Solomon Kindley – April 25, 2020
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Saturday, April 25, 2020
G Solomon Kindley
(Tell me a little bit about your position versatility. What positions can you play? What’s your best position and have you talked to the Dolphins about a specific position?) – “No, sir. I haven’t talked to the Dolphins about a specific position. To be honest, I could play each side of the guard. To be honest, I could play anywhere the coaches need me. I’m going to be a player to come in and wherever the coach needs me to go play at, that’s where I’m going to go play at.”
(What do you know you can do best?) – “I know I can play football. I know I can play football. That’s all I can say. Like I said, wherever the coaches need me to play at, I’m going to be one of the players that does anything to make the team win. If coach needs me to go play here, I’m going to play it. If I haven’t played it before, I’m just going to try my hardest to play and do the best I can.”
(We heard a little bit of your family being excited when you first got picked. What does it mean – I know you’re from Jacksonville – to be down here in Miami not too far from where you grew up?) – “It means a lot. To be honest, I’m originally from Jacksonville, Florida; but I stayed in Miami because I have an auntie (there). As a matter of fact, my whole dad’s side of the family lives in Miami, so I just really go down there and I hang out with them. So you might as well say I’m 50/50 – half Jacksonville, half Miami anyway.”
(What do you think about the prospect of blocking for QB Tua Tagovailoa?) – “It’s going to be a tremendous – I’m going to do whatever I can to protect him and help him. I’m ready to work with him. He’s a great quarterback and I’m ready to work with him.”
(I wanted to ask you about that national championship game. What are your memories of what QB Tua Tagovailoa did in that game?) – “Everybody knows what he did in that game. He was tremendous. I hear about some other offensive linemen at the Combine – other offensive linemen that I know – I hear that he’s a tremendous person. I hear that he works very hard, all that type of stuff. He’s a very good player and everything that everybody has told me, it shows on the field. I can already tell the type of personality he’s got and the type of person the he is in the locker room, so I’m just blessed for the opportunity to play with him.”
(We heard on the broadcast that you’re a lifeguard. Can you tell me about that background and how that happened for you?) – ”Growing up, I was just really at a younger age and I really couldn’t play football because of my size I was and all that type of stuff, so it had to be anything else. I played basketball and I also swam, so that was the only thing that was open for me at the time, so all I did was went out there and swim and somehow I came to be good. Then I saw my brothers and my cousins and all of that type of stuff had an opportunity – like they were getting paid for after they got on the swim team after they got to a certain age, so I was like, ‘well, they’re getting for paid for it. I know how to swim very good. I know how to swim very fast. Why shouldn’t I?’ So from the age of like 15 all the way up through the end of high school, I was a lifeguard.”
(The Dolphins are having a lot of competition on their offensive line. Quite often guys at your level, you haven’t had to compete. You’ve been the best and the job has been yours. I want to know, have you had to compete for a starting job in your life whether it’s high school or college and what was that like mentally? Did it make you sharper or what did it do for you?) – “To be honest, I had to compete my whole life. I had to compete to get here and that’s what drives me right now. At Georgia, I had to compete. In high school, I had to compete. I feel like if there’s nobody competing with you or pushing you, you aren’t going to bring out the best in you, so competition is what everybody needs on every team at any position or in any aspect of life, to be honest.”
(I want to go back to the lifeguard stint for just a second. Did you ever rescue anybody? Tell us about your most memorable day on the job.) – “Yes, one time I had to rescue a kid during swim lessons. I was teaching them swim lessons and stuff and then he accidentally slipped off the bottom of the pool and I had to pretty much save him. That was the one time only that I had to save a kid. Other than that, I never really had to save anybody.”
(I heard you mention all the family you have in Miami. Were the Dolphins your favorite team? Who was your favorite team and player when you were young?) – “Oh yeah, I liked the Dolphins as well; but like I said, I’m a home native from Jacksonville, Florida and there isn’t no way that my family here and friends around here would not let me cheer for the Jacksonville Jaguars. So yeah growing up, I’m from Florida so Miami and the Jacksonville Jaguars were the two teams that I looked at a lot.”
(Did you say you were a lifeguard because you couldn’t play football because of your size and are you saying you were too big for Pee Wee? How big were you when you were little?) – “To be honest, I remember the time my mom told me as I grew up, she was like, the age I was, I had to play up with the big kids and all that type of stuff. My mom was like, ‘no I’m not letting my son go out there and do that. He’s not (going to) hurt himself.’ But to be honest, at that age I really could’ve played with those guys. But that was like my very first time playing football so my mom was like, ‘I don’t know what this is going to do to him’ and everything like that. I always begged her and asked her, ‘can I do it?’ But the type of person I am and my family is, we’re always going to be supportive against everybody, so once my brothers and them got to playing football, I always went out there and supported them, and then my time came for me to swim and play basketball.”
(What were your meetings like with Head Coach Brian Flores and General Manager Chris Grier and any other Dolphins assistant coach you have met during the draft process?) – “It was really a brief conversation. They told me they liked what I did and then they told me a lot of things I need to work on to prevent from doing this and doing that and so on. I really felt the camaraderie in the room and the coaches. They want you to be better and we’re trying to change the organization at Miami.”
