NICK CASERIO: Evening. Hope everybody is doing all right. The first round honestly played out the way we sort of anticipated. I think there ended up being, I don't know, like seven tackles, two guards, a couple quarterbacks, five or six receivers, a couple backs, and 14 players on defense or whatever it was.
I think moving two spots, it was just more semantics and positioning more than anything else. We had some interest in the player, so we felt like, all right, just move a couple spots, essentially give up a fifth-round pick is essentially what the difference is when you actually do the math, to get a player, I think you all just spoke with him.
But I would say the things that stand out about him, toughness, violence, physicality, his playing style, his intelligence. Basically the guy wants to step on your throat on every play, which I would say sort of embodies what our football team is about, the way we play. Intense, violent, physical.
We're going to run the football this year. It was an area that we felt like we wanted to and needed to improve on during the off-season. Hopefully we've done that.
I would say Big Red is hopefully a part of that. Like where is he going to play? Who the hell knows. We'll figure out who the best five guys are and put the group out there that we think is going to help us the most, understanding that we'll probably need eight to ten guys on the offensive line here at some point.
He's a player that, again, a good example, transfer up, so started at obviously a lower level and transferred over to Georgia Tech, and had a good career there. Was at the Senior Bowl. We spent a little bit of time with him here in the spring. Cole went down there and worked him out.
I mean, he's a player, I think the whole building collectively felt strongly about. That sort of worked out the way that we had hoped it would. Excited to get him here, and we'll be back to the drawing board again tomorrow.
I think we've got 38, whatever, 59, kind of picking third round, just got moved down there a little bit. So try to take advantage of our opportunities here tomorrow with those picks.
I'm sure we'll get some calls, and we'll kind of see what makes sense relative to moving back or sitting and picking. Just kind of take it here one pick at a time. But definitely excited about Keylan and the things that he brings to the table.
I'll take some questions.
Q. Did you have a specific moment in meeting him or watching him that --
NICK CASERIO: Yeah, when you put the tape on. Everybody that watched him, your notes basically say physical, tough, strong, good run blocker, good at the point of attack. He's probably more athletic than maybe people think he is. He's got some technique things that he can certainly clean up, which I think one of the things with the workout sometimes is you're trying to (indiscernible) how do they apply the coaching.
I mean, the makeup on this guy is, like, elite. A couple of the metrics that we have when we grade players, in like four or five categories, like, there was one player in the draft that our scouts graded the way that they did, and it was him.
That was, like, okay -- we didn't talk to him at the combine because we didn't need to. We might have even interviewed him at the Senior Bowl but we didn't need to. There was a couple touch points here and there we felt like. But it was just put the tape on, watch the guy play.
And I'd say, like, the program that Coach Key runs down there at Georgia Tech, we've got a lot of respect for their program. Coach Key is a former offensive lineman.
Again, I think Big Red, like who he is is emblematic in what you saw tonight. Basically the guy was in an AirBNB with him and his wife and that was pretty much it. You see some of these other draft parties, it's like a circus. This guy is all ball. He's all football. Doesn't really care about anything else. Wants to punch people in the mouth. Yep, that works here.
I mean, that's what you see on tape, which is, I'd say, part of the intrigue with the player.
Q. How valuable is it to you guys that he's comfortable playing all three positions?
NICK CASERIO: Yeah, we'll see. He'll probably play wherever he needs to play. I'd say all three inside guys. Again, we've talked about this. You've got some guys that are center only, some guys that are guard only, some guys that can play all three spots. We'll see how it goes.
I mean, where is he going to play? We'll see. Nobody knows. We'll figure that out as we go.
Q. After that car accident, had a pretty bad foot injury. When you see a player like that that's already been through something, what does that say about the mental toughness?
NICK CASERIO: Yeah, I think it kind of speaks to his personality. I think that was the appealing thing about this player. You alluded to the accident that he went through, but like I mentioned a little bit earlier, talk about a transfer up, he didn't start at the biggest program. Nobody has never even heard of the program that he started, and he went to Georgia Tech, and he made an impact.
I think that speaks to who he is as an individual, his mindset, and it really is emblematic of what this program, the foundation and the principles that we talk about, that DeMeco talks about, that I talk about, that the players talk about that we want to have in our players, because in the end, you're going to need that on Sundays.
He's a really great kid, cares a lot about football. He's overcome some things. I think his wife is a big influence in his life. I think Coach Key has been a big influence on him. Like I said, we have a lot of respect for Coach Key and the program that he runs and what he's about.
They won nine or ten games or whatever it was, and they probably beat some teams that nobody thought they should beat, but they have a lot of belief in themselves, and I think Big Red certainly falls into that category.
