same with Akeem Spence. I love those two guys. Just as far as in my role, they’ve been helping me get adjusted. Akeem is an older, savvy vet who’s always teaching me little techniques and things like that, so I really like him. Seeing how certain guys work like Bobby (McCain), guys I’m earning respect for, I have a lot of respect for (them) and seeing how they work is really commendable. They’ve been there for me since I got here.”
(Do your personal expectations rise as they ask you to do more like, “This is a first team rep, go do that?”) – “The expectations I have for myself are always higher than anyone can have for me. Wherever they want me to play, whatever situation they want me to be in, my job is to go out there and dominate and play at the highest level I can and to contribute and do my job so that the team can be successful at the end of the day. That’s what I always keep in mind when I go out onto the field, when I’m studying at night. I’m like, ‘I’ve got to do this so the team can be the best that they can be.’ That’s always my mindset.”
(How do you feel you did today?) – “It was honestly like a backyard football day kind of with the rain. You’re playing out there and it’s slushy. I feel like I did pretty well. It was fun. I had a good time. I try to improve on something each day.”
(How different was it? Was today almost like the first day because everybody is here? How different was that? Was it like another first day?) – “It’s not like we had too much time off or anything in between. We’ve been still going at it. Yeah, it’s kind of like that, but we’ve been working for this last month. Really, it wasn’t too different. But you’ve just got the mindset, ‘Okay, this is all the mandatory portion and we’re getting after it. We’re going to be grinding. There’s a little bit more time that we can spend here now.’ As far as a practice standpoint and practice schedule, it’s all been the same. That wasn’t too bad or anything.”
(You mentioned DE Charles Harris. Has he helped you with the expectations of a first-round pick, because he was a first-round pick?) – “He holds himself to a high standard and so do I. I try to watch the things he does and pick and pull the good things that he does and listen to him, because he’s a really intelligent guy that works hard not just on the field but off the field. He’s a guy that I look to for a lot of different things. Just little things like where is a good place to live or who’s the best chef around so I can get good, quality meals. Just little things like that, he’s always there for me and always helping me with.”
(In the last five weeks when you haven’t been on the field, what have you been doing to get better?) – “I’m constantly working on my body, doing little recovery things and studying a lot so I can get this playbook down. The more I study and the better my body feels, I feel like the better I’ll be out there on the field. All of my focus at all times is essentially back to football, improving my game and craft so that I can help the team at the end of the day.”
(The tackle and the end role, both of those roles I know you played them at Clemson, but is there anything that’s carried over here in the first couple weeks?) – “No, because I’m not on offense yet and I’m pretty upset about that. (laughter) I need to get some offensive touches. We’ll see. That was later down the line. I’m just messing (around). It’s tougher, yes, because it’s the NFL and the jobs they’re asking me to do, but at the end of the day it’s still football. I’ve still got to get in my stance. It’s all about alignment, leverage, technique, playing with your hands, doing those little things, eyes, hands, feet. It’s still football at the end of the day, but it is a little tougher, because it is the NFL and guys are better. If you take a wrong step, it’s tougher to recover. Little things like that. As long as you’re on it, it’s not too terrible, but it is tougher, because it’s the NFL, like I said.”
(Are you all settled in personally?) – “I’m still figuring everything out as I go a little bit. (I am) trying to learn the area and really get to know my teammates. That’s the biggest thing.”
