Q&A LB JAMES GRIGSBY
Q&A LB JAMES GRIGSBY
Apr 24, 2005, 1:35:00 PM FIFTH-ROUND DRAFT PICK (138TH OVERALL) TELECONFERENCEboom Real Video - 300k | 100k Q: How excited are you to be picked? Did you know it was going to come down or were you on the bubble? GRIGSBY: “I was very excited. I got teased at the end of the second round yesterday and was waiting on the third and the phone call never came and slipped me over. It kind of took the breath right out of me. To get picked by Kansas City couldn’t have been a better deal for me because out of all the pro stadiums, the only one I’ve probably ever been to is Arrowhead. I’ve got a lot of family in Kansas City and I really like the organization a lot. I think they’re on the verge of some big things down there.” Q: Tell us about your family here? GRIGSBY: “I honestly don’t think my family could have liked a better place. It’s about a seven-hour drive from here (Canton, IL). I have an aunt that lives there, my sister lives there, so it makes it real easy for them. They’re excited about it. They’re celebrating up and down the street right now. I can see them. We’re country here, this is big time for us.” Q: How country? GRIGSBY: “There’s only about 14,000 people in this town.” Q: Did you have dreams of playing for the Illini growing up, that close to Normal [Illinois]? GRIGSBY: “No. I really didn’t grow up as a big fan of Illinois. But Illinois State put some belief in me and I got a chance to play the Illini. I gave them 20 tackles-worth of not picking me out of high school.” Q: Tell us about your gymnastics background and the trampoline. GRIGSBY: “My mom used to own, and now she runs through the YMCA, a tumbling and trampoline team that competes nationally through an organization called USDA. I kind of grew up right there at the YMCA, everyday working out and tumbling with her. I even worked for her a little bit in high school. Since boys tend to be a little more daring than girls, I moved up pretty fast. I went from beginning status to elite status pretty quickly because I wasn’t scared to try much. When you’re not scared to get hurt, it makes things a lot easier to learn.” Q: When you’re not scared to get hurt, it makes it easier to play football, doesn’t it? GRIGSBY: “If you play like you’re going to get hurt, you’re going to get hurt. That’s the only thing I can really guarantee anybody. I can’t guarantee everybody I’m going to be a Pro Bowler, or even be that great of a player, but I know I’ll be a 250-pound crazy white boy running down the field on kickoffs.” Q: Is there any trampoline discipline you can apply to football? GRIGSBY: “Definitely. The trampoline builds up all that core strength and balance. When you talk to most strength coaches, one of the main principles in sprinters – changing directions and all the other power you use in your upper body and lower body – is all controlled by your core. Every time you jump up and down, your stomach muscles flex.” Q: Have you heard of Jared Allen? GRIGSBY: “I talked to Jared Allen. He stole my Buck Buchanan Award. We’re going to have to have words about that.” Q: What have you guys talked about? GRIGSBY: “Well I talked to Jared Allen during the agent process. Jared Allen is an incredible player, obviously and what a success story. Everyone was asking me, when this whole Buck Buchanan thing went down, why do you think he won? That was the second year (I had been up for it). My response to all these people was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me! This kid had 20 sacks and 32 tackles for loss. He’s going to be a big player in the NFL.’ Then before you know it, he started with the Chiefs the following year. If there’s any person I should role model my play off of when I get there is him. [He went] from a rookie to contributing so much. I think we are going to get along real well.” Q: Do you feel like you have to prove yourself because you come from a small school that isn’t known for football? Do you feel you were overlooked in the draft because of where you came from? GRIGSBY: “I guess, in all honesty, probably. If I would have had the same production at Oklahoma or Texas, we probably would have been speaking yesterday. But you play the hand that’s dealt to you and I intend to play this one as well as I can.” Q: How has your knee recovered from the meniscus surgery? GRIGSBY: “Outstanding. I injured it right at the beginning of October (2004) and played the remaining six games with it hurt. Then I had a scope and then it was completely healed for the East-West Shrine Game. I think that really helped me out as far as not red-flagging me because I proved that I could play on it. By now, if you looked at it, you probably couldn’t even tell which one it was.” Q: Coming from a smaller Illinois town, do you think you got overlooked by the Big Ten people? GRIGSBY: “My story is actually kind of crazy. I played here at Canton High School and I did not speak to one team bigger or smaller than Illinois State, not one school. I committed to Illinois State in August of my senior year, which is well before anyone commits. Most people wait and use it against each other to get bigger schools. I remember when they called me on the phone, I didn’t say yes or no. I went to school the next day and my coach said, ‘What are you doing? What if they take it away?’ So I didn’t go to class the whole first hour. I called the coach at Illinois State and told him I was coming. That coaching staff actually (ended up going) to West Point. My response to them was, ‘Am I going into the Army now?’ We didn’t know how it worked where I was from. I never sent out a tape or resume or made any phone calls. One day, I was lifting weights and an Illinois State recruiter walked in and saw me lifting weights and called me once a week (after that). They told me when I got there that they didn’t release it to the press that I committed in August. They waited until signing day on February 2nd so that people would know that I existed.” Q: The Illinois State staff you gave your commitment to went to West Point? GRIGSBY: “Right. One coach stayed. The day they left, the athletic director from Illinois State called me about seven times to make sure I was going to keep my commitment to Illinois State. I think he was really worried that I was going to leave. But my response to him was, ‘Where am I going to go?’ No one else wanted me. Illinois State was the only school that showed interest. I didn’t even talk to a junior college, or a D-II school, or a NAIA school.” Q: Did it bother you that you didn’t get attention from anyone else, or did you just shut off the other attention? GRIGSBY: “It might have made me a little angry, but I just used it to my advantage to make all those tackles in college. I figure (I made) about 580 tackles. There’s probably about 580 people that p—sed me off.” Q: Have we gotten on your good side, yet? GRIGSBY: “I love you all in Kansas City! This is the best day of my life!” |
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GRIGSBY: “No. I really didn’t grow up as a big fan of Illinois. But Illinois State put some belief in me and I got a chance to play the Illini. I gave them 20 tackles-worth of not picking me out of high school.”
ROFL GRIGSBY: “I talked to Jared Allen. He stole my Buck Buchanan Award. We’re going to have to have words about that.” ROFL ROFL |
Boy, that guy's got some personality. The Star writers are going to love covering him.
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GRIGSBY: “It might have made me a little angry, but I just used it to my advantage to make all those tackles in college. I figure (I made) about 580 tackles. There’s probably about 580 people that p—sed me off.”
Q: Have we gotten on your good side, yet? GRIGSBY: “I love you all in Kansas City! This is the best day of my life!” ROFL ROFL ROFL |
Attention: Kawika.....tell your agent to start looking around the league.
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I think Boomer and Gun are going to get along just fine.
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Ladies and Gentleman
Archie's new favorite Chief- James Grigsby Love this guy. |
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awesome! ROFL I think I might have to adopt this guy. |
Looks pretty good in that video.
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I just got around to reading Zach's thread on Boomer. Zach nailed him. Obviously knows what he's talking about.
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Looks like a stud, and a fine pick!
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Q: Did it bother you that you didn’t get attention from anyone else, or did you just shut off the other attention?
GRIGSBY: “It might have made me a little angry, but I just used it to my advantage to make all those tackles in college. I figure (I made) about 580 tackles. There’s probably about 580 people that p—sed me off.” ROFL Awesome. |
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He absolutely destroyed Beutjer one time when the Illini QB rolled out toward the sideline, and the stupid-ass ref called a bogus unnecessary roughness penalty on him. But it was at that point when I thought I would love to have this guy play for the Chiefs. |
Boomer is becoming a modern day Eric Downing.
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Yeah, but he's no Scanlon.
