Big thanks to Macnut101 for posting this interview in another thread.Some really good stuff here...* * * * *ESPN NFL Insider Louis Riddick covers Marcus Mariota's NFL combine interviews, impressions of Jameis Winston at the combine and the body types of Mariota and Winston.Who is Riddick? From wiki...Louis Riddick (born March 14, 1969) is a former American football safety in the NFL from 1991 to 1998. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the ninth round of the 1991 NFL Draft. He played college football at Pittsburgh. He also played for the Sacramento Surge, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders and Orlando Rage in his playing career. After his playing career ended, he became a pro scout for the Washington Redskins for four years before being promoted to Director of Pro Personnel. He was hired by the Eagles as a pro scout in 2008. He was promoted to Director of Pro Personnel on February 3, 2010. As of September 2013, he is an on-air talent for ESPN.* * * * *It's more fun to listen to Riddick and his enthusiasm but I transcribed it for those who would rather read it or who can't listen to audio at work or wherever. http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=12352653 Mike Greenberg: Let's go live to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis and bring in our front office insider, Louis Riddick, who does a terrific job for us. And, Louis, you were effusive in your praise of Marcus Mariota, at least through the interview process, from what you heard. Give us a sense of what you're hearing from people, about how Mariota has performed so far. Obviously, he hasn't done anything on the field.But the first impression he's given people.Louis Riddick: Yeah and it's just that Mike - it's the first impression. And look, I don't think anybodies' surprised over how composed and how mature Marcus is. I think what it was is there's been some people who have been even more surprised or just pleasantly surprised at how much in command he is as far as where he's coming from and where he still needs to go. His grasp of NFL concepts. His ability to take information, regurgitate it back out to them, pro-style verbiage and then talk about defensive concepts, where the ball needs to go, what his progressions are like, what kind of footwork he needs to use...and all the different kind of things just fundamentally that all go into playing the quarterback position. People were just blown away at just how dialed in he was about, again, where he is coming from and where he still needs to get to. And people think that sky is just the absolute limit for him. They just come out of the interview going, I want to work with that kid. I want to work with that kid right there. Danny: Now Louis, I gave you a little bit of a hard time this morning saying there was some hyperbole there...cause there was a phrase that came out that said, one of the best interviews ever. Is that what you were saying or is it just what you're hearing?Riddick: No, no, no... That's what I've heard. And I'll tell you what...listen, Danny I sat in on Russell Wilson's interview. I sat in on Sam Bradford's interview...which were two of the best I had ever seen as far as guys again, making a great first impression, understanding what it was offensively that they were asked to do in college and what they knew they were going to be asked to do in the pros. And when people starting throwing pro-style schematics, pro-style verbiage at them, they were able to talk that language very, very quickly. Those were two of the best that I had seen, at the time.Guys who were interviewing him (Mariota) so far yesterday were guys who I know and respect as far as how they teach the quarterback position in particular. And they came out of there saying, Lou, you remember Russell Wilson? This kid is just as good if not better. I mean, one of the best I have ever seen. They were just blown way. They think that putting him in the box of a spread-style quarterback, so to speak, which seems to be where people are trying to put him right now until proven otherwise, they think is a big mistake. And I'll just add one more thing. I spent about an hour yesterday talking with Chip Kelly about Marcus and just about football in general. And he talked about, if you remember, back during the national championship game on the pre-game show, he talked about just how advanced this kid was at a young age, as far as being able to read progressions in the passing game. And he says he thinks it's a big mistake for people to think that this is just a read one, read two and take off and run. He says he is not that at all. He will surprise people with just how good he will be in a pro-style offense.Danny: What's the buzz been around Jameis Winston's interview process?Riddick: You know, again, same thing. Jameis is a different style. Jameis is flamboyant. Jameis is very, very confident. But at the same time, extremely football smart...knew exactly what was being asked of him in Jimbo Fisher's offense. And really, they said that he had a grasp of the kind of concepts they were running down there unlike they had seen before either. He could talk football all day long. And when they started putting their own verbiage, their own language to use in the interview process, he was able to assimilate that into the things that he had already been taught. No one had any concerns as far as his ability to hit the ground running in pro-style offense. The same as what you see on the film already. I mean, the projection is not nearly as, let's say, iffy so to speak, cause you see Jameis doing it at Florida State, but they've come away impressed with him as well.Greenberg: Speaking of the two big quarterbacks, there has been a lot made of Jameis Winston and his weight. There was that picture that circulated over the weekend. What are you hearing people say about that? And on the flip side, Mariota, Danny was describing him this morning as potentially a bit on the slight side. So, what are your thoughts on the body frames of those two guys, what you're hearing from the evaluators and how you think it will affect them going forward?Riddick: Sure. It was obvious that you could see, from what I've been told, that Jameis had cut weight before he got here in order to get his weight down to an area where people thought, you know, at two-hundred-thirty-something pounds, was acceptable. His body type is, you know, one guy described it to me as being a bit doughy, as being a bit soft. Someone who really doesn't get in the weight room. Someone who really, right now, has not put an a lot of emphasis on the weight training aspect of it. And it's something, you know, they consider him to be a big boned, thick type of kid, who, from a body type perspective, is conducive to maybe potentially having weight problems if you don't pay attention to it and you're not strict with your diet and you're not strict with your training regimen. So, those are all things that they're going to ask him about incessantly while he's here. They're gonna to ask him about...what's your training program, what are you dong between now and the draft and what's going to be your plan as far as keeping your weight under control once you're in the NFL?Marcus, on the other hand, I'll tell you this: people kind of look at him and again, put him in the box of someone who's tall, slender, maybe he'd have some durability problems. A couple of people told me the same thing, and these are guys who I respect highly, guys who I know very well who said, he is a lot thicker and a lot more muscular than you think. When you look at him come up on the stage in shorts, and that's it, the kid is thick. The kid is put together now. So, that is a very rock solid two-hundred and twenty something pounds that kind of caught people off guard.
