Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - NFL Draft with D-III Star Lineman Quinn Meinerz

Episode Date: March 26, 2021

With the NFL Draft coming up quickly, Geoff begins to focus on talking with soon to be NFL Draftees. This week he welcomes in Quinn Meinerz who is making the leap to the league from Division III football. They talk draft preparation, what special workouts Quinn did to stay in shape during COVID, what teams are interested in him, and much much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Friday, March 26th. I am Jeff Schwartz and this is Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. I nailed that one. Woo! Guys, you don't know this because we edited it obviously, but I can never say the intro. Every single time I screwed up, it's my own show. I don't know why, but thank you guys for being here. Not a lot of football news, so we're gonna have some fun today. Quinn Miners joins me for the entire episode. Division three offensive lineman from Wisconsin Whitewater. He is a great story, right? Not often do we see kids that are in division three offensive lineman from wisconsin whitewater he is a great story right not often do we see kids that are in division three division two end up getting drafted he will be a high draft but just listen to his story listen to what he has to say his his work ethic

his off season how he ended up at at wisconsin whitewater his senior book performance all of it it's a great so it's a guy that you want to root for. He's a guy that we say, hey, we want to root for guys like this that are underdogs, that are undersized, that against all odds make it to the NFL. And that is Quinn Miners. Enjoy this. All right. Welcome in Quinn Miners, Division III, Wisconsin Whitewater, the guy who's making all the rounds and might move up many rounds in the NFL draft.

Welcome in, buddy. Well, hello. Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be on this episode. Your story is exactly what people love about football. We're going to talk all about where you started, where you are now, everything in between. But let's talk about now. About a month out from the NFL draft, starting a little jittery? Yeah, it's definitely you know the uh the reality starting to set in of everything that's been happening recently because it's still like hard to really um I don't know fathom all this happening because you know just about a year ago

I just got done you know losing the national championship to be at this point now it's pretty uh it's pretty surreal so for those who don't know you are a division three offensive lineman from wisconsin whitewater and division three players are not often drafted into the nfl it's a very long road to get there um and you're in a position now after a good senior bowl we'll talk about all this in in great detail to be a high draft pick and so i'm excited to watch you through that process but let's go back to Wisconsin Whitewater you know most division three players division two players end up there because of you know kind of just you know lack of development right you're a smaller kid you're you're growing to your body but that wasn't your case you were in this body as a high schooler

how'd you end up at Wisconsin Whitewater yeah I, I wish, you know, there was a, you know, a better story, but to be honest, yeah, no, no look of any division one whatsoever. I mean, yeah, like you said, I wasn't a very small, you know, kid in high school. I mean, you know, I was, when I was playing football, I mean, I was six, two, 300 pounds at a right tackle. And I was, I was starting on the offensive line since my sophomore year. So, I mean, I had three years on the offensive line. I did wrestling all four years of high school as well. Yeah, I'm kind of asking that same question every day here when I, you know, look back of, you know, what happened.

I mean, to even go back on it, you know, I was on the reserve call for the senior bowl. But even in high school, I was a reserve call for our high school all-star game that we had as well. So, it's just been, I don't know. I really wish I had more words to describe it, but it's just the way it happened. What do you feel when, or did your love for the game lessen when you realized you weren't going to a college you thought you'd end up at? Not really. Honestly, maybe kind of love the game a little bit more. Cause then,

you know, when I was, you know, all right, well, no division one offers. I was like, all right, well then I really only have four more years to play football. Like that's, that's it. You know, like you kind of thought, you know, hopefully you can play at a bigger school, but I was like, all right, well, I'm going to go to Whitewater. I got four more years to play football. So I want to become the best football player I can be before, you know, it's all said and done. You hang up the cleats and you don't play anymore so wisconsin whitewater we've talked about it many times now not not a powerhouse school in a powerhouse school in division three by the way uh and when we met a couple weeks ago you mentioned to me that i was blown away with it you

had to pay money to go to training camp explain division three football the best you can yeah so division three football you know the first the first thing that comes to mind is love of the game man you gotta you gotta really love the game to just come out and play division three football so yeah fall camp i mean all of our meals are together as a team at the dining halls but i mean those aren't just those aren't for free so you know, we're paying, you know, a couple hundred bucks to, you know, be able to come into fall camp. And I mean, even on top of that, you gotta have your own, you have to buy your own cleats. You have to buy your own gloves if you want to use gloves. I mean,

they do have the resources, you know, and the equipment staff, but I mean, you have to buy it from the equipment staff. And then, yeah, you get your short, you get your one pair of short, you know, one pair of, you know, you get a shirt and a short, and then there you go. That's all you get. That's all you get. And, you know, it's honestly, it is what it is. And, I mean, another thing that you can kind of talk about

with Division III football, I mean, we have to do a lot of funding ourselves to keep our program alive. So some of the things that we do, we do loft day. So we put all of the lofts into all of the dorms throughout the campus. And another thing we do is we sell raffle tickets door to door. So I mean, what I've been doing the last couple of falls is I go door to door with my little sales pitch and try to sell raffle tickets that way we can, you know, kind of make some money. But yeah, I think that's kind of a typical Division III thing. And, you know, we we do the same thing as the D1 guys where we get up early and lift and, you know, we have the practices.

We have fall camp and we have, you know, spring ball and everything. But we just got to have a little more love for the game, maybe. What was your sales pitch? So it was basically just trying to glorify with the ticket. It was like a raffle tick that would get you into you know uh various prizes and i mean my the mckenzie belunga and i was one of our defensive ends that me and him would go together and we would kind of do uh you know we got alternate and take turns i can't remember the sales pitch because it's been it's been a

while now but it was it was really nerve-wracking freshman year going door to door and nobody you know in whitewater knew who you were yet so once you once you got a little bit more of a name it was easier to sell the tickets because they knew who you were and liked you that's fantastic well people knew who you were fairly quickly you were a two-time team mvp as an offensive lineman how do you go about earning an honor like that from that position? It's that's honestly, it's crazy to learn to be able to, you know, have that honor because the MVP, you know, we all were able to cast our own vote on the team. And, you know, I mean, there were a lot of great players, especially in that 2019 team. especially in that 2019 team and to be able to have the respect and the um i don't know it's a lot of people that really thought of me as the most valuable player on the team it was it was really a cool a cool moment and i'll never forget because our head coach at the banquet was was our

team mvp quinn minors and then he goes he goes i don't think i've ever heard or seen of an offensive lineman winning an award like this usually i mean you know it's your quarterbacks and stuff so it's cool to to win that wow so did you you didn't vote for yourself did you no i voted for our wide receiver yeah that's that's amazing what what about so what is it about your play or your leadership that you think earned you those back-to-back MVPs? My main style of leadership is really leading by example and showing up every single day and trying to be that example that young guys should look up to. Also, I really enjoy, as you become an older guy,

to really help out the younger guys. I really am trying to always be a resource. You know, I can understand, you know, when you're going to college football, you know, at the time it feels like a lot and there's a lot of stuff going on and it's kind of crazy. So to go from a new school, you know, football team and stuff like that, I always like being a resource and I always try to become, you know, like somewhat of friends with everybody on the team. And, you know, when you got a hundred guys, you know, it's difficult on my end to do that, but I really do enjoy it because I like hearing everybody else's story.

Cause you know, when you're in a locker room, nobody can really relate to it unless you've been in a locker room. But I mean, those, the different people that are in there and the camaraderie that you build in that locker room is just, is really special. So. You mentioned something to me and you were part of the project that we've been kind of teasing about with Fox Sports, kind of the Gruden O-line camp idea,

quarterback camp idea for offensive line. You mentioned something though, I thought it was pretty fascinating. I never heard it before about, you know, kind of like your off-season prep and why you consider that to be your love of the game. Yeah, my off-season is,

yeah, I think that's where you find how much you love the game it's you know you're you're kind of you know on your own a little bit you know you're more you know i guess you're more susceptible to distractions like oh yeah we got football camp in a couple months this won't hurt me and and and those are the days that i'm going to be consistent with and that's where i'm going to gain that ground that you know hey maybe i didn't have a great season last year against this specific player and i'm going to gain that ground that, you know, hey, maybe I didn't have a great season last year against this specific player. And I'm going to take that and use it as fuel every single day in the offseason because I think that's, you know, where players can get distracted and where I can take advantage of the situation.

So that's my favorite part because you got to find your love in the weight room and preparing. Well, let's talk about how you spent some of your summers because we elaborate this a little bit on the show. But I want to there's so much more we can talk about a podcast now so you spent your summers on a lake in ontario canada with your great uncle doing chores around his property let's go into the first of all the the chore process so there's a video of you on twitter on your youtube as well of you lifting propane tanks if you lift in lumber of you doing weights in in in the woods how do you come about your workout routine on that lake yeah extremely i'd be extremely creative but i mean there's tons of of heavy objects on there so i mean i'm a i'm a huge fan

of a strongman so i kind of take after a lot of those you know weight medleys that the strongman do where they grab something and then carry it and then drop it off and then kind of do, do certain things like that. So yeah, when you see the propane tanks, that was like a perfect opportunity to kind of do some like strongman type workouts, which was really exciting and really fun. Uh, but yeah, those, those, some of those chores were, were, uh, very, uh, tiring. Like, uh, you know, when I lift the logs up, um, that's, I got to carry it over the Island and it's not very flat ground and you got to make sure you don't slip and fall and hurt yourself. Uh, let's talk about, uh, the day you had to do 20, lift 20,000 pounds. You think of lumber in a