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Sounds like the perfect guy for Gunther's style of play....I'm sold on him simply based on his interview and his LOVE to play in KC
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we're going to be crazyinsane good at STs now
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http://www.kcchiefs.com/media/images...56967204077196
unfrozen caveman LB, Guns gonna love the beard |
the Zach Thomas clone has arrived in Kansas City :drool:
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This guy is awesome. ROFL
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I love this pick. The guy's a monster. In his combine video he looks very fast during all the drills when he's running a straight line.
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Got a like a pick like this. Big country White boy ready to kick some a$$.
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Definitely love the personality and attitude. Don't know much about his play, but it sounds like he's got the kind of character I like to see -- a good kid that is humble and not classless, but at the same time has a little mean streak and a sense of humor. Great interview.
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This guy is going to kick some ass before its all over.
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This guys gonna be a ton of Fun to watch this year.
Great pick |
I doubted this pick when we took him but after his interview I am sold on him. I really like his attitude and we need some guys like this on ST to spring Dante a few more times this year.
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He appears to have Kawika Mitchell measurables with a Dino Hackett attitude. I like it.
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I hope Mr. Mitchell is feeling a wee bit of heat at the moment.
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This guy is GREAT. What an amazing personality and viewpoint! I'm his number one fan starting today.
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Great pick-up. I knew we had a shot at him, but I didn't know how solid he is. This kid sounds like a football player who likes to hit. I'm damn glad Carl actually valued Gunther's opinion, because this kid is a Gunther player through and through. Very good draft.
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He and his Canton Little Giants used to come up here to Chillicothe (IL) and kick our Grey Ghosts butts all over the field. Then they'd kick our butts all over their field when our boys went there!
He's almost from my hometown. Most of my Dad's family is from Canton, my Mom's side is from KC. Groovy man! |
Gunther just got his "Wild Man from the Hills" REMIX.
Dude's name is Boomer, he's buck as hell, and doesn't seem to have a regard for his life. I love it. |
This guy is exactly what the rookie class neeeded. A solid, well built linebacker with attitude. This guy looks to destroy on special teams (something that we all know was lacking last year) and with time, will hopefully become a Maslowski or Dino Hackett. I love this pick!
Dane ~Extremely happy with this year's draft |
I like this pick. I had him rated very high in the 3rd round on my draft board.
If you could combine his tackling ability with Derrick Johnson's speed and agility, you'd have the perfect linebacker. |
I was watching the combine when this guy was running his agility drills. He tweaked his hamstring and they told him to walk it off....he walked behind a group of players and was so pissed off he kicked the shit out of the turf and you could hear him cussing even though the mics were halfway across the stadium. I remember thinking, "that looks like a tough sumbitch of a middle linebacker right there" and his physical disposition is obvious. The only thing was the commentators never said who he was but I was curious. I remember I asking a couple of friends of mine "Hey were you watching the combine when that tough ass linebacker tweaked his hamstring.....any idea who that was?".....They didn't know.
So anyway, when the Chiefs drafted him today I looked up his stats and thought he sounded good. Now I see this video and sure enough here's that tough ass linebacker I was all excited about at the combine. I agree with the Zack Thomas comment. This guy looks like a steal in the 5th round. |
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I'm liking this guy alot. Sounds like the kind of kid that will be well taken care of by the vets like Surtain.
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I'm afraid of this guy. I like him.
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He kind of reminds me of... Jared Allen.
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Grigsby
IM in the market for a Grigsby,crazy white boy jersey!
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We could certainly use the attitude.
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Great pick-up in the 5th round. This kid looks like he loves to play football, but still seems real grounded. He looks pretty quick as well. Thank God, Gunther came back to turn this shipwreck around and had seem input on his kind of players. Grigsby looks like a real blue-collar, knock them on their ass kind of player. Glad he's a Chief.
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This guy is pimp.
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This is what im talking about!
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Totally awesome!!! :clap: Great addition.
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Yeah, Grigsby's a fan favorite.
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ROFL, yeah, he has great hands! ROFL |
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