How’d he get here? First-round draft pick out of Miami (Fla.).
Favorite pro team growing up: San Francisco 49ers
College team growing up: Penn State
So what drew you to Miami? “Once you go down there, you know.”
Did JoePa try to recruit you? “Yeah, he did. My father was a coach up there, so we were around their camps and stuff ever since we were kids. So I knew him when we were young.”
So you said you fell in love with the Miami campus, was it hard to concentrate? “No, you just have to keep your priorities straight, and to me, that was football.”
Favorite non-football sport to play: Golf
To watch: “In the playoffs, I’ll watch baseball and basketball, playoff time, but during the season I don’t really watch it.”
Favorite player growing up: Jerry Rice
What’s on the iPod when you work out? “I don’t listen to music when I work out, but on my iPod, I have country.”
Toughest 1-on-1 match-up you’ve ever faced: “I’ve played against some good guys. In practice, when I was a freshman, D.J. Williams and Jon Vilma, Sean Taylor, those are the guys I had to go against every day.”
Okay, was there a rival that was tough? “I went against Ernie Sims and Lawrence Timmons, so I’ve played against some good guys.”
Favorite game you’ve ever played in: “Probably Virginia Tech my sophomore year. We were both ranked top 5 in the country, it was the prime-time Saturday night game, [ESPN College] Gameday, and we went to their place and we beat ’em pretty good.”
Favorite game you’ve watched as a fan: USC-Notre Dame, 2005
Toughest loss you’ve ever had as a player: “It actually was probably in high school. My junior year, we had a real good team and we lost in the state finals. We had the game and we ended up losing, so that was tough.”
Toughest loss you’ve watched as a fan: “I wasn’t really a die-hard fan. I was always a fan of the team I played for.”
Favorite pig-out food: Sushi
Favorite vacation spot: “I want to go to Hawaii, that’s my goal, one day, go there.”
On the NFL’s dime at the Pro Bowl? “That’d be nice. That wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Best advice you ever received: “Nothing’s gonna be easy, but at the end, it’ll be worth it.”
High school mascot: Patriots
Toughest rivalry you’ve been a part of: Miami-FSU
TV show you can’t miss: “Entourage“
Last book you read: “The O’Reilly Factor“
Favorite movie: “A Time to Kill“
Favorite sports movie: “Rudy“