day. So explain to me this. So you, you kind of, so the, you had to go like from like loading dot, like loading area, like where you bought the lumber let's say drive boat then to island to our to four-wheeler to cabin like how'd the process work where you did 20,000 pounds of lumber in a day yeah so i i knew we were going into town to pick up a you know a nice size um you know bunch of lumber but my great uncle didn't tell me on the ride there, how much it was really going to be. So yeah, we, we got about, you know, four or 5,000 pounds worth of wood. And then we also got another thousand pounds worth of fuel and then like almost a thousand pounds of propane. So we have to drive back through the logging roads and then where we park and then go through our little portage where we have our four-wheeler parked and then we have to load all the stuff from the truck well not we it was

me it was not it was not we it was me so I had to put all the stuff into the four-wheeler drive it through the woods to the boat load the boat with stuff drive the boat to the island and then unload it from the boat onto the island and then I had to to do that. So, I mean, I'm touching every single board at least four or five times. So that's a lot of work. Mentally, how does that prepare you for football, especially offensive line play, having to be creative with the way you prepare for the season? Yeah, when you have days like that,

I mean, it's like when you have those like that I mean it's like when you have those you know super you know super hot outside it's muggy and you got to just keep grinding through that through that practice I mean you're you're getting to uh you know your fall camp and you got like 30 plus periods and you're just here's like man I got one more inside run period and you got to really just you know find a way to get it done and that was and that was the mindset of a lot of the things I was having to do in Canada was just you know find a way to to get it done. And that was the mindset of a lot of the things I was having to do in Canada was just, you know, find a way to get it done and muster up whatever, you know, energy you have left.

So offensive line is a very uncomfortable position, right? Like our stances are not comfortable, the way we have to play and move and the way we protect. And your workouts are uncomfortable. Like that to me feels like a great way to prepare for the season you you have to find ways to be uncomfortable but also comfortable enough to find to find workouts i i love the story i think it's great you go to what's on your youtube right your youtube has all the videos yeah my youtube channel has the little the little workout

video yeah except you're a little bit ashamed of your power cleans right we talked about the yeah there's some part if i were to go back i would probably take them out but yeah i think some of the some of the i mean i couldn't really hang clean super well on an uneven surface there was no flat surface on there so but it's it's for the for the fun of the video so you spend the off seasons uh the summer let's say training in Canada, you get back to campus. When did you think, I guess, what year did you start thinking about, you know, possible NFL exposure? I was looking back through all of my tape and all of my games and I was like, wow, I actually had a, I had a really solid, really solid year. And, you know, when I was putting my highlight tape together and stuff, I was like, wow, like I have a lot of, you know, really good things that I did here. And,

you know, one of my coaches, coach Owen Reese, he does, he helped me a lot with, with exposure. You know, he was constantly tweeting out videos of certain pancake balls that I was doing. And that, that really helped with getting my name out there and got my name out there early. So yeah, it's been, yeah, about February of 2020. So that was kind of when it started. And it was really, really cool to have that. Well, we know things changed in March of 2020 with COVID and you were not able to play your season. Did you think that dream of playing the NFL went away without playing in 2020?

It definitely was like, wow, this is going to be a lot more of an uphill battle than it already was. And, you know, coming from a smaller school, you already know that there's going to be that huge uphill battle. And so that's what made me nervous because it was like you have one opportunity here and you can't mess it up. You've got to make sure you play your cards right. battle and so that's what would make me nervous because it was like you have one opportunity here and you can't mess it up you got to make sure you play your cards right and that's why I really you know any any agent that reached out to me throughout the summer I made sure I listened

and see if they had any information that could help me and that's kind of how I went through my process I listened to anybody that was willing to talk to me and kind of came up with three options it was either go back to Whitewater, transfer to another school, or declare and let's get it going. So, yeah, at the end of the day, you know, we're here. I made the decision to declare, and I think it's really paid off. There were three weeks in September that probably defined your decision to go pro. You went to Dallas to work out with Duke Maniweather and Rashawn Slater

at Northwestern, who's coming out in the draft as well. Those three weeks ended up being very important. It got you into the Senior Bowl eventually. Why did you decide to go down to Dallas and work out with Duke? And what were those three weeks like? And what did they mean to you to get in the Senior Bowl because of what you did there? Yeah, so I originally wanted to go down to Dallas.

