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Sam Eguavoen – August 19, 2019 Download PDF version

Monday, August 19, 2019

LB Sam Eguavoen

(You played for Regina, Saskatchewan last year?) – “Yes.”

(Tell me what that was like for a guy from Dallas. Tell me about that experience at first and what good came out of that in your eyes, do you think?) – “A lot more focus on football, because there’s not much out there but the stadium and the casino. (laughter) I could focus more on football, because there wasn’t really anything to do. (That’s) not to knock Regina, Saskatchewan,=, I loved it out there, but I had major focus.”

(Did it thicken your skin with some of the weather that you had to experience?) – “Definitely. The last game I played in, I think it was about 10 degrees and the ground was like frozen concrete. That was tough. Then coming out here is the complete opposite. (laughter)”

(Different rules, different dynamics How did that benefit in your learning process do you think?) – “The CFL is more of a spread-out game. It was a lot of passing. There are only three downs, but there are 12 people on the field. The three-down thing, I got really used to. If you stop somebody for a 2-yard gain on first down, now it’s second-and-long and you’re thinking screens, draws and things like that. But then coming here, it’s way more condensed – tight ends, 21 personnel, 11 personnel, things like that – and then there are four downs. There is a lot more running and a lot more thinking you have to do here in the NFL. Going from the CFL into OTAs helped me a lot because I was pass heavy coming from the CFL and OTAs, it is pretty much all passes. There’s no pads. The transition from OTAs to training camp was huge for me because now I’m seeing the real formations, I’m seeing the heavy formations – 22 personnel and things like that – and understanding where to fit and how to fit on the run. That’s why I had to pick up and learn quick.”

(How ready are you to start a real NFL game in your mind?) – “I’m always ready. That’s my mindset. I never see myself being second to anybody. That’s just my mindset that I grew up in whether it’s basketball, ping pong, anything. I never want to be behind anybody. I think that’s how a good team is built, if everybody has that mindset of, ‘I’m going to be the starter. I’m going to be the communicator. I’m going to run this team.’ If everybody thinks like that, we’re going to have a really good football team. That’s just my mindset. I’m ready.”

(A wider field in the CFL. Do you think that helped you as a Mike linebacker to be able to cover the field side to side?) – “Yeah, definitely. It’s a 65-yard-wide field there and in the NFL I believe it’s 53 (yards). That’s huge. If they throw a screen to the left side here and I’m dropping to the weak hook, I can get there. If I’m running full speed, I’m going to get there. In the CFL, sometimes you don’t get there; but you’re trained to go sideline to sideline out there since the field is so big.”

(Did you have anything to do with the AFL? I thought I read somewhere that you were involved with the AFL.) – “No, I never did. Somebody called me from the Arena Football League, but I never was going to go there.”

(Do people come up to you and say, ‘How do you say your name?’ Or how does that go?) – “Sam eh-GWOV-en.”

(Seems easy enough.) – “I’ve been saying it my whole life. (laughter)”

(This third preseason game, starters get a lot of run. It’s like a dress rehearsal for opening day. What do you hope to get out of this third game?) – “The build – max communication across the board on the defense. I want everybody to feel comfortable. I want everybody to play fearless. I want to see what all do we have? Some guys only play one quarter. I’ve been playing about two to three quarters every preseason game, but most of the starters have been playing one quarter. I want to see what we’re working with as a defense – see what we really have, all the pieces, all the weapons. That’s really what I want to see: how could can this defense really be?”

(When you think back to the most intense Arctic tundra game last year, how satisfying is it to me close to a job with the Miami Dolphins?) – “It’s great. Just being in the NFL period, knowing that I worked so hard, I’ve dreamed about it, prayed about it, cried about it and now that I’m here, it’s just a huge blessing for me. Definitely I like being here rather than blizzards out there in Saskatchewan.
(laughter) It’s just a huge blessing.”

(The defense, you’re like us, you don’t know what it’s going to look like yet?) – “No, I don’t, because we’re not even where we want to be right now. It’s a learning process for all of us. I’m waiting to see what we could really be.”

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