Q. The offensive line's shortcomings this last season, just what's the timeline in getting him into the lineup?
NICK CASERIO: I mean, the best five guys will play, so whoever those guys are. We're not going to put any timelines on anybody. Whenever they're ready, they're ready, and we'll figure out who's going to be out there.
It might start one way and then it might shift. There's a lot of things that can happen. We don't put any timelines on anybody. The players ultimately determine what the timeline is.
When a player is ready, we'll put him out there, and if that's the best option, then that's the guy that's going to play.
Q. James Liipfert obviously is an alum, football player from Georgia Tech. Did that help with the scouting process? Was it helpful at all?
NICK CASERIO: Yeah, I think other than them maybe giving more to the alumni fund, there probably wasn't too much into it. I mean, James does a good job -- I think the scouting group does a phenomenal job, like, the pro staff, the college staff. Essentially when we were going through the draft, we were looking at each team, okay, what are their needs, what do we think they're going to do, and whoever had that team had an answer in a heartbeat.
Honestly, it played out exactly the way I thought. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for our group. They work really, really hard. They take a lot of pride. They care. They're informed. They understand their teams, and they provide incredible information so that ultimately we can make good decisions for the organization. So that's the most important thing.
Q. On the scouting report it talks about how great of a run blocker he is and how he's going to maul the defensive linemen in front of him. They say some of his weaknesses is pass blocking. How much can Cole probably help him with that?
NICK CASERIO: I don't know who said that or what scouting reports we're reading or who we're relying on. All players have areas that they can improve and fix. I mean, it doesn't matter who they are, what they are.
Again, I don't know what the scouting report or who said that. We don't really care. What we care about is what they do when they walk in our program and what we're going to ask them to do.
All we want to do is see a player take coaching, improve and apply what we're teaching. That's all we care about.
Q. At the Senior Bowl he took a couple of snaps. Were you able to observe that, and what did you think?
NICK CASERIO: Yeah, I think sometimes it's probably hard to extrapolate too much when a guy just goes down there to the Senior Bowl for three days and has a couple snaps and you're making a projection based off of that. Again, we'll see how that goes. If a guy can put his hand on the ball, then okay, what does that look like, then the communication that's involved with it.
Again, when a player walks in the building, we'll put things on his plate, see what they can handle and see how quickly they can adapt and adjust to what we're asking them to do.
Q. The interaction with this kid at the Senior Bowl, was this something like the coup de grâce on top from what you saw on the tape? Did this put the theory behind this is why you wanted him on your draft board?
NICK CASERIO: Yeah, I think we grade the player in the fall and you assign a grade, and there wasn't a lot of variation or deviation after the season. I think one thing you have to be careful about is okay, you spend all this time in the fall and you start making adjustments or changes based on Senior Bowl and all that.
I think our scouts are great. They were pretty consistent throughout, so you're just evaluating the player, evaluating the performance. Honestly, I'd be careful to put too much stock in the Senior Bowl either way because again, it's a short snapshot, small snapshot. But everything is all encompassing at the end: Tape, Senior Bowl, combine, pro day, workout, if you do a visit, Zoom, whatever the case may be. You try to accumulate as much information and create a profile on a player as possible, and then just try to take that information and say, here's what we think we have in a player, understanding there might be some deviation or variation when they get here.
It's all part of the process, all part of the evaluation.
Q. To follow up on the question about Cole, obviously he met with (indiscernible) and went through a little workout. How much does that interaction help the evaluation process for you guys?
NICK CASERIO: It's a part of it. We do that with all of our coaches. We had a number of our coaches out in the spring, so whether it's a private workout, whether they go to the pro day, every team has the ability to basically Zoom with a player three times. So you have different touch points, and a lot of that is like football.
Yeah, we value their opinion, hey, what do you think, what information are you gathering, is it different than maybe what we already had or something new? Like, we value our coaches and their opinions and what they think of the player at the various touch points.
Again, it's a snapshot. It's not the only, like, we're making a decision based off of that. It's an accumulation over time. I'd say with this particular player, it's pretty consistent what we're getting in return.
Q. I know you mentioned you'll let the position will play itself out. The fact that he is multiple, was that intriguing for you guys?
NICK CASERIO: I'd say just generally speaking, in any player, if they have some degree of position flexibility or versatility, there's value in that. Again, even going back to tackle. Some tackles are left tackle only, some are right tackle only, some can potentially swing and do both.
Again, you try to put the player in a position to see if they can handle that assignment. You might think theoretically, oh, yeah, they should be able to do it, or he did it here, but then come to find out, you go down a road, and I'd say just past experience, I've seen it happen both ways. Like oh, you think this guy should just be able to project inside, or he played left tackle, should have no problem playing right tackle, and then you put him over there on the right side and it's a disaster. It's like, well, just keep him over there where he belongs.
Again, trying to see what a player can handle and ultimately trying to fit him in best where they're comfortable, we're comfortable, and then go from there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports