Noah Igbinoghene – July 28, 2023
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Friday, July 28, 2023
CB Noah Igbinoghene
(Does the CB Jalen Ramsey injury change your life with this team – not your life with this team, but your role on this team in any way do you think?) – “Honestly for me, I don’t really – it’s unfortunate that happened and I’m praying for him. I hope he gets back as soon as possible. But for me, my mentality, it’s not really a competition to me anymore. I’m more so just focused on how I can get better and support my teammates and being a good teammate and just wishing the best for all my teammates, and if I can just focus on my technique and what I need to do to get better; then the rest and the positioning whether it’s first-string, second-string, third-string, that’s going to take place for itself and I’m allowing the coaches to really focus on that instead of me worrying about that so much. So again, I don’t really see it as a different role now. I know of course I’m going to have a different type of opportunity now that happened, but moving forward I’m just going to continue just to focus on myself and my teammates and supporting my teammates and continuing to get better at my craft.”
(At the end of mandatory minicamp, Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio was saying how he understands your past and he thinks that this scheme is one that might really suit you and work for you. What are your impressions of the scheme and how you fit and how it kind of meshes with your skillset?) – “I love this scheme. It’s very complex and it allows – like Coach McDaniel said this morning – it allows people’s actual abilities to really come out, their gifts to come out. I feel like that’s really been beneficial to me like my speed, my agility, my quickness has really been able to show. And like playing off and pressing versus the last couple systems, it was just really pressing and really man. Now we get to play zone a little bit, play off, have vision. And now being able to do that and really learn defense, learn how to play zone like an overall defense. Not saying we didn’t have that before, but now being able to do that now and learning Vic’s defense and the success he had, I see why this defense was very successful because it’s very complex. It confuses the offense and now we’re really able to really run different coverages that look the same and it allows our players on the outside – our safeties, our linebackers, our d-line – to really make plays in different types of ways than what we had before.”
(You guys have had to go through it with cornerback injuries last year. How much can you draw up from that experience going through this now?) – “There’s always going to be adversity, no matter what team you’re on, no matter what situation in life itself, so it’s really about what you do after that. It’s really about how you move forward after whatever happens, whenever you get knocked down in life, you’ve got to get back up and keep moving forward. So that’s the case when this happened. Jalen (Ramsey) is a great player, a phenomenal player, the best corner in the league. But it’s unfortunate that happened. Again, I’m praying for him, but now we’ve still got to do what we’re doing. We all get paid to do something and we’ve been brought here for a reason and there’s other people in the room now who can step up and take that position and fulfill it really well. So I’m looking forward to doing that and just continuing to support my teammates as well.”
(What kind of respect does it mean to actually be out there first-team today with CB Jalen Ramsey going down for you?) – “Honestly it’s not really a difference whether I’m going with the first-team, second-string, third-string. I’m just more so focused on me getting better and whatever team it is, whatever situation it is versus in the past I used to be really focused on that and really worried about the positioning more so in camp whether it’s first-string, second-string, third-string. But now my mentality is no matter where I’m at, I’m going to allow the coaches to focus on that and me, I just need to focus on my craft and my technique. And when I do that whether it’s better or worse than somebody else in my room, it’s going to be showing out there. So I’ve just keep focusing on my technique, keep working hard and keep putting the time in film; and outside of the place, outside of this facility as well, keep doing what I need to be doing and taking care of my body and stuff like that and the rest will happen. God’s plan is going to prevail and so I’ve just got to keep doing that and that’s my focus really this year.”
(Are you still vegan?) – “Yep.”
(Full year?) – “It’s been like two years now. A lot of nutritional value of it. It’s really helping me. Helping me recover as well and I didn’t ever think I was going to be doing it, and it’s still hard a little bit sometimes. I still get a little cravings for some other stuff. But for my career I would say I’m probably going to focus on that because I’ve seen the nutritional value of it. I’ve seen how it changes my mind a little bit. It gives me like, a peace of mind, I would say. It’s not just that, but nutrition – what you put into your body is everything. And I’m learning more about that, learning how to take care of your body and people, the vets in my room, have really taught me that. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard), Jalen (Ramsey) and just watching them and even Byron (Jones) in the past; watching them take care of their bodies and watching them prolong for a long season and time. If you want to play for 20, 30 years like Tom Brady, maybe LeBron James playing, Russell Wilson; you have to take care of your body. And that’s not something I feel like is really taught a lot. And it is, but in its own way. So now I’m really learning what it actually means to take care of your body outside of this place. And this place – even the facility – gives you a wide different of dynamics to take care of your body, but it’s really you focusing on yourself. Like nobody can control how much sleep you get. So that’s something I can control myself when I get home – getting the sleep I need to wake up in the morning and come out every single day in training camp and perform how I need to versus if I get eight hours or six hours, that could change. Them two hours of sleep can change – that’s a play. That could be a play I make and that could be one play I get tired versus one play I got a little extra energy; I’m able to run to ball now. It’s really the little things and minute things. Not just in football, in sports, but really just in life itself. So I’m really learning that and yeah, man, I’m excited.”
(How would you assess yourself in terms of confidence level, in terms of performance today compared to when you first stepped foot in this building as a rookie?) – “My mentality has changed drastically. I’ve learned a lot. There’s been ups and downs in my past, but now the mentality is I’m not really worried about the past no more. I’m just focused on that. Coach Mike McDaniel says it a lot, that we just need to focus on the now and not worry about what happened in the past. Not even worry about the future, just focus on today. So I’m just focused on how I can get better today, how I can get better than I was yesterday today. Don’t worry about what anybody else has going on. This is not a competition. This is not me versus another guy. Because if I have that mentality so much, I’m not saying it’s not good to compete, but I feel like the mentality needs to be … you just need to focus on – just for me, how I talk to myself now – I just need to focus on what I need to focus on and me doing the best I can. And if I do that, if I put my best foot forward; I know I’m talented, I know God has given me a lot of capabilities. That’s going to work out for itself, the positioning. Like I was saying before it’s going to work out for itself. So now having that mentality – I didn’t have that in previous years, but now, me having that mentality now, I’m able to actually be the teammate I know I am, the person I am, the man I am, and God has really pulled me a long way so I’m excited.”
(It’s no secret there was added scrutiny when you were a first-round pick. How do you think you handled that situation? What do you think you’ve learned from it?) – “Honestly, sometimes in life you need some crisis sometimes to really make you come out of that and really make you grow and really see what you need to be focused on. I would say at that time there was a lot I didn’t know. I was young, I was very young. I’m still young now, but at that time, I was 20 years old and there was a type of way I was living in college and I was able to perform at a high level in college and doing those things and having those values and those standards, but when I got into the league, those standards and those values didn’t really correlate over too much and that’s why I wasn’t really doing too well my first couple years. But I needed that to happen. Like I needed that crisis to happen to my life so that now I can come out of that and be who I am now and actually – like I was explaining before – just really focusing on how I can get better not just in here, but as a man as well. So like I said, I needed that to happen and I’m actually glad for it to happen now. It was something I really wasn’t experienced having, like going through scrutiny and having a lot of pressure and stuff like that. But in life you’re going to have pressure no matter who you are. So that pressure really built me up and it turned me around and God has really changed everything, changed my value system, my standards in my life and that was a big thing that happened. I’m actually thankful God put me through that because I needed that crisis to change who I am now.”