I mean, I think Duke's work speaks for itself. And I really wanted to be able to get down there and, you know, improve a lot. I know he you know, he's working with the best of the best consistently. So I wanted to be able to get some information from him as long. I mean, as well as he's working with Rashawn Slater, you know, he was able to he stayed out of the season. Yeah. And it would have been a great opportunity to, you know, see what a first rounder looks like and what, you know, an NFL prospect looks like. And also train with one of the best offensive line coaches, you know, see what a first rounder looks like and what a, you know, an NFL prospect looks like, and also train with one of the best offensive line coaches, you know, in the country. So my, once, once school went fully virtual at Whitewater, I was like, I call, I was talking to

my agent. I was like, Hey, all I got to do is have my computer with me. I got to get down there and work with them. And yeah, those three weeks were awesome. Duke, Duke kicked my butt. Definitely. Every day was, he kicked my butt because those were days where I was breaking through a wall every day. And it was because it was a new environment. I didn't want to let anybody down. And, you know, the first day of working out, it was 10 sets of five pull-ups.

Oh, man, way back in the day when i was still working with duke the first day of off-season program so first day of like march when you start kind of lifting again you know like your season's over let's say january 1st take a month off the next month is kind of like you just kind of get back into things do some elliptical and you do like some other stuff and you do some corporate workouts and then the first day back dude was 10 10 10 for uh legs so like 10 on 10 hamstring curls like 10 hamstring curls 10 rdls like 10 squats you do 10 sets of 10 all like you just blow your legs out or like 10 sets of 10 on bench with one with one with 135 it's absolutely brutal what is it what does that do mentally like how are you able to you just blow your legs out or like 10 sets of 10 on bench with one, with one, with one 35. It's absolutely brutal.

What is it? What does that do mentally? Like how are you able to push through that? Cause it's hard to do. Your legs are shaking, your upper body shaking, but that feeling when you get through it, you feel very accomplished.

Yeah. I mean, you're, you're shaking and you're fighting every second when you're doing that because you know, you're, you're, you're essentially like spent you know you're you're you're essentially like spent like you you you're feeling your muscle and you're like wow i'm really done but that's that's when your mental that's when the mental kicks in and it's trying to tell you

that you're done but really you're not so that really the the mental toughness of doing that uh that because i asked them i was like what are we doing duke i was like what are we doing he goes we're doing german volume training i was like, what are we doing, Duke? I was like, what are we doing? He goes, we're doing German volume training. I was like, oh, that sounds awesome. The German volume training. And I'm like, so does it get better? Easier from here? He goes, no. Next week, you got 10 sets of six pull-ups.

Yeah, I mean, the first day, the 10 sets of 10, it's brutal. So fast forward to January. So Duke obviously has connections with everyone. Jim Nagy, the director of the Senior Bowl, hits them up about you, I believe. I remember they were talking, but Duke was like, hey, look at Quinn. Here's a video of him working out with me and put him in the Senior Bowl. What was it like when you got that call? I'm sure you've wanted to play in the Senior Bowl.

I'm sure you thought that was a good showcase for you. What was it like when you got that call from Jim Nagy saying, hey, man, you're in the Senior Bowl? That was, yeah, a day I'll never forget. So I actually, I was at Exos. So I was, you know, doing my, you know, the combine training that everyone does. So I was in Exos in Frisco, Texas. So, you know, I get down with my lift, you know,

I'm sweaty and, you know, kind of beat down a little bit. And I look at my phone and check it. And my agent texts me and goes, hey, call that Arizona number back. So no context. I had these two missed calls from an Arizona number. I called it back. And it was, hey, Quinn, how you doing? I was like, oh, I'm doing goody. Are you ready to put your Warhawk helmet on for one last time? And, yeah, I kind of lost it and really just broke down into tears because it was something I worked so hard for so long. Like I set that goal to go to the Senior Bowl. And so there was a big gym next to the weight room, and I had to go to like the far corner because I just got done working out with all my buddies, you know, and I kind of had to keep that, you know, kind of being a, you know,

the tough guy around. So I had to kind of go to the far corner of the gym and let it out. And it was an amazing call. And then to be able to call my dad and tell him that too was really special because it was just, he was really proud of me. And yeah, awesome, awesome experience. What's the process of now, hey man, i haven't played in about a year how do i get myself ready to play in the senior bowl against against competition that i've never remotely faced yet

um you know i guess the the way i prepared it was you know a lot of it especially in those one-on-ones and stuff it was it was it was replaying kind of in in my head so every time that duke was saying something to me when i was working out with him i tried to record it and like kind of in my head and just have like a distinct memory of it so you know when i'm getting ready for those one-on-ones i just really trusted what what um you know duke was uh teaching me so you know like uh there i have a piece of paper that i look at you know almost every single day that's's, you know, the five rules to pass pro. And I was really trying to stay strict to those rules because that's, what's going to help you win a lot of those

