Zack Baun on Re-Signing With Eagles, Super Bowl, Vic Fangio & More | Exciting Mics Ep. 5

Summary

Podcast Summary: Exciting Mics Ep. 5 – "Zack Baun on Re-Signing With Eagles, Super Bowl, Vic Fangio & More"

Introduction

In Episode 5 of Exciting Mics, hosts Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean welcome special guest Zach Bond, affectionately known as the "Bald Eagle." This episode delves deep into Zach’s journey with the Philadelphia Eagles, his experiences leading up to and including the Super Bowl, his recent re-signing with the team, and insights into the coaching strategies of Vic Fangio. Throughout the conversation, Zach shares personal anecdotes, highlights his growth as a player, and reflects on team dynamics both on and off the field.

Guest Background and Early Career

Zach Bond begins by discussing his origins from Wisconsin, highlighting his high school sports involvement and the challenges he faced transitioning from college to the NFL.

• High School Athletics: “I played quarterback and football” (11:10).

• College Experience: Zach shares his time at Wisconsin, where he redshirted his first year and eventually became a standout linebacker. He reflects on his development over five years, including overcoming injuries and honing his defensive skills.

  • “I had to develop... Once you got your chance and your opportunity, I took and ran with it.” (21:31)

Transition to the NFL: Joining the Eagles

Zach discusses his transition to the NFL, specifically his decision to join the Philadelphia Eagles during a challenging period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Free Agency Decision: “Philly jumped on it quick... it was an easy, easy choice for me to be like, yeah, I'm coming back to Philly.” (47:08)

• Initial Challenges: He recounts his first days with the Eagles, feeling overwhelmed yet determined to make an impact.

  • “I walk into Vic's room... It was a short interaction.” (35:52)

Super Bowl Journey and Team Dynamics

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the Eagles' path to the Super Bowl, emphasizing the team's cohesion and the impact of coaching strategies.

• Team Communication: “We can be coached hard... it's how our defense rolls.” (40:22)

• Coach Vic Fangio’s Influence: Zach praises Vic Fangio’s old-school coaching methods, which foster strong communication and strategic play-calling.

  • “What makes Vic really special is the way he calls the game.” (36:15)

• Super Bowl Highlights: The guests reminisce about key moments from the Super Bowl, including pivotal plays and the emotional victory parade.

  • “The parade. That's what I love about it.” (45:50)

Personal Anecdotes and Team Camaraderie

Zach Bond shares humorous and heartfelt stories about his teammates, particularly his interactions with Jameis Winston and the camaraderie that defines the Eagles' locker room.

• Teammate Stories: “Jameis would always say something... I'm recording his voice saying whatever he was going to play.” (31:17)

• Re-Signing with the Eagles: Reflecting on his decision to re-sign, Zach emphasizes his commitment to personal growth and contributing to the team’s success.

  • “I'm driven internally to just be the best at whatever I'm trying to do.” (48:39)

Future Aspirations and Closing Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, the conversation turns to future goals and the continuous improvement of the Eagles' defense. Zach expresses confidence in the team’s trajectory and his personal development.

• Offseason Plans: Zach discusses his motivation for the upcoming season, focusing on refining his skills and enhancing team performance.

  • “I think we have a lot to do as a defense too.” (48:39)

• Team Outlook: The hosts and guest express optimism about the Eagles' future, underscoring the importance of teamwork and strategic planning.

  • “We're miles ahead of where we were last year at this time.” (49:25)

Notable Quotes

• Zach Bond on Team Communication: “We can be coached hard... it's how our defense rolls.” (40:22)

• Cooper DeJean on Personal Development: “Once you got your chance and your opportunity, I took and ran with it.” (21:31)

• Zach Bond on Re-Signing: “It was an easy, easy choice for me to be like, yeah, I'm coming back to Philly.” (47:08)

Conclusion

Episode 5 of Exciting Mics offers an in-depth look into Zach Bond’s pivotal role within the Philadelphia Eagles, his journey through college football, the challenges of transitioning to the NFL, and the triumphant Super Bowl run. Through engaging dialogue and personal stories, hosts Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean provide listeners with an authentic glimpse into the life of an NFL champion, the importance of teamwork, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.

For fans of the Eagles or anyone interested in the dynamics of professional football, this episode serves as a compelling narrative of dedication, resilience, and the spirit of camaraderie that drives a championship-winning team.

Transcript

[Cooper DeJean]

I just remember Iowa. At least when I was there. They always tried to be like us. They were like our little brother that tried to play the style of football that we played, bro.

[Reed Blankenship]

Y' all had beef like that.

[Zach Bond]

Wisconsin wanted to be like us. They wanted to be as tough.

[Reed Blankenship]

We all like big rivals.

[Cooper DeJean]

It was a trophy.

[Zach Bond]

They wanted to play hard enough football like us.

[Cooper DeJean]

What was the trophy called?

[Reed Blankenship]

That was a boring game to watch.

[Zach Bond]

It was a bowl.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, we called the pig.

[Zach Bond]

No, we call it the bowl. We play for a pig.

[Reed Blankenship]

We play for a pig.

[Zach Bond]

Play for a pig against Minnesota. We play for a bull against you guys.

[Cooper DeJean]

Okay.

[Reed Blankenship]

O.

[Zach Bond]

What a bull.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, it was just big. Bronze.

[Zach Bond]

B, U, L, L. Yeah. B, U, L, L. Oh, B, U, L, L with horns on it.

[Reed Blankenship]

I thought you say bowl. Say it again.

[Zach Bond]

Bull, bro.

[Reed Blankenship]

It sounds like you're saying bowl.

[Cooper DeJean]

Bull.

[Zach Bond]

Welcome back to exciting Mics, presented by Vanda pharmaceuticals. I'm Cooper DeJean.

[Reed Blankenship]

And I'm Reed Blankenship. We have a very special guest today on this episode. Y' all know him as the BALD Head Eagle, Mr. Zach Bon.

[Zach Bond]

Stay tuned for that and don't forget to follow Exciting Mics on all platforms, like comment and subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get it started.

[Reed Blankenship]

What's exciting you, Coop?

[Zach Bond]

What's exciting me? Well, a new F1 arcade opened in Philly this past week. I believe I got to go with some of my teammates.

[Reed Blankenship]

What is it?

[Zach Bond]

It's like a. It's like a little VR F1 racing thing. It's kind of sick.

[Reed Blankenship]

Is it something that we need to go to?

[Zach Bond]

Yes, we do. You have to drive with both your feet.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh.

[Zach Bond]

So you.

[Reed Blankenship]

You like gas?

[Zach Bond]

Pedal gas. You're going like 200 some miles an hour, and then once you hit a turn, you got to press the brake with your left one.

[Reed Blankenship]

You gotta worry about shifting gears.

[Zach Bond]

Speed up. Well, I'm. I'm just on beginner right now, so I'm not to the point where I'm shifting gears.

[Reed Blankenship]

I got you.

[Zach Bond]

I got you and stuff, so.

[Reed Blankenship]

And we're nearing the end of OTAs, and we are going to fly the nest and go home before the.

[Zach Bond]

I don't know if it's exciting that.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, it's not.

[Zach Bond]

We're leaving each other.

[Reed Blankenship]

We'll see each other again.

[Zach Bond]

Anxiety?

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah. No, maybe not, because I have a wedding.

[Zach Bond]

Reed's getting married.

[Reed Blankenship]

You're coming to it?

[Zach Bond]

Yeah. Where are you going for your honeymoon?

[Reed Blankenship]

Puerto Rico.

[Zach Bond]

Puerto Rico?

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Have you ever been there before? Never been no customs either. I know part of the US that's kind of sick.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah. I'll be representing.

[Zach Bond]

I get to go back home and be the grand marshal in the creek days parade.

[Reed Blankenship]

Creek Days parade.

[Zach Bond]

It's like a little town, you know.

[Reed Blankenship]

That'S an old like small town saying.

[Zach Bond]

It's like a creek town town celebration, you know. So we got, we got games. Usually they play like knockout three on three bags, tournament, cornhole. They got. You call it bag rides. Yeah, bags, cornhole. Right. I call it bags.

[Reed Blankenship]

Aren't you having a camp in Iowa too?

[Zach Bond]

And I'm having a camp, Yes. I had a camp out here in Philly and there's about 300 kids.

[Cooper DeJean]

Wow.

[Zach Bond]

So we're going back to Iowa to do it there. So now we're going to get into the quick hitters quick. What, what is your plan for this off season? What's the. What's the best things to do before training camp hits? That we got.

[Reed Blankenship]

Obviously train. Training is most important. Be in shape. But putting that aside and make sure your mental is clear because it's a long year and this is, I mean this was your first offseason so like obviously it was longer than normal. So make sure your mental is, is clear. Like once you come back, you should be mini vacation, maybe like a mini vacation, I guess. You know, be sure to at least take a couple of days, go. Go somewhere. But this is the important time to where you need to get really good in shape. Stay in shape because training camp is.

[Zach Bond]

A long and long conditioning test. Right. When we come back. Absolutely. Then the MLB is investing into a pro women's softball league.

[Reed Blankenship]

Good for them.

[Zach Bond]

It'll be good actually.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Because you ever watch the College World Series women's softball here and there.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

It's actually pretty fun to watch here and there. Some high level softball.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Something that I can't do, apparently.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, we all saw that.

[Zach Bond]

I need a little practice. Our teammate Saquon Barkley said that he'll likely be one of those guys to just retire out of nowhere.

[Reed Blankenship]

I just saw that. And a lot of guys honestly say that though. Like I think Slay has said that before. You know, bg, people like that. Yeah, I mean if it's. If it's over, it's over, I guess. But I mean to even have that.

[Zach Bond]

I don't, I don't think option anytime soon.

[Reed Blankenship]

No, no, I don't think so either. But like anytime soon. He's in a great position to wear. If it, if he was. Man, he's put It. He put his time in, man.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, he's. He's done a lot.

[Reed Blankenship]

And then we got the Stanley cup final coming up.

[Zach Bond]

Edmonton Oilers versus the Florida Panthers. I'm taking the Edmonton Oilers. I think the Panthers won it last year.

[Reed Blankenship]

Why not? Winton?

[Zach Bond]

And I like Connor McDavid.

[Reed Blankenship]

I got the Panthers best.

[Zach Bond]

I always go against arguably the best player in the league right now, Connor McDavid. People say he's like Kyrie on skates.

[Reed Blankenship]

Really? So he's like that?

[Zach Bond]

Like that, yeah. So we'll see what happens. It is time for exciting bites. Presented by Cooper Cheese. It's not just any cheese. It's Cooper.

[Reed Blankenship]

That was nice. That was nice. Today we have a pizza from Cafe Carmela. It is a family pizzeria here in Philly owned by Joe and Anne Marie. Oh, I think it's got. Let's see what we got.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, it's got some.

[Reed Blankenship]

So at first sight, we got what, Tomatoes, banana, peppers, cheese. Cooper cheese. Right?

[Zach Bond]

Cooper cheese. Not just any cheese.

[Cooper DeJean]

It's Cooper.

[Zach Bond]

It's Cooper.

[Reed Blankenship]

That's pretty good, too. So, yeah, we're going to rate it 1 through 10 and let y' all know this crust how it is.

[Zach Bond]

I like the way this crust looks.

[Reed Blankenship]

I do, too.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Here we go.

[Zach Bond]

That was good. Never really been a fan of banana peppers, or tomatoes. It's kind of.

[Reed Blankenship]

It's time to try it out. Broaden your palate.

[Zach Bond]

A little cheesy.

[Reed Blankenship]

I'll tell you one thing.

[Zach Bond]

What?

[Reed Blankenship]

And it's crazy because I'm a generic pizza guy. As in cheese, pepperoni, more sausage. You put a combination like this, it's honestly pretty good. It hits all flavors. It is to me. And the peppers were juicy. It's every like. You don't expect it. My rating. I'm gonna get it. Eight.

[Zach Bond]

There we go.

[Reed Blankenship]

It's a wow factor in your mouth.

[Zach Bond]

I'm gonna go with a 7.1. I'm more of a plain pizza type of guy. Like. Yeah, but, you know, so that's why I'm gonna go with 7.1.

[Reed Blankenship]

It was good pizza, but very good pizza.

[Zach Bond]

Go get you some Cafe Carmela.

[Reed Blankenship]

Shout out to our exciting bite sponsor, Cooper Cheese. You can find that at any deli section at your nearest grocery store. We have some cool merch or. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

I mean, make sure to go to coopercheese.com to find the nearest Cooper to you.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

And to also merch. Also get your exclusive merch that my boy Reed Blankenship's rocking right now. Go check it out.

[Reed Blankenship]

We're excited to welcome one of our friends and fellow members of the Eagles defense to the exciting mics.

[Zach Bond]

You guys may know him as the Bald Eagle. Fresh office, three year contract extension keeping him with the Philadelphia Eagles. Let's give it up for Mr. Zach Bond. Welcome to the show, brother.

[Cooper DeJean]

Thank you. Thank you guys for having me.

[Zach Bond]

Let's talk about a little bit of your background and where you grew up. You grew up in Wisconsin?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yep. Born and raised.

[Zach Bond]

We're at. In Wisconsin.

[Cooper DeJean]

Grew up in West Bend. And then in high school, I transferred to a small town outside of Milwaukee called Brown Deer.

[Zach Bond]

Brown Deer.

[Cooper DeJean]

Brown Deer.

[Zach Bond]

Fun fact. I played some au basketball tournaments at Brown Deer High School.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh. At the. How far is center?

[Reed Blankenship]

How far is that?

[Zach Bond]

It's a big. It's like outside of Milwaukee, right?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yep. Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Well, a lot of kids geographically, I really don't know.

[Zach Bond]

From Iowa, it's like six hours. Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

You travel like that, bro. You ain't like that.

[Cooper DeJean]

Fun fact.

[Zach Bond]

It was, it was. It was a good time though.

[Cooper DeJean]

I really didn't want to transfer.

[Reed Blankenship]

Right.

[Cooper DeJean]

So I stayed with a good family friend of ours, the Mickels. They took me in. So I finished the semester there and I still didn't want to transfer. But then I ended up transferring and I was actually going to quit football. What? Cause I'm like, I got to meet new people. I got to get my grades going.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

And then it wasn't until like halfway through fall camp that I'm like, okay, I'll give it a shot. Yeah. Dude, crazy.

[Zach Bond]

When you were younger, did you play all types of sports? Like, did you play football? Basketball.

[Cooper DeJean]

Football, basketball, soccer.

[Reed Blankenship]

Really?

[Cooper DeJean]

When I was really young, my mom had a dance. Like we did dance for some reason. Jazz and tap. Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

We got to find a picture of Zach.

[Cooper DeJean]

I got a video. I got a video of it.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, that's that, dude, you got to show it. You got to show that.

[Cooper DeJean]

That's it.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, we got to see.

[Reed Blankenship]

You got to do something that.

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't know, bro. I don't know.

[Reed Blankenship]

Like what?

[Cooper DeJean]

Like, I keep that under wraps because.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, you don't dug in that. So like the jazz part. Now what. How do you describe to me? I don't know how. What's the jazz?

[Zach Bond]

Just dancing, right?

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't. I don't really know exactly. What would you compare. Dancing is just dancing.

[Reed Blankenship]

Because jazz is not gonna be compared to hip hop.

[Zach Bond]

Jazz is like a slower style of dancing.

[Reed Blankenship]

No.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, but it was really just methodical.

[Cooper DeJean]

I was like five years old. It was like a Bunch of kids just running on the stage and messing around, I guess.

[Reed Blankenship]

Hey, you learned. But you learned how to dance, though, and, like tap dance?

[Cooper DeJean]

I can't. I can't dance worth a lick now.

[Zach Bond]

You think it helped you in football, though, now?

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't think so.

[Zach Bond]

People say it helps.

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't think so.

[Zach Bond]

You don't think so?

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't think so.

[Reed Blankenship]

You can do ballet now.

[Cooper DeJean]

Like Nico. Like Nicobi. Yeah. Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

I thought y' all be taking dance lessons together, bro.

[Cooper DeJean]

Chill, chill, chill. That's my dog, but I ain't doing that.

[Zach Bond]

How many siblings you got?

[Cooper DeJean]

Five. Others? Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Five other siblings?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

How. What are. What's the age?

[Cooper DeJean]

My oldest brother is 37, and my youngest sibling, we adopted him 10 years ago, and he's 10.

[Zach Bond]

Wow. Where are you in this. In this range?

[Cooper DeJean]

I was right in the middle, but then we adopted my younger brother.

[Reed Blankenship]

They pushed you up?

[Cooper DeJean]

I'm one of the oldest now. Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

That's sick.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Going into high school, did you only play. Did you play football and basketball or did you play baseball and football?

[Cooper DeJean]

Basketball. And then I ran track. Yeah, classic. The football coach was the track.

[Reed Blankenship]

Do you do like, what, 100 meter or 200?

[Cooper DeJean]

The one, the two. And then I high jumped as well.

[Zach Bond]

I jumped, Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

I jumped six.

[Reed Blankenship]

So you were pretty six?

[Zach Bond]

Eight.

[Cooper DeJean]

Six, eight.

[Zach Bond]

You did not.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, yeah. Wild, right?

[Reed Blankenship]

Dude, there's videos.

[Cooper DeJean]

There's videos. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

How much did you weigh at this point?

[Cooper DeJean]

Probably 190.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, okay.

[Cooper DeJean]

190.

[Zach Bond]

I could see it then.

[Reed Blankenship]

190. Junior. Dude, I was like a buck 70.

[Zach Bond]

As a junior in high school.

[Cooper DeJean]

Aren't you a buck 70 now?

[Zach Bond]

Would you play in football? You played quarterback, right?

[Cooper DeJean]

Quarterback and football, yeah.

[Zach Bond]

What kind of offense did you guys run?

[Reed Blankenship]

The ball Run. Right.

[Cooper DeJean]

I was dropping back, knowing I was going to just take off and run every time. That was. That was the type of ball we were playing.

[Zach Bond]

And then on defense, did you play linebacker?

[Cooper DeJean]

A little bit of defense.

[Zach Bond]

But you never really. You only played one side?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

When you had the ball to your best player.

[Cooper DeJean]

When you go to a small school, like, my school had like 500 kids in it. I assume you just give the ball to your best player every time.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

Why wouldn't the most athletic dude. I'm not being cocky. I'm not being cocky.

[Zach Bond]

I'm not being cocky.

[Cooper DeJean]

I'm not being cocky. You went to a small school?

[Zach Bond]

I went to a small school. I played quarterback too, so.

[Cooper DeJean]

Okay.

[Zach Bond]

But we. We ran five wide. We had.

[Reed Blankenship]

He just dropped.

[Zach Bond]

We had Other athletes that could spread, that could catch the ball. We ran five wide. Yeah. We threw it like 30 times a game.

[Reed Blankenship]

You love sitting back there throwing that thing.

[Zach Bond]

Loved it. If I literally had probably, like, two reads if they weren't open, and usually it was a deep ball. If the deep ball wasn't there, I was. I was taking off running. What, you played quarterback, too, though?

[Reed Blankenship]

I did play quarterback.

[Zach Bond]

We all three play quarterback.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. It's all small, but I played.

[Reed Blankenship]

I played quarterback and safety and then.

[Zach Bond]

I played safety, too.

[Reed Blankenship]

At times. My running back would be the quarterback and I would be the receiver. We just throw. Go balls.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, my God. He just throw it to you. Oh, my gosh, bro.

[Reed Blankenship]

The whole. The whole county knew.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah. If you're a defense, how do you not stop that?

[Reed Blankenship]

I like that. You just got it over.

[Cooper DeJean]

Wait, wait. So you play quarterback too? How'd you get recruited to play?

[Zach Bond]

Because I played safety also.

[Reed Blankenship]

Like, wouldn't. If you say, we're scouts, and I see that you're from a small school and I see the guy playing quarterback, like, obviously he's a great athlete. And you did track, you did basket. Like, you played all these other sports. Like, obviously, you know, he's a good athlete. So that's gonna be the first thing I go to. They used to do. Some of the coaches actually come to my basketball games.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, same.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

You know, they weren't worried about what I did on the field. They were more worried about, like, basketball and stuff. See how it moved?

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Were you, like, the punter in the. In the kicker, too?

[Cooper DeJean]

No, no, see, I was PP for the fakes. We ran. Hella fakes. Oh, yeah. I just snap it right to me. I just hit that.

[Reed Blankenship]

You gotta.

[Cooper DeJean]

Is it.

[Reed Blankenship]

I was supposed to say it was huddle. Invented back then, but, you know, man, I was the.

[Zach Bond]

I was the quarterback. I played safety, punter, punt returner, and kickoff returner.

[Reed Blankenship]

This is you now, bro.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, right.

[Zach Bond]

One of my greatest touchdowns came on. Came while I was back at punter, punter. They snapped it over my head, went back like 15 yards, and I just took off with the ball. It was fun.

[Reed Blankenship]

That was on your highlight, too.

[Zach Bond]

High school football is probably some of the.

[Reed Blankenship]

Would you go back, like, to play.

[Zach Bond]

High school football again?

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Yes.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, that's what I tell everybody.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

If I could have one, like, it was there, like, a specific, specific game that you would go back and play in?

[Zach Bond]

You're just playing with your boys.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, that's. That's what I'm talking About. I didn't know if there was like a game too. If you had to choose, you don't have to tell it everybody, but just think in your head, a game. One game. Like, I would go back and play one more game.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Rivalry games, it's different, man. People don't understand the.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

How? The smell, dude.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, my gosh.

[Reed Blankenship]

The paint, dude.

[Zach Bond]

The fresh cut grass.

[Cooper DeJean]

Locker room. The locker room. Locker room is terrible.

[Zach Bond]

Terrible.

[Reed Blankenship]

But like, did you run through paper? I don't know if you or.

[Zach Bond]

We only did that on homecoming.

[Reed Blankenship]

Dude, the paper, the smell.

[Cooper DeJean]

You guys did that? You remember the smell of the paper?

[Reed Blankenship]

You Very nostalgic.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, man.

[Zach Bond]

What?

[Cooper DeJean]

Okay.

[Reed Blankenship]

I loved it. That was the best part.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah. High school football is blast. You think. You think playing multiple sports in high school helped you become a better football player? Like as you went on in your career?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, definitely.

[Zach Bond]

Again. And in other sports.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. I don't know if you get asked the same. You guys get asked the same question. Question. But they're like, you play quarterback in high school. How did that help with you playing defense? Like, and. And I'm like, now. Yeah. And I'm like, I wasn't reading defenses. I didn't know what. What they were in.

[Reed Blankenship]

I was cover two.

[Cooper DeJean]

Was. No. No.

[Reed Blankenship]

No idea.

[Cooper DeJean]

So I always say. It didn't help at all.

[Reed Blankenship]

You're just out there having fun.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

At the end of the day, do we have his stats for when he was playing? Oh, we do. Oh, yeah. Look.

[Cooper DeJean]

Come on, Reed.

[Reed Blankenship]

3,923 yards for 3,000.

[Cooper DeJean]

I did pass. I say I ran a lot, but I did pass.

[Zach Bond]

You rushed for 3, 900 yards.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, I was taken off.

[Zach Bond]

I played quarterback my junior and senior year, too. I played.

[Reed Blankenship]

Well, you're not sophomore.

[Cooper DeJean]

I played receiver my freshman. Sophomore, too.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, I did too, twin bro. I played corner my freshman year.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh.

[Zach Bond]

Who do you think Coach Sirianni would trust to between. Go in. Go in as quarterback. If we needed one of us to.

[Reed Blankenship]

Go in, like the whole team or us3.

[Zach Bond]

Us3 right here.

[Cooper DeJean]

Not me.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, you.

[Cooper DeJean]

Not me.

[Reed Blankenship]

Wait, we told him.

[Cooper DeJean]

How about you? You're already.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

12 positions.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, he's playing D line too. No, definitely.

[Zach Bond]

I'd love to go drop back and swing it to sling it to A.J. brown.

[Cooper DeJean]

Do you think you could complete it?

[Reed Blankenship]

Hey, A.J.

[Cooper DeJean]

Somewhere like 10 yards.

[Zach Bond]

Yes.

[Cooper DeJean]

You think so?

[Zach Bond]

Throw it to A.J. brown on the stop route and.

[Reed Blankenship]

Okay, but you're not accounted for.

[Zach Bond]

What? Dude, you not accounting for what?

[Reed Blankenship]

The D line in front of you.

[Zach Bond]

You got the best offensive line in the National Football League.

[Reed Blankenship]

I'm not saying that we don't. I'm saying the height. Are you. Are you able to throw over six?

[Cooper DeJean]

One?

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, yeah. Acting like he's like, five.

[Cooper DeJean]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

Welcome back to exciting mics presented by Vanda Pharmaceuticals. What was it like getting recruited to Wisconsin?

[Zach Bond]

Was that your dream, dream home, stay home and play?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. Wisconsin's only got 1D1 school in the state, so it's like where everyone wants to.

[Reed Blankenship]

Really?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. Yeah. It's a heavy D3 state.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah. There's a lot of D3 schools.

[Cooper DeJean]

There's white water.

[Reed Blankenship]

You like you're from Wisconsin.

[Cooper DeJean]

But the. The recruiting scene wasn't too big for me because I was playing quarterback, but I didn't look like a quarterback, you know, so they knew I'd play a different position. So they were trying to. They were. They would be taking a risk on me.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

Switching positions. But I didn't go to the Camps. I didn't. I did this. The Nike Spark Combine. But I did, like. I had, like, an 83 or something.

[Reed Blankenship]

As a quarterback or.

[Cooper DeJean]

As a quarterback? Yeah. What? Wow. Wisconsin was my only other offer besides South Dakota State, and I actually accepted on a gray shirt to Wisconsin.

[Reed Blankenship]

Wow.

[Cooper DeJean]

Do you know what a gray shirt is?

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, you gotta, like, stay.

[Zach Bond]

You come, like, halfway through the year.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

It's weird. Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

So you don't. You don't go the first football season, you don't come, or you're just a steward.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

Just a student. Yeah. But then right before signing day, they upgraded it to a full ride.

[Zach Bond]

Holy, that's sick.

[Cooper DeJean]

And then I redshirted. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, what, did they recruit you to play linebacker, right?

[Cooper DeJean]

To outside linebacker? Yeah. Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

So they put outside linebacker outside.

[Cooper DeJean]

I was. I was an edge guy. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Wow.

[Cooper DeJean]

But they had brought other guys. There are other outside linebackers that they had. There were also quarterbacks in high school, like Joe Schobert, Vince Beagle, quarterbacks in high school. So they're like, okay, you can come in, red shirt, watch these guys, and just kind of wait your turn. Because it was. The room was loaded. T.J. watt. Andrew Van Ginkel was there.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, my gosh.

[Reed Blankenship]

I was legit to ask you who was there at the time?

[Zach Bond]

T.J. watt was there.

[Cooper DeJean]

T.J. watt.

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, my gosh.

[Cooper DeJean]

And Ian was there, too. And when I first got there, he was playing tight end, and they had just switched him to outside linebacker. So we were, like, learning the same position at the same time.

[Zach Bond]

What year was this for you?

[Cooper DeJean]

2015.

[Reed Blankenship]

So 2015 was your first year?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

That would have been his sophomore, third.

[Cooper DeJean]

Red shirt. Sophomore year or redshirt junior year.

[Zach Bond]

That's my.

[Reed Blankenship]

So you were.

[Zach Bond]

Was my eighth grade.

[Cooper DeJean]

Sophomore year.

[Reed Blankenship]

That's your eighth grade year.

[Cooper DeJean]

Damn. Made me feel old.

[Zach Bond]

So you're not old?

[Cooper DeJean]

Dude, I'm young. I mean, I know I'm bald and. But I'm young. I'm young. I'm young.

[Reed Blankenship]

I look old, but, yeah, we know.

[Cooper DeJean]

Hey, I'm a young soul.

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, we know.

[Zach Bond]

So you played four years at Wisconsin?

[Cooper DeJean]

Five years.

[Zach Bond]

Five years.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yep. Yep.

[Zach Bond]

Redshirted one and then played four.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yep. So I redshirted. And then the next season, my redshirt freshman year, I was just, like, special teams guy. And then my next year, I was supposed to start. Hurt my foot in training camp, so missed that whole season. And then my junior year, I started. I played okay. Cause I was just, like, just getting to play. I was nervous. And then my senior, it really Wasn't until my senior year that I just blew up.

[Zach Bond]

First team all Big Ten. Yeah, All American too. First team all American.

[Reed Blankenship]

So they just been hot, dude. They were hiding that talent, dude.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, they weren't hiding it. I had to develop.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, everybody has to develop. But it's like. I mean once you got your your chance and your opportunity, I guess, I mean you took and ran with it.

[Cooper DeJean]

That's what it was.

[Reed Blankenship]

That's all you need. Dude, that's sick.

[Cooper DeJean]

I did not crazy.

[Zach Bond]

What do you remember playing about the unit? Playing against the University of Iowa? Playing for the Bull.

[Cooper DeJean]

Iowa. I just remember Iowa. At least when I was there. They always tried to be like us. They were like our little brother that tried to play the style of football that we played.

[Reed Blankenship]

So they're right next person, right? State wise. Kinda like this. Yeah, bro, y' all beats like that.

[Zach Bond]

Wisconsin wanted to be like us. They wanted to be as tough.

[Reed Blankenship]

We all like big rivals.

[Cooper DeJean]

It was a trophy.

[Zach Bond]

They wanted to play hard enough football like us.

[Cooper DeJean]

What was the trophy called?

[Reed Blankenship]

That's a boring game to watch about.

[Zach Bond]

It was a bowl.

[Cooper DeJean]

It was? Yeah, we called the Pig.

[Zach Bond]

No, we call it the Bowl. We played for a pig.

[Reed Blankenship]

You play for a pig?

[Zach Bond]

Play for a pig against Minnesota. We play for a bull against you guys.

[Cooper DeJean]

Okay. A what? A bowl. Oh, it was this big bowl.

[Zach Bond]

B U, L, L. Yeah. B U, L, L. Oh, B U, L L With horns on it.

[Reed Blankenship]

I thought you say bowl. Yeah, say it again.

[Zach Bond]

Bull, bro.

[Reed Blankenship]

It sounds like you're saying bowl.

[Cooper DeJean]

Bull.

[Zach Bond]

Bull. What was your record against Iowa in college?

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't know. I had to look it up probably a lot.

[Reed Blankenship]

Did nothing.

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't know. I don't know. But yeah. You guys always try to be like us. You guys always try to use the tight end.

[Reed Blankenship]

Are we serious? I missed a few.

[Zach Bond]

I was tight end.

[Cooper DeJean]

You.

[Zach Bond]

Why would we not use our tight ends?

[Cooper DeJean]

Damn, you're right.

[Zach Bond]

Thank you.

[Reed Blankenship]

Like what was. So what was your record against Wisconsin?

[Zach Bond]

My record was 1 or 2 and 1. 2 and 1. I had actually had like one of the. One of my best college games against Wisconsin my all around here my sophomore year. Yeah, I think I had a pick six against Wisconsin too.

[Reed Blankenship]

Your sophomore year?

[Zach Bond]

No, it was night game and we're blackout in Iowa City.

[Reed Blankenship]

So like obviously there's songs right? That, that what's yalls like. Because at price the other day he was getting like to jump around. He was talking mess to you about something.

[Zach Bond]

He said, oh yeah, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

This gives me juice or whatever. What's that about.

[Zach Bond]

This reminds me of when we were beating Wisconsin's ass.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, come on.

[Reed Blankenship]

They played it still?

[Zach Bond]

No, we never, I don't think we ever beat their ass.

[Cooper DeJean]

At the end of the third quarter they do the jump around. So the students usually don't come into the game until like the third quarter and then they, and then they do the. They play jump around and then they leave. Insane. It's insane. And then they leave. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Zach Bond]

It's literally, it's literally empty. And the students are filing in the whole first half.

[Reed Blankenship]

Is it like a tradition or just they're out tailgating and then.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, I think it was in the late, the late 90s or early 2000s.

[Reed Blankenship]

And I made it a thing. Dude, that's it.

[Cooper DeJean]

And there was nothing like whooping, whooping on a team, especially jumping around and then just seeing the other side, the other bench. Just like demoralized. Demoralized.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, we played it in Iowa City when we played them and we were.

[Reed Blankenship]

Beating them in Iowa City.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, because like we were, we were beating them and.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, you played jump around.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, we played jump around.

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, y' all did.

[Cooper DeJean]

That's messed up.

[Zach Bond]

As we're running over to grab the stars.

[Reed Blankenship]

2019 they gave us.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, you played, you played Iowa, bro.

[Reed Blankenship]

We played. This was our schedule. I think it was in 2018 or 2019. We opened up with Michigan, got smacked. Yeah, went to Iowa, got smacked.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Start off hot, man. I think we played Vandy that year too. But you know, you know how Vandy.

[Cooper DeJean]

Is still now do you go into those games expecting to win or hey man, be competitive or see where the team's at.

[Reed Blankenship]

You go into those games, be competitive. I don't like no runner up trophies. But you go in there saying, all right, this is some of the best of the best and not saying there's not. There's plenty of great players that's come from a group of five, whatever you call it, schools and whatever. But it's the best film, bro. Go against like I said, the top dudes now Iowa, man, they just ran. Ran the ball the whole time, bro. The next dude, I swear to you, the next, the next. It was a Sunday for film study. I walk in my father in law now I say, man, I said some grown ass men up there because y' all had. What's his name, what was tall quarterback at the time?

[Zach Bond]

Nate Stanley.

[Reed Blankenship]

Dude, he was freaking huge.

[Cooper DeJean]

Wisconsin. Gotcha.

[Zach Bond]

Really?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, he's a Wisconsin guy.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, he went to Iowa. Yeah, man, I bet there's some Beef between that.

[Zach Bond]

You mentioned T.J. watt and Andrew Van Ginkel. Do you have a Mount Rushmore of players that. That played at Wisconsin? And if so, who would you put on there?

[Reed Blankenship]

Who even went to Wisconsin?

[Zach Bond]

I forgot they had some good. Melvin Gordon was good.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Who was Ron Dain?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, I put Ron. Ron Dane. Monty ball dog. I could do Mount Rushmore of just running backs.

[Zach Bond]

You could.

[Cooper DeJean]

Rondane Monty ball. Melvin Gordon, James White.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

Jonathan Taylor.

[Reed Blankenship]

Dude.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, I forgot about Jonathan Taylor, too.

[Cooper DeJean]

That's five.

[Reed Blankenship]

Well, Mount Rushmore is it five.

[Zach Bond]

Four. Four.

[Cooper DeJean]

Four. But I had five for our running back. We got too many running backs.

[Reed Blankenship]

I didn't even think that all these running backs went there.

[Zach Bond]

It's because they run the ball well. That's true.

[Reed Blankenship]

Same thing with one thing you want to do. Go up north. You want to come down south, though. SEC ball.

[Zach Bond]

What are. What are some of the. Some of the best football. College football stadiums you played in while you were at Wisconsin?

[Cooper DeJean]

You think playing at Nebraska was always fun.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Y' all have.

[Cooper DeJean]

That's always crazy. There's a trophy for that game. I actually got put on. On a bulletin board material for saying some stuff about Nebraska because we had beat them like, five years in a row, and it's a rivalry game for us.

[Reed Blankenship]

Right.

[Cooper DeJean]

And I said to the media, like, they asked me if I saw it as a rivalry game. I'm like, I don't really see it as a rivalry. I mean, we've won this many times.

[Reed Blankenship]

You're downplaying it a little bit.

[Cooper DeJean]

And I went into, like. I thought about what I said after. I'm like, oh, fuck, yeah. And I made sure we did not lose that game.

[Zach Bond]

Did you ever play at Penn State?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, Yeah, I played a super cold game at Penn State. It was like, noon game.

[Zach Bond]

Oh, noon game.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

So you never. Yeah, you're. You know, you didn't play against Saquon.

[Zach Bond]

Penn State was. Cr. Was a crazy atmosphere, too. It's just a. It's a huge. Right.

[Cooper DeJean]

It's a huge stadium.

[Reed Blankenship]

You didn't play against Saquon, right?

[Cooper DeJean]

I did.

[Reed Blankenship]

You did?

[Cooper DeJean]

I did, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Wow.

[Zach Bond]

What was your experience with the Wave at. Were they doing it when they were doing it when you were there?

[Cooper DeJean]

Come on, man.

[Zach Bond]

I'm not saying.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, they were doing that. That's super special. That, that, that and jump around. Our top two traditions, I think.

[Reed Blankenship]

Really?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

That was very. Dude, it was. It was a tear. Almost a tearjerker for me before we went and played, but, like, it's crazy. Because you see it, you know, you watch it. You watch it on tv.

[Zach Bond]

I think looking up and seeing the kids in the, like at the top floor of the hospital is pretty cool. They all make signs and stuff up there.

[Reed Blankenship]

You know who else has a really cool, like, inner or song?

[Zach Bond]

What?

[Reed Blankenship]

Virginia Tech.

[Zach Bond]

Enter Sandman.

[Cooper DeJean]

Bro, have you played?

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

I'm sorry for you, man.

[Reed Blankenship]

They played inner Sandman. Chills.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh.

[Reed Blankenship]

I said let's go, man.

[Zach Bond]

So what year did you come out? 2019 or 20.

[Cooper DeJean]

2020. Covet.

[Zach Bond]

During COVID Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

How was that?

[Cooper DeJean]

It was the worst. It was the worst.

[Reed Blankenship]

So you were you back home?

[Cooper DeJean]

I'm assuming I was back home, had a little party with my little 10 people or whatever we could.

[Reed Blankenship]

Nice.

[Cooper DeJean]

But the worst part about it was we didn't have rookie minicamp. We didn't have OTAs. We didn't have really normal minicamp. So I'm like, I played edge in college, so I'm trying to transition to off the ball because they wanted me to play Mike.

[Reed Blankenship]

Wow.

[Cooper DeJean]

So I'm like, how am I going to learn this stuff without actually doing it, you know? And it's so different. And it really put me behind the.

[Reed Blankenship]

Because, I mean, obviously you start on the line, then you move back. That's a different level.

[Cooper DeJean]

Different level.

[Reed Blankenship]

You see stuff differently.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, you got to see everything.

[Reed Blankenship]

Do people. It's hard to understand.

[Zach Bond]

So you did play off the ball in New Orleans.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, yeah, Yeah, A little bit.

[Reed Blankenship]

What would you get drafted?

[Cooper DeJean]

Third round, 74th pick was.

[Zach Bond]

It was on Zoom. Oh, yeah. Because that's when. That's when Roger Goodell was, like, in his home.

[Cooper DeJean]

He was in his basement.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah. Jaylen was on Zoom too, I think, right?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. And then there was high expectations. Like, you're a third round pick. We drafted you because we need a linebacker.

[Reed Blankenship]

So I needed somebody ready to play.

[Cooper DeJean]

I lined up first day of training camp. First day of training camp ever. Taking reps with this new defense, and I have freaking Malcolm Jenkins behind me. Marshawn Lattimore.

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, my God.

[Cooper DeJean]

Demario Davis next to me. Cam in front of me. Like, I'm just like, stuck. Like, they're trying to get me to make the call and I'm stuttering. They're laughing. I'm like, oh, man. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

They gave me the green dot.

[Cooper DeJean]

The green dot. First day.

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, my God.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Wow.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

That's kind of.

[Cooper DeJean]

And then first game, did you start right away? I didn't. I didn't start. No. I was on special teams, but there was no fans, so I Didn't get the true, like, NFL, they pump crowd at the. Yeah, it was weird. It was a weird time.

[Zach Bond]

What was it like then, going into your second year, like, playing with the fans?

[Cooper DeJean]

Then you really felt the atmosphere and you could really, like.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

In the Dome.

[Cooper DeJean]

In the dome, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Dome sick.

[Zach Bond]

How many years did you play there? Five.

[Cooper DeJean]

Four years.

[Zach Bond]

Four years.

[Cooper DeJean]

Four years, Yep. Whole rookie contract.

[Zach Bond]

You played with. You played with Jameis Winston?

[Cooper DeJean]

I play with Jameis, yeah. How's he the best teammate ever? The best teammate ever. The best freaking teammate ever.

[Zach Bond]

Is he the funniest teammate ever?

[Cooper DeJean]

He is the funniest fighter.

[Reed Blankenship]

So you have no idea what he's about to say.

[Cooper DeJean]

You have no idea. Like, he was my locker neighbor. Would he just spew and I'd be untying my shoes after practice, and he'd.

[Reed Blankenship]

Just spew some random, like, fact or just some random. Just something random.

[Cooper DeJean]

Just something you don't. You didn't know what it was gonna be like. And the thing is, he's so genuine about it. Like, he's not trying to be funny. That's just how he is. The pregame speeches, I remember, there's. There's always, like, you. You go out to the field to warm up, and then you come back in, and Jameis would always say something. Always say something to, like, everyone. Some crazy stuff. So I. I always made sure I, like, recorded. I was, like, recording the ground, but I'm recording his voice saying whatever he was gon played. Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

That's hilarious. What was free agency like? Like, did you have. Is it like recruiting in college? Like, did you have options of where you wanted to?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, there was a few teams that were kind of in the mix, but obviously Philly jumped on it quick. I don't know what they. What vision they had or what they saw because I. I didn't take. I wasn't playing many snaps in. In New Orleans, but for me, it was just prioritizing fitness. I knew that I didn't fit in that traditional 4, 3 scheme, and that same linebacker position was really limiting because I was only going in for, like, 12 personnel, 21 personnel. So I could have played two snaps a game or I could have played 15. So it was all about fit. I'm like, I played a 3, 4 in college. Let me get back to that. Whether I'm going to play edge or whether I'm going to play inside. Let me just get back to that scheme and playing with Vick. Vick had Andrew Van Ginkel in Miami, so I'm like, maybe I'll play that role. But I got here, and they just put me right at inside linebacker.

[Zach Bond]

So you didn't know where they were gonna put you when you got here?

[Cooper DeJean]

I had no clue.

[Reed Blankenship]

So they didn't even tell you, like, be ready for this, that or.

[Cooper DeJean]

No?

[Reed Blankenship]

No, they said, come ready to play wherever.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, there's opportunities. And I'm like, all right, there's opportunities. Let me just go. And next thing I know, I'm shaking BK's Bobby King's hand at the front door playing inside linebacker.

[Reed Blankenship]

BK's funny. He's a good coach. Great coach throughout training camp, too. Like, the bat, the position, battling and finding out who's going to be where. Like, honestly, at the time, you were. You were quiet.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

But, like, freaking dog, though.

[Cooper DeJean]

I was just locked in. You were just locked in. I was like, I've been playing special teams. I could play 10 years. I could play 12 years as a special teamer, or I could really grind at this position stuff and, like, really try to make my name for it, and this would be the time. So I was just locked in. I didn't really talk to anyone. I wasn't really, like, doing the hoopla.

[Reed Blankenship]

And all that, which you don't need. Like, you don't need. There's other players on the team that can do that. But, bro, you were freaking. You were locked, dialed.

[Cooper DeJean]

Dialed. It was crazy.

[Reed Blankenship]

Training camp, we go to Brazil, and then, boom.

[Zach Bond]

You had, what, 15 tacks first camp.

[Cooper DeJean]

Did you. 15 tackles, two sacks. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

In the game, Sealer.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. But. But watching that film, to this day, every time I coach turns it on, I'm like, oh, dude, everybody just out there freestyle. And I remember coming to the bench and plopping down next to Nakobe, and we just look at each other and not say anything.

[Reed Blankenship]

Like, 10 years ago.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah. I remember watching my four snaps that I played on defense, that game, and it was.

[Reed Blankenship]

It's crazy. Look how far you can.

[Zach Bond]

It was ugly. It was like.

[Cooper DeJean]

Sorry. We needed that. We needed that.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah. What was your first, like, interaction with Coach Fangio? Did he. Did he, like, sit you down when you came in and talked to you about, like, the defense and your fit at all or. No.

[Cooper DeJean]

When I came in to sign last year, I'm, like, walking through the upstairs of the complex and shaking everybody's hand, getting to know everyone. And I walk into Vic's room. I didn't know anything about Vic. And I walk in there like, what's up, coach? I'm Zach. Nice to meet you. Happy to be here, high energy. I just met everyone in the building, try to be as nice as possible. And he's in there watching, like, some old 2016 Baltimore Ravens defense clips. And the whole time I'm talking to him, I'm pretty sure he's still watching the clips. It was a short interaction, and then from there, the next interaction was probably through OTAs. I asked him, hey, when am I gonna get some snaps on the edge? You know, I used to do that in my past. Like, that's kind of where I'm comfortable. He said, we'll see. We'll see about it.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, he did. Before you, dude. Yeah, he knew what he was doing.

[Cooper DeJean]

He did. He did.

[Zach Bond]

What do you think it is about him that allows our defense to play so well together? I feel like it's. I feel like it's the way he coaches old school meetings.

[Reed Blankenship]

Like, he's an old school coach. Like, he's not afraid to stand on business, you know, to put it like that and be real. And like, we're bought in, though. Like, we can be coached hard.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, that's what we're saying.

[Reed Blankenship]

And box drills.

[Cooper DeJean]

I think our defense is so young that we, like a lot of guys just came from college and that's what they're used to.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

And they don't know any other way. Like, the Georgia guys, like, they're used to being coach hard and they can take coaching and stuff like that. But I think what makes Vic really special is the way he calls the game. Like, the plays he calls in certain situations.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't think we were in a split safety in a run versus a run. That second half of that whole season, he was just calling the game. Right.

[Zach Bond]

He's a.

[Reed Blankenship]

He's a good dude.

[Zach Bond]

No, like, yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

And, like, he believes in us, too.

[Zach Bond]

Like, super bowl, we played, like two coverages the whole game.

[Reed Blankenship]

You want to play fast.

[Zach Bond]

Pretty much. Summer is here. More sun, more light, more time to do all the things that make summer so special.

[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

Enjoy more this summer. Get Factor if you want all the flavor and none of the fuss.

[Zach Bond]

If I need a product like this, factor is what I'd use.

[Reed Blankenship]

Get [e-mail] exciting50off and use code exciting50OFF to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box.

[Zach Bond]

That's code [e-mail] exciting 50 off for 50% off plus free shipping.

[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

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[Zach Bond]

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[Reed Blankenship]

Order for flash delivery or pickup and get your order in as soon as 30 minutes. Shop now at Acme Markets.com or in the Acme app. Welcome back to Exciting Mike's presented by Vanda Pharmaceuticals. Like throughout the year, obviously you have a couple games under your belt, but like when in the season did it like, okay, I'm comfortable. I'm going to hear being confident.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. Through training camp even, I'm like, I don't know. We're gonna have to see about this. I don't know. I know I'm looking good right now. We have to see when the bullets start flying. I don't think it was until the third game for me.

[Reed Blankenship]

So what was that?

[Cooper DeJean]

It was the Saints.

[Zach Bond]

Saints game.

[Cooper DeJean]

Saints. And we did a lot of. I was on the edge a lot. Maybe that made me feel real comfortable. Okay. Like I'm like out here playing and.

[Reed Blankenship]

That makes sense because we did do.

[Zach Bond]

A lot of that.

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't know. It was really insane. It was really insane all year, dude.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah. I mean, more than insane. You're probably, you're one of the best, proven, one of the best linebackers in the league in my opinion. And I'm sure I'm talking for my opinion too, in his opinion too. And probably a lot of people here. It makes a big Difference. When you have dudes that can. They can fit the run, fit the gaps, bust out and cover.

[Zach Bond]

Like, communicate, dude.

[Reed Blankenship]

Communicate. You know how many times we can just look at each other, like, even in practice.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Be ready for this. Like, we. We just play off each other. Like, once you kind of build that relationship, bro.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

I don't know. It makes. Like, I get confidence from. From you, and obviously I get confidence from other players on our team, too, as well. But, like, you're one of the guys that gives me my confidence when I'm back. You know what I'm saying?

[Cooper DeJean]

That's what's up. So, I mean, I appreciate it.

[Reed Blankenship]

Let me advise.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

I mean, Coop gives me confidence, too. You know, it's just kind of how.

[Zach Bond]

It's how our defense rolls.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah. How our defense rolls. Our team rolls, and.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

How we like to operate.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. Once the communication started getting better, I started getting more comfortable, like, communicating with Coop. Like, I'm always to Coop's side.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

So there's things like me and him are both looking back for the call we get on the same page. He alerts something like, you're picking the Super Bowl.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

I love that play because there's so many layers. There's. So we're in basic coverage, but there's so many layers of defense. There was, like, me and Oren down low. Coop kind of had that middle section. The corner's back, the safety's over top. That was wild.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Just playing offensive, simple coverage that has a lot of layers. That's a good way to say it.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Like, that's a part of what Coach Sirianni is talking about, too.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Like, every single day, I talked about connecting and building that culture that we have in our. In our locker room, to be able to play so well, you know, and play together and, you know, play with confidence.

[Cooper DeJean]

I think what makes it so cool is that there's no, like. Like, in college. I'll relate it to college. There's no, like, upperclassmen, lower classmen, you know, like, we're all on an even playing field. Anyone could say anything they want. Right. Whatever they want, no matter how young or old they were. And it was respected, you know?

[Zach Bond]

Yeah. I think that's what helped me, is you, like, you guys allowing me to talk and ask questions.

[Reed Blankenship]

I mean. Yeah. That's all we. We want. We want to see success. We want. Like, that's one thing I feel like this team has, like, regardless of who you are, like, what position you play, you might have played the same position as me. I want to still see you have success. You know what I'm saying? So, like, you have that.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, bro.

[Zach Bond]

What was your first impressions of me and Reed? When. When you first.

[Cooper DeJean]

When he first met us, of the exciting whites? Yeah. I was quiet. I was quiet. I was quiet.

[Reed Blankenship]

Did you even know my name?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, I knew. Come on, man.

[Zach Bond]

I don't think I really talked to Zach.

[Cooper DeJean]

I didn't talk to Zach.

[Reed Blankenship]

I'll be honest.

[Cooper DeJean]

It was with you, Reed. It's interesting because I played with a guy in New Orleans, Pete Werner, and I used to clown him. Every time you came up on the screen, we saw your guys tape. I'm like, you guys are like the same person. And now meeting you, you guys aren't the same person, but it was just funny.

[Reed Blankenship]

Thanks, man. Means a lot.

[Cooper DeJean]

And then, Coop, you were hurt.

[Zach Bond]

I was hurt.

[Cooper DeJean]

You were hurt. So I was like, I need to see this guy. It's probably so fresh. Yeah, yeah. You see him? The Bengals game?

[Reed Blankenship]

Him?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Everybody did.

[Reed Blankenship]

Fresh legs.

[Cooper DeJean]

I was. I was excited. I was excited. I. I hadn't watched your film or I haven't seen. Heard a lot about you, but you got here and you got right to work. You understood the defense. You understood the defense faster than, like, I ever seen anyone. And playing nickel, that is not an easy spot to play, fit in the run.

[Zach Bond]

What's your favorite part about Philly, though? What was your first impressions when you first got here? And, like, did you know anything about the fan base?

[Reed Blankenship]

How passionate, like, is going from New Orleans to here? Or is it kind of like the same atmosphere?

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, it's different for sure. Outside the stadium, New Orleans didn't have, like, a parking lot, so it wasn't really like a tailgating culture. It was more of, like, just walking. It is nice where walk in and the fans are partying. They're. They're wearing. They were wearing Saints gear, but most of them were, like, just dressed up, wearing black and gold, just, like, partying at the games and it gets loud. But here, yeah, the fans are different.

[Reed Blankenship]

If you don't say fans are different. If you don't say go birds. To somebody, they're like, you're not.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, I see it every time I'm walking around. So birds. Go birds.

[Reed Blankenship]

Go birds.

[Zach Bond]

I'll be like, go, birds.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, it's the best.

[Cooper DeJean]

The best way I've heard it described is passionate. They're just passionate. Win or lose, they're passionate.

[Zach Bond]

That's how I describe it.

[Cooper DeJean]

And when we're getting booed, I'm like, we deserve to get booed. Like, we gotta step our shit up.

[Reed Blankenship]

No, you're right.

[Zach Bond]

So you come here in free agency, and we go throughout the whole season. You play in New Orleans, obviously, week three, and then we end up making to the Super Bowl. We're back in New Orleans. What was that moment like, knowing, you know, that you had played there?

[Cooper DeJean]

You couldn't write it any better.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

And it was cool winning that game early on in the Superdome because I kind of got those feelings out, you know, Like, I went, I've been there. I've been back. We won. All right, let's forget about it.

[Reed Blankenship]

Well, first time back.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Cooper DeJean]

But Sean Payton came back last year. He's a head coach in Denver now. Came back to New Orleans. I was watching the game. I barely ever watch NFL games, but I watched that one, and he had a comment that's like, it's only special if you win the game. You know? So that was kind of my mentality going into it.

[Zach Bond]

What were your favorite moments from the whole Super Bowl? Like, the game and the celebration. Do you have any.

[Cooper DeJean]

The parade. The parade.

[Reed Blankenship]

What were you.

[Cooper DeJean]

The parade. I was. I don't even know where I was. I don't even know where I was. I was out. I was in. I was out. I was in.

[Reed Blankenship]

I have no idea where any of it. Like, obviously the people on our bus. I do. But, like, other than that, I had no idea where anybody else was until the steps. And by that time, everybody's laying up, laying down, ready to go home.

[Cooper DeJean]

Oh, I was, dude. I was.

[Reed Blankenship]

You was one of those.

[Cooper DeJean]

I was out. I was. I was down bad. Like.

[Zach Bond]

But anyways, the game, though. I remember seeing the mic'd up video after the game of. Of you calling out your. Your interception. That was. That was kind of sick. I love the. The Bald Eagle celebration. Yeah, that's what that is, right?

[Cooper DeJean]

I just started doing that. Yeah, that's what that is. The Bald Eagle.

[Zach Bond]

I feel like it is.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Like, when. What game was it?

[Cooper DeJean]

I don't know. I was trying to figure out what celebration I want because I wanted to have my celebration. Sweaty's got his, and Owen started to get his going. I'm like, I need something. And the Bald Eagle.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, now you got it, dude. That's so tough, though.

[Zach Bond]

It is tough.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. Someone. People were calling it. Calling me the Bald Eagle in my Instagram comments. I'm like, being bald, you either got to just embrace. Embrace it or forever.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

Be guilt. Like, I don't know.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Let it haunt you.

[Cooper DeJean]

Let it haunt you. So I just embrace it.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

I feel like I got a good shaped head.

[Reed Blankenship]

You do.

[Cooper DeJean]

That was genuine.

[Reed Blankenship]

I'm gonna be real with you.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

So obviously after the season, you sign, you send the, the big three year deal to bring you back to Philly. What was, what was that process like? And what is, like, what did that mean to you to be able to come back here, you know where. To a place that kind of, you know, you got your, you got your swagger back, I guess.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah, it was tough because you want to get paid what you deserve and you. I also didn't want to leave. Yeah. And it was just. It all aligned perfectly where they were able to meet me, where I wanted to be, and I get to stay here. So it was an easy, easy choice for me to be like, yeah, I'm coming back to Philly. How can you win a Super Bowl? You know, it's tough.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah, I know it's tough, but.

[Cooper DeJean]

Crazy. Crazy.

[Zach Bond]

What have you. Have you bought anything? Cool.

[Reed Blankenship]

You a spender.

[Cooper DeJean]

I'm not a spender. I'm not a spender. I drive my, my 2020 Honda Accord.

[Reed Blankenship]

Nice.

[Cooper DeJean]

I drive my Honda Accord.

[Zach Bond]

Honda Accord.

[Cooper DeJean]

I do.

[Zach Bond]

I see you driving a Jeep around.

[Cooper DeJean]

That's, that's my wife. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

What do you think your, your motivation is to, you know, coming back now, you know, for, for this next season?

[Cooper DeJean]

For me, it's always been like, personal, like a competitor. I'm driven internally to just be the best at whatever I'm trying to do. And then obviously watching last year tape from last year, like, I had 150 tackles or whatever, but I'm like, but I missed 29 of them. You know, I could have had this or I, I dropped this or I could have punched at the ball here. So I thought there's always stuff to get better at and.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

And I think we have a lot to do as a defense too.

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, yeah.

[Cooper DeJean]

Like, to think that was our all of our first year in that scheme.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

100% crazy.

[Cooper DeJean]

Like, what are we gonna do next year? Like, I know already I feel like we're miles ahead of where we were last year at this time.

[Reed Blankenship]

No, we're miles ahead, which is a good thing. Great thing.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

We're having these high, high level conversations in OTAs.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

We haven't really been thrown in the fire.

[Zach Bond]

We're not even like planning for who we're like our offense.

[Reed Blankenship]

Like, it's a lot of what ifs.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

That could help us, which is good. Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

To have those conversations.

[Cooper DeJean]

Yeah.

[Reed Blankenship]

Major shout out to Zach Bond for joining us on episode five of the Exciting Mics.

[Zach Bond]

Make sure to follow Zach Bond, apzb, the bald eagle on social media at.

[Reed Blankenship]

Zack Bond, Capital Z, Capital B. Ck.

[Zach Bond]

Ck.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah. Appreciate you, bro.

[Zach Bond]

Appreciate you coming on tomorrow.

[Cooper DeJean]

Thanks for having me. See you tomorrow.

[Zach Bond]

Tomorrow, brother. All right, we are back with another fan Q and A today. Our first guest is Mikayla Mitchell. Okay, so I was asking, if your life was made into a movie, who would play you?

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, I got two. You go first or me. I got two people.

[Zach Bond]

If my life was a movie, I think Reed Blankenship would play me in the movie.

[Reed Blankenship]

Let's be real, though. A real movie star. Mine would be Matt Damon or Bradley Cooper.

[Zach Bond]

Mine would be Miles Teller. Oh, I would want Miles Teller to play me in a movie just because I love Miles Teller. Okay. And we kind of know we don't. We don't look like. Do you think I look like Miles Teller at all? Maybe like a little bit. Maybe? She said maybe like a little bit. I know we both got curly hair. Anyways, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. Great question. I still think Reed should play me in. In a movie about my life, but I guess he doesn't want to.

[Reed Blankenship]

I will. I don't care.

[Zach Bond]

Anyways, thank you.

[Reed Blankenship]

Appreciate it.

[Zach Bond]

Great to meet you. Go birds.

[Reed Blankenship]

Our next guest on the show will be Mr. Mike Buchanan. What do you got for us today? Well, obviously this past year was amazing.

[Zach Bond]

With the pinnacle being the Super Bowl. But I feel like my favorite thing about this year was how great you guys were as a team on and off the field. So I guess my question is, when you guys joined the Eagles, who was.

[Cooper DeJean]

The teammate that really made you feel welcome and how?

[Zach Bond]

So that was a. Well, that was a very well phrased question.

[Reed Blankenship]

I got a handful of guys.

[Zach Bond]

You can go first in my room.

[Reed Blankenship]

I'll just go to my room. So I had James Bradbury, Avante Maddox, Andre Chachere, Marcus Epps, Slay Anthony Harris. Dude, that's six guys off the bat. You're talking about bringing somebody in, like, under their wing, dude. Great. Phenomenal. And I talk about them all the time because people ask me, you know, and when I tell you, dude, they showed me the way. And, like, especially at Marcus Epps and Andre Chachere, like, I had questions all the time. Like, I could go ask them about anything and they'll tell me. So shout out to those guys, man.

[Zach Bond]

Teammate. That made me feel most welcome. It's probably the guy sitting right next to me. He helped me. He helped me open up and feel, you know, part of the guys.

[Reed Blankenship]

Appreciate you.

[Zach Bond]

He was talking shit to me every day, even though he didn't even know me.

[Reed Blankenship]

That's one way to get to know somebody.

[Zach Bond]

But now. Now we go back and forth, so it's. So it's great. So Reed Slay, probably. He taught me a lot on the field, that's for sure. Then Avante. Maddox also. I'd say those guys, you know, really made me feel welcome and helped me feel comfortable in. In the locker room and. And on the field. Yeah. So it was great.

[Reed Blankenship]

Great teammates. That's a good question. Like, that's a great question.

[Zach Bond]

Appreciate that, brother. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Of course. Appreciate it.

[Reed Blankenship]

Hey, what's up, guys? What's up, man?

[Zach Bond]

Hey, this is Clark.

[Cooper DeJean]

I'm a big fan of the show.

[Zach Bond]

How do you. How do you pronounce your last name?

[Reed Blankenship]

Francesa. Francesa. Wait, who.

[Zach Bond]

What's going on here?

[Reed Blankenship]

Hey, you got a dollar waiting on.

[Zach Bond]

A dime over here? Do you guys? Go ahead.

[Cooper DeJean]

Go ahead, bro.

[Zach Bond]

We got our last guest for the fan Q&A. His name's Clark. He's joining us right now with his captain. What kind of hat you got on? Captain hat on. And the shades. What do you got for us?

[Reed Blankenship]

You don't want to say my last name? You're scared to mess it up. Don't you guys like editing?

[Zach Bond]

I'm scared to mess it up.

[Cooper DeJean]

I'm scared of it.

[Reed Blankenship]

Can you hear? Hey, go hurt you more.

[Zach Bond]

Clark or Mark.

[Reed Blankenship]

The name's Clark.

[Zach Bond]

You figure out the last name, buddy.

[Reed Blankenship]

Bro, I didn't know what he said. Rose branches.

[Zach Bond]

See, it says something on the screen and then you pronounce it a different way. So I was. I was a little. A little confused there.

[Reed Blankenship]

Oh, dude.

[Zach Bond]

But yeah, I got a question.

[Reed Blankenship]

I used to live at Penrose and. What is it? Patterson and Penrose. Right by the Penrose Diner.

[Zach Bond]

Have you guys been.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah. Penrose Diner. Shout out. Dude, I used to go there all the time. Yeah, that place is money. Ms. Cynthia. The diner mall. But yeah, the real question is, speaking for all Birds fans, we going back to back. Are we? Just everybody's got their own show now.

[Cooper DeJean]

You know, we're turning into the Chiefs.

[Reed Blankenship]

You know, everybody's a superstar.

[Cooper DeJean]

I got a microphone, I got a buddy. We start a podcast.

[Zach Bond]

Yeah, we get it. You're champs. Come on.

[Cooper DeJean]

That's tough.

[Zach Bond]

What's the deal? What do we got? I think I think we're just going to focus on going back to work and, you know, putting. Putting in the daily deposits each and every day.

[Reed Blankenship]

Yeah.

[Zach Bond]

Yep. Thanks for joining us, Clark. Appreciate that.

[Reed Blankenship]

Thank you, Clark.

[Zach Bond]

It's Clark. Thanks, Clark. Love you guys. Bye.

[Reed Blankenship]

See you.

[Zach Bond]

I knew you guys were fucking with us.

[Reed Blankenship]

Everybody started laughing. I'm like.

[Zach Bond]

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Exciting Mics.

[Reed Blankenship]

Remember to, like, comment and subscribe to our YouTube and wherever you want to.

[Zach Bond]

Watch our podcast, drop your questions in the comment section below. And you could be joining us next week live in the episode to ask us your questions.

[Reed Blankenship]

And we always say this. We appreciate your love and support, and we'll see you next week.

[Cooper DeJean]

Sam.