DaKCMan AP
04-24-2005, 12:42 PM
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!”
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!”