blocks. But I mean, I was training so hard all the time, you know, and I think the, the, the mentality that I take is trained harder than last time. So, I mean, I was constantly putting myself through a lot of pain to make sure I was ready because there's there were a lot of guys getting hurt because they didn't play a full year they opted out of the season and stuff but I think you have to really like impact train like and do a lot of things to like make sure your body's ready because I mean in the trenches I mean you're impacting every time and I didn't really feel that sore that's great that's great so you show up to Mobile no one knows who you are besides Jim Nagy what what are the looks in the locker room as you stroll in and take your place in the locker uh I think the looks were it was no looks

nobody was looking at me nobody nobody knew who I was uh I kind of looked I kind of I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb a little bit. But, like, nobody really was paying attention to me. Nobody, like, really knew much or whatever. And I kind of took that and was like, all right, well, I'll just kind of stay in my own little bubble here. And so I set up my locker and got ready for the first practice. But as soon as that helmet came on and I started practicing,

I think those guys were – right after that first practice in the locker room, I started getting a little bit more, you know, conversations and stuff. So take me through that first practice. Again, it's hard to put into words the difference in like going from Division three to playing Division one level players. And not just like lower Division one. Like these are top seniors in all college football. And you missed an entire year. So it's not like you went from playing, like you were sort of playing and getting some work in.

It's hard to quantify exactly how difficult that experience must've been for you. How'd you feel the first day out there with the quote unquote big boys? The first day out there, you know, I think there were, I did a lot of, you know, good things. I think also there were also a lot of kind of, kind of bad things that happened on that day, you know, I think there were, I did a lot of, you know, good things. I think also there were also a lot of kind of, kind of bad things that happened on that day. You know, I was learning a new position. It was an entire new playbook that I've never seen before, a whole new terminology that I've never seen before. And yeah, also going against competition

I've never seen before. So I just, instead of trying to make the moment bigger than what it was, I just tried to kind of reflect internally and go for, you know, playing my style of football and be who I am, which was, you know, trying to be fast, physical and disciplined. So that was, you know, things that have been, you know, instilled in me at Whitewater that I kind of took with me as I went to the senior bowl. But yeah, looking back at it, man, like I, I'm kind of an amazement of myself as well, because it really is when you kind of talk about it, you're like, wow, that was really kind of a really big feat to be able to go out there and just

do that. I'm telling you it, it, it is, it's pretty remarkable because you played very well, obviously. It's why you're in the position you're in now. When you started to kind of play well and things were going the way you thought they would go, did you start to get this kind of confidence like, hey, man, I belong on this? I'm sure there was some doubt whether you belonged with these guys. Yeah, that was definitely like the – I always describe it.

It was definitely like a huge rollercoaster of emotions on that bus ride to the stadium. It was like 20 minutes. It was probably like one of the worst 20 minutes, you know, bus ride ever. And yeah, I definitely built a lot of confidence because, you know, I really didn't know what to expect. You know, you know that, I think the, when you look at it, you know, an offensive lineman and stuff that that first play of the game matters a lot. Like that first snap matters a lot. So that, that first play of the game matters a lot. That first snap matters a lot.

That first snap of playing at the Senior Bowl was really cool. Right off the bat, I started gaining that confidence. I was like, wow, I'm hanging with these guys. I was under the impression that I was going to be fighting for my life every play, pretty much. Then it turned around. I was like, all right well i'm actually as big and strong and sometimes bigger and stronger than these guys uh part of the the i think the the surprise was that you had to play center for the first time you never played center before and here you go hey man go play center now how was that transition moving inside that was um it was definitely difficult just because of how, how new it was. And I was trying

to learn a lot of things on the spot and, you know, in those one-on-ones, that's part of the reason why I was losing was just because I was so, I guess, a greenhorn at the, at the position. So, you know, I think if I get a little bit more, you know, preparation, I would, I think I would have had a lot better of a week, you know, just going against, you know, doing one-on-ones because I mean, doing one-on-ones against the garbage can and stuff isn't really, it isn't realistic at all, but it was awesome to have Creed Humphrey in the room and to be on the same team as him and just kind of watch how he, how he does things. So it was a lot of learning.

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of usage per line. Most reliable based on RootMetrics UL's report. Results vary. Non-endorsement. So you go through the week, you're playing well, and then you break your hand.

Walking through the process of how that went down and how you tried to maybe hide it a little bit before you did some work on it so the it was during the first the beginning of practice on that thursday the last practice and we're doing you know just typical offensive line drills you know get offs and punching a bag and and striking going through kind of just basic inside zone steps and my finger my two fingers my ring finger my pinky finger get caught in the pad and as i go up to it and drive it yeah they get caught and i i get off and i'm shaking my hand and you know cussing a little bit and just like what what just happened because that hurt a lot yeah and then

trainers came by they took me in the back and they and they x-rayed me and they x-rayed i guess the wrong spot or maybe it wasn't broken at the time but all i know is there's a lot of pain in my hand they said there was nothing wrong with it so i buddy taped it and meanwhile this is my snapping hand so not only am i you know playing center for the first time now i gotta play center with a hurt hand which is also a whole nother realm of because you know you can't hold the ball yeah you normally would so and you can't you can't wear it you know i really like wearing gloves but i can't snap with the glove i'm just not i'm not used to that yet so yeah i got a buddy tape my two ring you know ring finger and pinky finger together and continue practice and every single snap my hand's getting worse and it's getting worse and it hurts more and it hurts more

it starts getting to the point where i can't grab it all so i just got to snap it and kind of make a fist and use it as a club and just kind of fight out there yeah yeah you just got to make a little club and then after practice i looked at my hand and it was all red and really um swollen and i could kind of make like a i could make my bone move like a trampoline but i was like all right well i'm not a doctor but i'm pretty sure and then i got the x-ray and i was like oh wow that's actually a pretty bad pretty bad break there and you know i was like well can't i just like kind of put a cast on it and play some guard in the nfl as an offensive lineman you're gonna play hurt more times than not you're gonna play more times than not just the nature of the of the job for my understanding and you know you got to be able to play with a broken hand i mean you're gonna have to like that's just the way it is yeah it depends on who's dressed i mean if you don't have enough

guys dressed and you're the last guy up yeah you're playing with a broken hand yeah that's just the way it is you gotta you have to that's it so i i was trying to uh you know um negotiate with coach flores you know, negotiate with Coach Flores. You know, he kind of just came up to me during our walkthrough on Friday. He goes, you're not playing. And I was like, what? He goes, yeah, I have a good feeling about it. You're not playing.

And he kind of walked away to continue the walkthrough. And I was sitting there going, I bet you there's something I can do here. So I talked to the athletic trainer, and I was like, can't we just like put a cast on it? Like I still have my, you know, my thumb and my finger and middle finger i can still use um i had my agent try to fight and help me a little bit too and then coach so i'm gonna coach flores comes out and i bring up all the ideas that i had and he just kind of stared at me for like 20 30 seconds which kind of felt like an eternity but he's like stared at me blank and he just goes, no.

And shakes his head. And I was like, can I get on like victory or something? And he goes, he goes, look, we can do victory. And I was like, I'll take it. That's a deal. So it was kind of a fun little, little moment there, but I really wanted to play because my, my mentality is if you practice all week, you play, you're practicing the play in the game. But I mean, of course you want that. Why practice? You can't play in the game. I'm I'm with you um i'm with you there uh so you had a good week when did you realize the week went maybe better than you thought it would um i would say it was after after the second practice you

know i think a lot of people you know the day one we're like wow look this guy's doing something then it was kind of like well let's see what he can do day two you know because now everyone's kind of settled in a little bit and we kind of know each other just a little bit off the first practice and then once day two once it kind of started you know I was doing the same thing or maybe a couple you know there were a couple more pancakes or a couple more really good blocks then it was like everyone was really starting to turn their heads and really kind of start, you know, liking the, you know, the underdog story that I was, you know, kind of bringing to the table.

Well, let's talk about your gut because it became very popular on national television and NFL Network. Your nickname in high school was the gut as well. Luckily, your shirt is still on right now. Explain to me the origin uh the big old gut hanging out of your jersey yeah origin the origin of the story goes back to uh my freshman year summer into sophomore year of high school and so i was as a freshman i was 5 11 180 pounds and from freshman to sophomore year i went from from 511 to about six, two,

and then I gained 80 pounds of weight. And went to 260. And so I mean, I definitely I worked out every single day. And you know, ate a lot of food, drink a lot of protein shakes and blah, blah, blah. But I mean, when you're getting 80 pounds, only some of so much of it can be good weight. So I kind of had this big kind of just gut. I just had this big gut, and it's something that I had since. And, yeah, a bunch of my friends gave me the nickname The Gut, and then I've had it ever since. And you're retiring The Gut when you get to the NFL?

Is that what I heard right? The rumors are true or not? Or no, you're not sure? I think it's got to probably be put away for a little bit just because I don't want to be that rookie that comes in with a distraction. I think when you get to that status of facing Kelsey, where he's allowed to have it, but I don't want to be a distraction in the locker room

or try to bring something unnecessary. I will say, practice, go ahead and do it. I think you're fine. Games, you're not allowed to. You're not supposed to lose all the money. I would say just do it, man. Just just go out there you'll be in a training camp somewhere be hot just just pull your shirt up and get after it there'll be there might be some guys who do it just do it for individual i would i wouldn't say that you have to lose it because

it's a distraction um i think guys would would laugh i think you should keep it a little bit just pick your spots yeah well yeah okay i'll say i'll take you up on that but yeah i just i wanted to make sure i wasn't going to be coming in there as a hothead and have the wrong impression of myself. I don't think so. So this is a unique offseason for the NFL, right? There's no combine this year. Obviously, there was a senior bowl.

The pro days are very scattered about, and they're at their team sites. And, you know, NFL teams cannot travel as many players. And so, I mean, scouts, NFL teams cannot travel as many players. And so you can be scouts, I should say front office guys. How has this experience been kind of navigating the, the, the pre-draft process just from the time that from the senior bowl ended until we talk today? I think navigating through it has been, you know, I think pretty,

pretty easy for me. I think it's, you know, there's been a lot of different things happening throughout this year. We just got to keep adapting and rolling with it. I think, I think more now than ever, there's a lot more time management with my days. Like, you know, right now it was kind of, you know, pro day is over with, senior bowl is over with, did all my interviews there. I was kind of thinking like, hey, I get to kind of, you know, regroup, regroup a little bit and then really focus on my strength training, getting ready for fall camp. But really, it's not that at all. It's all these Zoom meetings and all these, you know, WebEx meetings and and stuff like that, that, you know, are I learn a lot kind of being in the same room with somebody and talking through it. And, you know, you're looking at your little screen and they're trying to tell you a play and you're trying to learn all these new things.

looking at your little screen and they're trying to, you know, tell you a play and you're trying to learn all these new things. It's difficult for me. I don't learn virtually. I like going out there and doing it and being in the room, but you have to, it's the, it's just the way it is now. And you have to, so that's been the most difficult part of this process right now. Unfortunately, I think the NFL, you know, might end up, you know, going virtual this off season, which I think to your point, like a lot of us are visual learners. Like we learn doing it a little bit, not just being in Zoom meetings.

So hopefully they don't do that. I want to talk about your pro day because the gods blessed you with a sunny day. You do not have an indoor facility. So if there was snow on the ground, you weren't having your pro day. When you woke up in the morning the sun was out how excited were you did you have to run outside that was uh like a huge like relief like sigh of relief because you know i was you know if it wasn't going to be nice outside if it was gonna be like 30 degrees snowing or anything just like gross outside i was gonna

have to do everything inside and um doing a pro agility or an l drill on a rubberized indoor facility is not really ideal and that's not where i've been practicing the drill for the last two months so yeah to be able to wake up and be like almost having a historic wisconsin day in march was uh was pretty special uh i kind of credit that to the miners luck that we have because we we do we have because we do have some luck in there. I don't know why, but we really do. And it was a really cool experience and day. Which teams have kind of challenged you the most in your one-on-one meetings so far?

I would say every single meeting that is kind of the same where they install a play and they try to install it as quickly as possible. And you have to try to retain as much information. And then they go into questioning you about kind of like who you are. And then they rally back to the play that they installed and have you try to recite what they learned to you. And then on top of that, I've had a couple interviews. You know, I'm taking notes during it. And they go, all right, can I see your notebook? And then I show them the notebook and they go, all right, and I'll throw it behind you. So then you go like this and you throw it behind you. So now you don't have any notes. They just installed the display very

quickly on a PowerPoint and, you know, Zoom connection isn't the greatest. So it's blurry. I can't see it. Sometimes I can't hear them. And so that's been pretty difficult to do that. How tired of you are you talking about your personal life? Because every single time you have these interviews, they ask you the same three or four questions. Are you tired of talking about your best games, your worst games, how much you love football, your height, your weight, where you grew up, your siblings?

Is that getting tiresome yet? Yeah, definitely a little bit. I think the big thing for me is I think I've had to – I think I've had kind of therapy myself with my parents' divorce where I've had to talk about it the past couple months. I mean, 50, 60 times I have to tell the story, and it's almost kind of giving myself therapy because I've got to keep kind of retalking about it.

Teams ask you about that? Well, they ask about family life. And I tell them my parents are divorced. And then they kind of like want a little bit more of a deep dive into what happened there. Wow. I mean, I didn't think they would go that far. And they also want to know it as like every team wants to know like a piece of adversity. And like that's the biggest piece of adversity that's ever happened in my life so that is another reason

why they want to know oh that makes sense okay that makes more sense than just like hey tell me why your parents are divorced so the adversity part is definitely you know they ask you like what have you learned about yourself during this process i think i've learned that um i can learn an nfl playbook and i think I can learn it really well. You know, there's I'm taking really good notes and, you know, every team that is installing a play, like I'm kind of revisiting those notes and trying to learn, you know, what what they're trying to teach me. Because I know that, you know, not some of those that some of that information can carry over to other teams and some of the verbiage can be, can be similar. So I think I'm learning about myself is that I can,

