Q. Obviously the draft didn't go the way most projections had for you. How have you handled it? How will you handle it in the future? How much will this motivate you? What's the last 72 hours been like for you?
KELEE RINGO: Man, first and foremost, just continue to be really grateful, and I'm thankful for this position to be in. Of course many people look forward to be able to get drafted, and not too many people get the opportunity.
I feel like throughout the entire time we just continued to realize that you're in this situation for a reason, and man, God definitely has his way of doing everything, and it might not always be on your time, so just continue to just be grateful and continue to keep faith, and I know everything else is going to pan out for itself.
Q. I wanted to talk about the shoulder injury you had. How are you when it comes to that? A lot of people speculated maybe that's why you lasted a little bit longer than most expected. Are you completely 100 percent from that perspective?
KELEE RINGO: Yes, sir, actually it's been two years. There's some changes since that injury happened actually my senior year of high school. I ended up getting it repaired my freshman year academically at the University of Georgia, but definitely wouldn't say it's a setback or anything for me right now, but yes, sir, I appreciate that.
Q. When it comes to Darius Slay and James Bradbury, how familiar are you with their games, and also have you come across them in your path the last few years?
KELEE RINGO: I'm very familiar with those two guys, man, guys who definitely study the game, who are one foot in front of the offensive coordinator and the quarterback in their game, which makes it a lot easier for them to make plays, overall ball hawks and just great DBs overall. I have a lot of respect for those guys. I haven't been able to meet them yet or anything, but definitely looking forward to it.
Q. Obviously a bunch of Georgia players here already, even from this class and last year obviously. How excited are you to get to be teammates with them continuing here?
KELEE RINGO: Man, I'm super excited just to have the opportunity to go to the Eagles overall, but man, it definitely makes it better. As you were saying, being with my teammates from the University of Georgia, definitely our bar is going to continue to grow. Of course it would definitely be even if we were on different teams, but man, just being in the same building as those guys and be able to hear the ropes from guys that have been there, Jordan Davis and Nakobe, and me, Jalen and Nolan able to walk in there with open arms from the entire community and the staff, man, honestly just feel like it's a great feeling. It's definitely a great situation to be coming into as a rookie.
Q. In terms of being drafted where you were, you were a five-star recruit, obviously, starter, 27 games at Georgia. You've been in the spotlight for a long time. Where do you think your development needs to come as a player as you go into the NFL?
KELEE RINGO: Continuing to grow and to compete in every single aspect of my game, whether it's technique-wise, seeing concepts from offenses and things like that. I feel like to stay within my technique and just continue to learn the ins and outs of the games and just be able to see things before it happens.
I feel like when specifically players in my position, whether it's safety, nickel or corner, when you're able to see what offenses are trying to do to you before it happens, then you can definitely get a jump start and definitely make more plays, and things slow down a lot more for you, so I definitely feel like I can grown in my game in that aspect a lot more.
Q. You know Richard Sherman, five-time all pro, widely regarded as one of the best at the position. What have you benefitted from your relationship up there, and how would you describe how he's kind of helped you specifically leading into the draft?
KELEE RINGO: Man, first, growing into a great young man that I am today, the past couple months here and also even the year of me and him just bouncing things off each other, just him showing me the ropes, just financial things as well as on the field, seeing concepts, things like that. Really just growing into a young man that's going to have a lot more expectations to him as well as with just a lot of things on my plate overall, just how I'm able to balance that. I feel like having somebody that's been through that at the highest level with any type of given situation towards him and just giving all that back to me, I'm definitely thankful for somebody like that for sure. He's definitely helped me grow a lot.
Q. I wanted to ask you, not only do you have now five Georgia guys on the defense, but the Eagles also have like four Alabama guys on offense, and I was wondering if you see this as possibly like an SEC or National Championship type of rematch when you guys are on offense and defense going against each other, and how well do you know those Alabama guys?
KELEE RINGO: That's actually pretty funny because I didn't even think about it that way. Actually I chuckled a smile right there.
Definitely I feel like in the SEC, the huge thing that all the different good type of teams have within their program is competing every single day. Of course wanting the best out of each other so that the practices are much harder than the games.
I feel like when things are like that, I feel like definitely able to grow as a program and just continue to put one foot in front of the other and just excel overall.
Q. Do you think there will be a lot of trash talking in practice?
KELEE RINGO: Man, that's something that definitely depends on the different type of personalities there are out there on the field, but I don't mind it. Like I said before, I'm definitely a competitor, and I do what it takes to win for sure.
Q. What was your contact with the Eagles pre-draft? Can you walk us through any conversations, meetings, et cetera that you had, and did you get a feeling that they were on to you?
