Alec Ingold – March 21, 2022
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Monday, March 21, 2022
FB Alec Ingold
(What is it like to be the last of a dying breed? You’re like the dinosaur of your position and it’s approaching extinction.) – “It’s a responsibility. (laughter) No, it’s been fun being a fullback, being in this league, being able to play football. Man, I just – I made that jump when I got recruiting into Wisconsin. They said, here you go, here’s an offer as an athlete. And I was a mid-major guy trying to play quarterback. I had a quarterback offer and my family and I just discussed how much we love football and I said I’ll do whatever it takes to be on a football field and it went from quarterback to linebacker to running back and eventually to fullback. So man, I just love being on a football field. Call me a dinosaur if you want, but I’m going to find my way onto a football field one way or another.”
(Do you have respect for teams that run these similar offenses?) – “Yeah, we all stay in contact. I watched all of the 49ers film from since I’ve been in the league just watching ‘Juice’ (Kyle Juszczyk) do his thing and watching Pat Ricard and C.J. Ham, Derek Watt. The list goes on and on and on. Just being able to follow those guys, follow those offenses, seeing how they do their techniques and how they play football. We take great pride in changing the dynamic of an offense. As soon as 21, 22-personnel comes out, it seems like a little bit different flow of the game. I think we all take pride in that and that’s something I definitely do any time I put a helmet on. It’s exciting to be a fullback in this league, for sure.”
(Kind of like you were mentioning, the fullback position, it isn’t a glorified one. It’s in large part about setting up others for success. What’s your approach, your mindset to playing that role?) – “It’s dominating that role, knowing that role and yeah, it’s just being consistent with it. Being a force on the football field that can change, take advantage of different matchups, whether it’s a linebacker, a safety, corner, d-lineman, whoever that might be on the other side of that football. It’s definitely a match-made, base defense type of position, so those are the looks you’re going to get and those are the ones that you definitely have to take advantage of.”
(I wanted to check how the knee was and if you expect to be full-go for training camp?) – “Yeah, the knee is doing great. I got into town on Thursday, met the trainers and everything, met the whole staff, met the coaches, and Friday was the first day of rehab out here. I’m super excited to get to work with these trainers. We’re on the same page. No setbacks so far – knock on wood there and we’re just going to keep rolling. I like working with the staff out here already. I’ve been in a couple days now and I don’t mind this Miami weather either.”
(And I was going to ask you also did you and Head Coach Mike McDaniel talk at all during the process before you agreed to terms on Wednesday about something that you already knew, that he uses a fullback?) – “No. Coach McDaniel, his reputation precedes himself, so just hearing from – as soon as we got that call from Chris Grier that the situation, that we had a deal in place, it was a done deal. I was excited to work with this coaching staff. Obviously I have a relationship with Frank (Smith) and then getting to meet Mike on Thursday was outstanding. So it was good to sit in the office, hang out, talk ball and just kind of get a vision for this team and just find that role and what we can do here.”
(The Pardon My Take guys, they’re big fullback guys. I don’t know if you got to see, but I asked PFT for a scouting report for Dolphins fans for you and he had a nice little nugget. He said, “Just like an actual Dolphin, he has consistently low pad level but also poses the ability to leap majestically.” I thought it was pretty neat. I just wanted to see if maybe you could either add to that or give the Dolphins fans maybe a scouting report on yourself.) – “No, PFT – he’s pretty spot-on with all that stuff, man. He’s good with all those metaphors. (laughter) Shoot, that’s – physically, yes, I think that’s pretty spot-on, but also mentally, just everything about it. I’m going to be as much of a Dolphin as I can possibly be and whether that’s low pad level or leaping or whatever that is, man, I’m just excited to be here. I know that’s a cliché answer but being a part of this organization is really exciting. I’m just going to throw myself into it. I’m going to be here as much as possible, be where my feet are at right here in Miami and it’s going to be exciting. I can’t give you all much of a scouting report on what’s ahead just because I’m just really looking forward to coming back from this knee injury a little bit better, stronger, mindful, physically, mentally, spiritually, everything. And just being able to put that full play together, that full season together is going to be really exciting to do out here.”
(I had one more thing for you. Just wondering from watching NFL games, just your impressions of two of the backs you’ll be blocking for – Chase Edmonds and Raheem Mostert.) – “Fast. (laughter) Absolutely blazing speed fast. Everyone’s going to be running. Shoot, the entire offense is going to be running and I know there’s going to be a lot of conditioning work when we get going in training camp and OTAs and all that, but those guys start – running backs that I’ve worked with in the past and especially these guys, they kind of set the tone for how an offense is going to run, right? If you’re running fast, if you’re finishing plays through the whistle, you’re getting those explosive plays on offense, those running backs are part of that. They’re the leader of that. Once they can break through the second level and they can take off like that and you can feel that speed, all of a sudden you have the offensive line moving, the wide receivers, everyone is running downfield with those guys. So the amount of speed that they bring to an offense, that’s exciting just to be able to chase those guys downfield after those explosive plays that they’re obviously capable of making.”