I can really learn an NFL playbook and, you know, I'm really trying to learn it from the center position. Cause I think that's where a lot of teams have started to see me. Were you concerned about that? Like picking up a more complex scheme? Yeah, that's definitely something that it has me, you know, a little bit. I think that's just kind of the next piece here. That's that really matters a lot is, is now learning a playbook. And I understand that, like, you know,

I thought the senior bowl was a lot to learn and now it's like, all right, well, here's a 200 page book and you need to know all of it by fall camp. I mean, it's, you know, and this is the thing about the new off season like it used to be where you'd come in you'd have a mini camp you have you play opportunities to learn the playbook in person in person now you might have to learn it virtually which is much tougher and then you get to training camp and it's like okay well go practice hope you've learned it and and it might be a little bit of an issue so i'm interested to see how how players navigate so what are you gonna do the final couple weeks before the draft you're gonna you're gonna relax

you're back home get a little nervous how you feeling uh yeah so i'm back home kind of it's uh you know after being in texas for a really long time it's definitely really nice to be back home see the family be back you know with my girlfriend again. And yeah, I'm just going to keep, keep working out and keep preparing for the fall. Cause I have, I have another, you know, I accomplished a lot of big goals that I set out this last year and now I'm kind of setting some new ones and that kind of keeps refueling the fire. Yeah. Leading up to the draft. I mean, honestly, it's,

the days are coming by really quickly now. Am I nervous? No, I think I'm really excited because, you know, you can't control what happens on draft day I mean, honestly, it's the days are coming by really quickly now. Am I nervous? No, I think I'm really excited because, you know, you can't control what happens on draft day. Honestly, it's just like a blessing to be here. And I'm really excited to, you know, have that moment where I see my name pull up on the screen. Hopefully Roger Goodell calls my name. I get to have the phone call and be with my family and just kind of have a

really cool special moment. Are there teams that you're looking to go to? Like, is there a couple of you, you think you'd fit best in? Fit best? I don't know. I think to give a little bit of an answer, I have had quite a few meetings with the Philadelphia Eagles. They kind of stood out to me as a team that has been,

I guess, more interested than other teams, just because I've had more meetings with them, talk to them a lot more. And I think that would be a, I think I really like, I like the way their fans are. I think they keep,

you know, they're kind of a tough, they're a really tough fan base and they keep their players kind of in check. Like, Hey, we don't, we don't put up with that.

I mean, they have a legendary center. I would really love to just, you know, learn and learn and you know take all that information from a veteran like like kelsey well you'd fit great in in philly i will say though this is something that you you might find out is the team that never talks to you or the team that drafts you so many stories seriously there's so many stories of guys who say yeah the eagles the eagles were most interesting i thought i was going to philly but denver drafted me and denver didn't talk to me once you know i mean of course during the combine process you will have talked to denver

like but not like in this in this instance where they talk to you three or four times so um just just it's just fun like when draft day shows up and the team, Arizona Cardinals, you never talk to, are like, hey, you're drafted by us. Don't be surprised. It's very random like that. Yeah, I've heard that. And that's kind of the questions that I've been asking a lot of the, you know, as I've seen, you know, NFL players, I've been asking them about like how it went for them.

And they're just like, yeah, man, just like be relaxed. And after it, you might want to get a new phone number too, was one of the comments that I got. Yeah, you might want to get a new phone number too, was one of the comments that I got. Yeah, I was told to get a new phone number because if I still have the same phone number from high school or whatever, that it might be smart to get another phone number or something. I've had my number since I was 16, and I just ignore people I don't know. You don't have to answer the phone.

Yeah, it was a little piece of advice. On draft day, to answer my phone. But like, I, like, I don't need to don't get a new number. That's silly. Don't give me that advice. They have too much going on in their life. You seem like a guy like me, like one phone is enough. I can't do two phones.

I can't do multiple things at once. One phone is enough. All right, man. Quinn, I really appreciate this. Dude, you know how much I love you and this is going to be a great process for you and you've worked your ass off and i'm looking forward to watching to watching you uh playing the nfl thanks for joining us yeah thank you for having me and i'm excited to you know keep talking football and hopefully see you in all my masterminds oh yeah i'll be there i will got my

shirt on everything i will be there this summer uh in july all right buddy thank you so much all right that was quinn Miners with Wisconsin Whitewater. I love that kid, man. I've only known him for like three weeks. He's great. And he just loves football. He FaceTimed

Ryan Jensen, the Buck Center we had on a couple weeks ago. And like, man, he's just, he's so humble to be in this situation. Like he just,

I love it. He's been, he's great. I wish him, I wish him all the best. Thank you guys for tuning in. Our listens are going up, our reviews, subscriptions, all that.

Please rate, review, subscribe. Let me know how you felt about the interview with Quinn. I appreciate all the love and support, and we'll be back next week. Have a great weekend, everyone.