Shaun Bradley at the NFL Combine

This week owlsports.com attended the NFL Combine to catch up with Owls' LB Shaun Bradley. Here is a transcript of his interview with the gathered media:

What has the NFL Combine been like so far?
"It's great to be around a lot of these guys. There's a lot of competition, being around these coaches, players who played in this league. I'm just trying to learn from it. I'm just taking it all in."

Was that one of your main goals coming in?
"I'm ready to compete, for sure. I can't wait to run, go through the drills, do my thing here. Also the interviews. I'm just learning. I'm meeting people, coaches I've had prior that are on different staffs. It's a good learning experience in general, just being around these guys to continue to learn and to grow."

What are your meetings like been so far?
"It's been crazy. The rooms are real hectic, the coaches are grabbing you every second. They're all over the place. But it gives you a chance to learn different defenses, understand where the coaches are coming from, where their heads are at, and what their jobs are."

What are they want to know from you?
"A lot of coaches asked me to just remember the plays. And they want to know what kind of character I have, and what I'm going to bring to their team.

What's training been like for you?
It's been great, honestly. I've put on 12-13 pounds when I was in Arizona. Great facility out there, great coaches. I learned a lot. I like it. I was enjoying the West Coast, the first time I was out there. I might want to live there, I don't know. I came back, it was freezing."

Where in Arizona were you?
"I was at EXOS in Scottsdale, my agent, Barry Gardner, lives out there. He's close with the people at EXOS."

How do you think Temple helped to get you to where you're at?
"Temple help me a lot. I had three different coaches, three different defensive coordinators. I learned a lot of different defenses. Great, great coaches. Temple taught me how to grow as a man. Temple's in North Philly, it's not an easy place to be. But I just grew up a lot my freshman year to my senior year. I grew a lot, learned a lot."

Why did you choose Temple? Was it important to stay close to home?
"Yes most definitely but I really didn't have many offers coming out I didn't have too many options. Being close to home, my sisters my brothers, I wanted everybody to come see me play. It played a big part. Two sisters, two brothers, 12 is the next oldest. They've seen all this, they've been exposed all this so they really like it. They really don't know what it is completely. They know they see me on TV, he's a superhero. I talk to them all the time."

If there's one thing you want coaches to say when you leave a meeting what would it be?
"That I'm a great character guy. I try and put my best foot forward, stay positive, try and be a good person overall."

Do you keep in touch with the people from Rancocas Valley?
"Yes somewhat, head coach and offensive coordinator. Reach out here and there, we'll talk here and there. I haven't had a chance to go home. I want to go home, I want to go to the practice and see some of the guys. But I haven't had a chance to do tha. They check in with me here and there and I do the same as well. We have a good relationship always reaching out to each other on social media, so they're always looking out."

Growing up were you an Eagles fan?
"I was a Chargers fan I was a big fan of LaDainian Tomlinson fan I was a running back and I want to be just like him. I always been a fan of the bolts on the helmet. I don't know why."

Is there anybody at Temple who nobody's talking about that we're really going to see blossom next year?
"I think Jaden Blue the receiver, he's gonna have a crazy year, As well as a Isaiah Graham-Mobley, the linebacker, he's coming back. I think they have some big-time players. Amir Tyler, the safety, is another. The three of them for sure, but they have a lot of good players man. They have some talent they just got a put it all together and really dig deep, and work this year."

Have you been hanging out with Chapelle Russell?
"Yep that's my roommate. It's been great, man. We weren't sure if we'd be roommates but I got in there, he walked in. I was like "man, that's perfect." It's exactly what I need. Comfortability, able to talk through things, it's the first time we've been going through this so we can do it together. So it's been real good."

Are you guys competitive in this process?
"Yes. We sit in the room and talk trash all the time. Who's gonna win the 40? who's gonna run the fastest? We do that all day, it's nonstop. We joke around and talk about it. It's constant back-and-forth."

Where has he been training?
"At EXOS in San Diego. We were kind of close. Very similar. Talking through our workouts in the process of doing the same thing. It was nice to have someone to lean on for sure."

Have people from Temple given you advice through this whole thing?
"Yeah when I was out in Arizona I went out to eat with Haason Reddick and Tavon Young. Nate Hairston, P.J. Walker, I talk to all those guys about the process. Just about what to expect. They said be yourself, be honest, be who you are. Don't try and be someone you're not. That's mainly what I got from them."

How does it make you feel to see you guys like Haason and Tavon doing so well in the NFL?
"Those are guys I looked up to when I came in. They were like big brothers to me. As a freshman, they were seniors who did it the right way. They won a championship, all those things, then went to the combine, had successful careers in the NFL. I definitely look at that as a great accomplishment. I want to get there myself, it's motivation."

What do you think about PJ of playing in the XFL?
"Man he's going crazy. I always knew he could he just needed that opportunity."

I don't know if you had a chance to talk to the Eagles this week but what if you had an opportunity to play with them?
"I would love that. I love playing in the Linc, being home close to home. My dad, my whole family will have a chance to see me in a whole different type of setting. Now though to be able to play in Philadelphia that would be great. They were like the second or third team that I spoke to here at the combine. They actually had a great question they asked me about playing at the Linc. Yeah, it's a great facility, it's a great field. That would be a dream to play there. I might end up going to the Temple locker room and change there, though."

You said that you wanted NFL people to think of you as a high-character guy. Do you sense that's what they've come to expect from Temple players?
"For sure, for example I was talking to the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday and they kept talking about Tyler. How Tyler said 'yeah you got to talk to this kid. You got to talk to this kid.' And he told me how good of a player Tyler was. They said we already know about Temple guys coming here. You are going to work, you're gonna put your head down. We don't expect anything less from you."

How has your pre-draft experience been?
"It's been crazy. It's definitely a great experience being around all these great guys, great competition, the top guys from everywhere around. Running around every day, medical exams, formal interviews, informal interviews. But it's been a great experience."

You've represented Temple very well, really embraced that culture. Can you tell me why?
"It made me who I am. It's sort of like where I grew up in Jersey. Tightknit, hard on you. They don't baby you, don't sugarcoat things. You have to go get it done and it makes you grow as a man, quick. I came in there young as a freshman not really knowing, wanting to play around and things, and then changed just like that. That environment, that culture, they are certain things expected of you."

What's the biggest misconception about you and your position?
"I would say my speed. I've heard it that I need to get a little faster but I'm ready to run this 40 and I hope to change all that."

Is there someone in your position that you have patterned your game after?
"[Atlanta's] Deion Jones, and [Seattle's} Bobby Wagner. I watch them consistently to see how they diagnose this playing, see how they run, cover ground, tackle, things like that."

What's the best piece of advice you can give to somebody that would be doing this in the future?
"Just take it step-by-step, one day at a time, don't look too far ahead, don't get overwhelmed. Calm yourself, just be where you're at at that time. If I thought of all the things I had to go through this whole week, I would've overwhelmed myself and stressed myself out, and not been able to do the things I needed to do."

Temple University Athletics

Shaun Bradley at the NFL Combine

Players Mentioned

Shaun Bradley

Isaiah Graham-Mobley

Nate Hairston

Haason Reddick

Chapelle Russell

Amir Tyler

Tavon Young

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