KELEE RINGO: Yes, sir, I did, actually, to begin with, for my 30 visit. It was a great experience over there just talking to the coaches and the head coaches as well as defensive coordinators, as well as the DBs coach. It was overall good vibes over there. Definitely seen that for sure.
But after seeing the trend of them getting Nolan and also Jalen Carter, I was like, this could happen. Like this could definitely be a possibility of this happening. Man, I'm just overall thankful just to be able to get the opportunity to be on the team, let alone a team where all my friends are going to be on.
Man, it's just a great position to be in and the right opportunity. I'm definitely going to seize my opportunity for sure.
Q. Was there a moment during the 30 visit or somebody that you met or something about your experience at the Novacare complex, one moment that stood out to you about the Eagles and about their interest in you perhaps?
KELEE RINGO: I would say specifically talking to Coach McDonald, he's a great bright guy, somebody like that. I feel like in this meeting room he tried to apply a little bit more pressure on me for sure from the learning standpoint, and I feel like I was able to overcome overall. Me coming from the University of Georgia, that's all Coach Smart does to us is try to put us in hard situations and make us think overall and see how you can grow from that.
I feel like those type of coaches realize when they can put that type of pressure on somebody and them overcome that, then being on the field out there, being able to execute things like that, it's only the little things. So I feel like that's one of the things that stood out to me.
Q. Set the scene for us; who's with you today and where are you?
KELEE RINGO: All my family members, a couple of my coaches, as well, from the past. But we're in Scottsdale, Arizona right now, just enjoying the time right now after being drafted and achieving my dreams.
Q. Of all the guys who are with you now, the other four Georgia guys, who are you closest with? Is there a guy that's your guy?
KELEE RINGO: Necessarily, man, overall, all four of the boys. I couldn't even lie to you. I wouldn't say I was closer to one than the others, but me and Jalen specifically, we came in together at one point, and me and his mother and my mother all had build a relationship at a certain point in time.
But yeah, Nolan Smith is one of those guys who was an outside linebacker when I was first becoming to start my sophomore year, and he was one of those guys that was picking me up at the same time, and we had JB on the inside, and Nakobe and all four of us were all bouncing energy off each other. Man, I definitely would say it's a tight bond between all four of us or all five of us for sure.
Q. You're just 20 years old. You play in one of the toughest conferences in America with the SEC. What's something that you learned coming out of the SEC and how football is played there?
KELEE RINGO: Man, every single game in the SEC you're going to get the team's best shot. There's great players all over the SEC, man. I feel like preparation is going to be able to help you execute day in and day out, and I feel like that was a huge thing that we had at the University of Georgia, and of course it's already instilled in the NFL as well as at Philly.
Man, just continue to grow and just know that your preparation is going to help you and put you in the best situation possible to continue to grow in any situation, whether it's 4th and 3 and you need a stop or any other type of situation in the game. So I feel like preparation is a big thing that's going to help me.
Q. Fran Brown has a lot of familiarity with the Philly area; have you been able to talk to him about it at all since you got drafted?
KELEE RINGO: Yes, sir, all the time. He's from over there, as well. I talked to him after I got drafted, as well. He's just really excited for me and the opportunity that's coming before me, and I'll be able to seize that moment for sure. Of course being my past DB coach, he's instilled a lot of time into me, and he's super excited for what I'm going to be able to do.
Q. That transition you had when you got to school from running back to corner, what were the challenges for that and what were takeaways from it?
KELEE RINGO: Man, it was all a great experience, honestly. Just knowing that I could do something like corner at the next level for sure, and just being able to see the coaches and what they seen in me and believe in that and trust in that, and that's one of the reasons why I went to the University of Georgia, because I trusted those guys to be able to help me become the best player and the man I am today.
Q. We could see on the broadcast your emotions. Can you describe what your emotions were like when they called your name? And were you hoping the Eagles would be the team, knowing the guys that are here? All along we could see when Nolan got picked, he showed us his socks - he was wearing green socks - and it was pretty obvious he was hoping he might reunite with teammates. Did you?
KELEE RINGO: At that point in time, I was like, one of the best situations would be for me to go to the Eagles for sure. Just inside thinking.
But back to the emotions, just looking back on all of our times and things that worked for this specific moment, no matter where I had went, I know that my opportunities to be able to come, and all my entire life I've seized that type of moment as well as being doubted. I've been doubted plenty of times in life, as well.
This is definitely another time and another add to my story for sure looking forward to it. That's where a lot of the emotions have come and just the things that me and my family have went through for sure.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports