Khalil Herbert talks OTAs, adjusting to NFL | All Access

We'll talk about all of those things tonight because there's more football coming apparently next and next spring. Now one but two leagues. Now we'll walk down memory land with my broadcast partner from news Radio seven eighty and one oh five point OUTFMWBBM, Tim Fair. But the focus tonight is the Bears. After a week of OTA's big time, we got a chance to see them on Wednesday up

at Hattlesa, like we will next weekend. We'll touch on those topics with Jim Miller from Serious x MNFL Radio coming up at six ZH eight and then at the bottom of the hour, one of the Bear's rookie classmates, Kelly Herbert, the running back. We're very impressed with he'll be joining us at six thirty time. Good evening. How

you doing, big, Jeff, I'm good. It's exciting to see the guys on the field, in their cleats, inside of a huddle, breaking the huddle, running patterns downfield, look in the defense that Sean Desai is gonna put together, and see what his formula of attack is. So there's a lot of building blocks that when you're witnessed too, from day one, it's interesting to see how these guys throughout the process within a week, within three weeks, and then

when you get ready to go to training camp. So it is an exciting time, but it's no more exciting than for the draft choices, for the young guys, the guys that are fighting for position, some of the guys that have been traded to the Bears. So you know, it's exciting to look at the development the growth of some of these young guys and Obama for desk new Sim suffered a shoulder injury, so he's going to be out of it. I feel bad for him, obviously, that's

a part of the game. And you know Daz's you know, has to show some resiliency here that he's willing to do the work that it takes to recover from this injury, but it's not going to diminish what he's capable of achieving in the long run of his career. You know, you go up and you try to make a catch for your quarterback and you awkwardly fall down, and you know that's always the threat of the game. However, I still think we're gonna be able to talk a lot

about Daz Newsome and the development of his career. All right, here's what we do on these shows, right, we take a look at back at what's going on over the course of the week in terms of interviews that were made available to the media, and Andy Dalton was one of them as he met the media for the first time as a bare quarterback and got a chance to see him and watch him play and already earned the

nickname of the Fiery Redhead from head coach Matt Nagy. Well, I think it comes with experience and you know, understanding how things should look and playing the position of quarterback, you're obviously going to have a voice. But then you throw the experience and you know how long I've been doing this into the mix too. And you know, I think it's you're in that leadership position and you want to make sure things are going the right way. And so I'm sure that's what he's alluding to with the

fiery redhead comments. But um, you know, I'm trying to do everything I can to to make us the best team that we will be come come to fall. And frankly, I want my quarterback to be able to challenge the skill position players, the receivers to be in the right place at the right time. It can't just be the head coach. It's got to be the quarterback. This is

only not only the receivers. Jeff, I remember getting yelled at, scolded face to face by Jim McMahon at Denver Bronco's Monday night game and it still lingers with me because he's the guy that took the abuse of my mistake. And so when you talk about Andy Dalton and now he's trying to take this big lab of clay and molded into an offense that works efficiently, hey, then everything can't be said on a you know, as he's trying

to earn the sash of mister Congeniality. It's about making sure this is the best team possible come Week one against against the Rams as their opponent. So um, that's kind of the fun part of being involved in sports, and one of the challenges is that you're gonna get yelled at in front of your peers, buy one of your peers, or you're gonna be encouraged, whatever the case is.

It's always a part of the growth process. All right, what you do in that Monday that game, I gave up a sack I think to Michael Dean Perry to Jim McMahon on a three step drop that he should have never got in and I had just enough time to turn and yell look out and he hit him and uh yeah, the abuse just bullrush. Now, if you tell me bullrush man, I'll be disappointed. Grab my wrist and turn my body. And the rest was McMahon, the history of getting in. I'd like to hear these old stories.

We'll get more from Jim Miller. Coming up next, This is Bears All Access with our producer Sean Anderson. I'm Jeff Joniyak with Tom there on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score and welcome back to Bears All Access. We are brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at igs dot com because every

good choice adds up to a better world. With Tom Bear, Jeff Jonyak welcoming in from SYBA, Sex Time, NFL Radios, moving the chains, Jim Miller, the former Chicago Bears quarterback. Good evening, Jim, how's this June third treating you? Everything's going good, Jeff, Tom always good to talk football with you, guys. Yeah, a lot going on. It never ends in the NFL. It's always twenty four seven. It'll start to quiet down

after these last OTAs in mini camps finish up. But it sounds like a lot of teams are getting you know, just the volume of players. There is a high attendance rate, and that's a that's a good thing, and it tells you that the players are motivated to go and put in the work and have a successful season. Yeah, you know, as a football fan, I don't want it to slow down. I don't mind if it goes right up. Maybe a couple of weeks in July, let me have a summer vacation.

But other than that, I'm good with it. I'm good with it. I'm gonna poke this to you in your direction here with Andy Dalton and what Matteggie had to say yesterday Jim about his job and what I essentially call and I don't mean this in a demeaning way at all, but he is a point guard type of quarterback. And I think the explanation is really there on the

table with this bite from Matteggie yesterday. We have a lot of young wide receivers and so they're saying that if you don't get your tail to that spot, he's gonna throw to football. And if you're not there and it's an incompletion and it's your fault, then we got to figure out, you know, are we gonna keep letting that happen or we're gonna get somebody else? And that's kind of that's what I think is need to see. And Andy he's got a red hair too, so he's

like he's got that fire, you know. He's like he said, he'll get pissed now and tell you if if you do something wrong, he's gonna tell you. I kind of like that. It sounds like a Jim Miller quarterback right there. But in terms of the fiery emotion that players like to follow. In terms of that, is that selling him short at all when I when I say point guard quarterback because distributing the ball, getting into the guys that

are open, and being there on time and on target. No, I think Andy's a better athlete than what people give him credit for. The guys got twenty two rushing touchdowns. It was interesting we had a call or call in h you know, thinking really highly of Jamis Winston and hiring guard. He thought Jamies should be rated that the

third best quarterback in football for his athleticism. And I'm like, what, I'm like, He goes, well, probably just Russell Wilson and uh Patrick Mahomes are ahead of him, and and that's about it. And I go, what about uh, you know, guys like Aaron Rodgers who was the league VP, or

the athleticism of Josh Allen. And so I went through in some numbers last night, I would put Andy Dalton ahead of Jamie's two on that list, you know, Derek Carr, all these guys, And he's got twenty two rushing touchdowns for his career, so he can move around, he can extend plays, and he's always been a good athlete. But I think what's what's critical about Andy He's always been a very good processor of information. People forget he was

thrust into lineup early. You know, Carson Palmer was retiring. They drafted Andy Dalton. He had to play right away, and he played well his rookie season as a Cincinnati Bengal. So, but Andy knows two because he's a timing and rhythm guy, because he is an accurate passer, he needs those guys to be at that that spot when he can get rid of the football. There's always that time clock that is going off in your head. And I think he's got the leadership and he can elevate guys, uh you know,

their play to bring him that to that level. Again, he's he's led teams to the postseason numerous times and has played at a very high level his entire NFL career. He's kind of gets short changed how good he really is as a quarterback. Tom hous that impact the O line, well, you know, the old line wants a count on. The offense is gonna move according to the direction that they have, you know, been instructed up front, whether it's protection or

the running game. And Andy Dalton, they have to know that he's going to be in the area where they expect him to be in depending upon the design of the protection. When you have a quarterback that you're uncertain where he's going to be behind you, you're just susceptible to giving up sacks. It changes, It changes the most dominant part of the protection. So again it's a part of what you know. Great quarterbacks are capable of where

you want him to be. You want to make sure they're in the right position when you break the huddle according to again, according to the protection. All right, and high praise for Justin fields from Matt Naggie. Justin wants to do right now. It's football. That's all he cares about. He just wants to be the best quarterback he can possibly be. He wants us to be able to teach him everything we can teach him. He wants to be able to learn from Andy. Coach Flip and coach Laser

are doing a phenomenal job right now. Man, You want to talk about obsessed and passionate about helping these quarterbacks out. So it's neat to see you feel it. And we just got to keep that going and again work to that plan that we talked about with all those quarterbacks, and then just let these guys grow at their own pace and then let us be able to evaluate them quarterback.

That's the greatest thing about these guys being in the building because every second they're sponging the information they're getting from all the different directions, all the different coaches. They're able to talk to the players about football, and you want to be able to talk about your job and

how it affects their job. And when you're a young quarterback like this and you're in the development stages of the NFL, whether it's talking about the cadence, talking about the huddle, talking about the running game, the passing game, you know, it's nice to see that you have a guy that his main sole interest right now is football and Jimmy Sandwich between two veteran quarterbacks that are accomplished with Andy Dalton as the starter and Nick Foles as

the number three, and that conversation took place. It's probably never easy to hear, is it. Well, yeah, it is never easy to hear. But I think they're going to break up the reps, you know, and he'll get a ton of work. Again, I don't think they want to. They're trying to force feed him, but yet they gotta go at the pace where the players, you know, willing to have growth every single every every single day. And I think having the veterans because I think both those

guys are great teammates. I've pre heard nothing but great things about Nick Foles, no matter no matter where he's been, about his locker room presence, how hopeful he is as as a player. And Andy Dalton. I mentioned Paul Alexander, who coached with him. You know, raves about Andy Dalton and his ability to lead and help out teammates. So this guy is insulated very well with guys who have played the game, have had success in the league and know how to approach the position and know how to

prepare themselves four games. So out of ranking all the all the quarterback rooms this offseason, Bears are definitely in the top ten. And I'm just waiting to see what happens down in Houston because if DeShawn Watson's note no longer there, Bears would be in top five of quarterback rooms were on the NFL. That's all good. I think that position is right now for Chicago. One thing I don't like about OTAs if there is such a thing of not liking them, because as a football person, I'd

like to see everybody on the field. But the media gets one day a week out of the you know, week long festivities, and then that's their snapshot of performance. Who's doing well, who's not, And sometimes that gets lost in the conversation a little bit for the readers or the listeners. And you know, who's there at the given time. You know, that doesn't mean they haven't been there. We

don't have the attendance of what exactly is there. But yesterday there was one defensive starter in Roquan Smith, so a lot of the defensive guys not I'm assuming you know that that that that's a story that people are gonna latch onto. But Jim, don't you think that's a one thing the league makes a little bit unfair on its own players and coaching staffs. What just the day analysis is on one one day one week. Yeah, and

you're you're right. I mean, you know, guys that don't show up, I mean they may they may have had something else planned that that day. I mean, you know, so I don't think you can you can really just take that that one day as as as a whole. It's really about the collective. If a player shows up, you know, typically teams want you to be there ninety

percent of the time. And I think for the players, most of those players are coming in right at that number at about ninety percent of the time because you got workout bonuses and things tied to the contract that where a player can can make some money. So they're going to make certain that they do their part and in order to get compensated. But yet they're still jelly with the team and creating that cambaraderie things that are so important that you've got to build in the offseason.

And primarily it is geared more towards the young players, the first and second year players that are looking to take a jump. You want the veterans there because they're the ones that pull those guys along to see how it's done, and they see how you're working and maybe the reps and they're still breaking down the tape and see how the veterans doing it, and so that they can their process of growing can be broad around a lot quickly. So you know, I don't look at it

that way. I've been pretty amazed at the participation, at the participation rates of the entire NFL. I think, you know, the NFLPA really programmed the players all you should opt out and all those things, and Bruce Arians kind of put it out there on the thing, Hey, man, if you're a veteran not coming here, these young guys, they're working to take your job, and so that factors in as well. And I think overall, spend a great motivation

motivating factor and why you've seen great attendance rates. I always always motivated by the fear of losing my job. And if I was a veteran, if I was a friend fringe veteran, I'd be living at these OTAs. I'd be taking every possible rep that I could I could get. If I was inside of a defense that's learning from a new defensive coordinator, I would want to I would want to learn all the information efficiently and be on the field in order to get those no pad reps.

I you know, my football career, I've loved nopad football because it was the greatest time for camaraderie. Yeah you were out there learning, Yeah you were exhausted, you were going through conditioning, but you know, there wasn't gonna be any collisions that we're gonna was gonna chase change the course of your career, and I known das new some you know fell awkwardly when he and he did hurt

his break his collar bone. However, you know, just the whole building blocks of no pad football is fun and so I look forward to it. All right, that's time there, Jim Miller, Jeff Joniak. As we move on here on Bears All Access, We're brought to you by IGS Energy. Here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by

CDW people who get it. Jeff and Tom and Jim Miller from Serious XM NFL Radio is moving the chains with Pat Kerwin and coming up in moments running back Cladil Herbert, the Bear's sixth round pick. Focus on running game right now. David Montgomery yesterday was quite opened and ripped open the curtain a little bit on his own performance in twenty twenty. Like I said, I don't think I was vocal enough and I don't think I left

it all on the foot as I should. Add I think I could have done better for my guys around me. You know, I think I saw him for a little bit. But that's the day off seasons for for me to go back and get to the drawing board and trying to fix the things that I felt as if I didn't do all one and just trying to improve them. I know this year, I'm not here to let my

guys down, and I'm here for whatever may come my way. Well, fellas, he wants to be more of a leader and be one not just for the running back room, but for the entire team. He's got that in him. Obviously, that's what he was at Iowa State. Culture changer type of guy, but the rare guy that admits that, you know what, I think I left a little bit on the table last year on the field, quite the admission he finished strong in the final six. How do you take those

comments big time? You know, I'm super impressed with everything I've seen out of David Montgomery up unto this point. But now I'm even more impressed with David Montgomery from listening to him talk about his own performance and how he's not necessarily one hundred percent satisfied and he has room for growth and improvement, because look, man, this guy's legit. He's a first, second, third down back. He does everything that's required of him, and he does it at a

high level. And just for him to inspire himself to work harder, it says a lot what he can do for the bearers, Jim. Sometimes you might have a guy that just says that, you know, words are words, but you know he backs it up. He is this type of player. I would not think anything other than the truth from him on this one and how he evaluates himself because this goes back to his roots in Cincinnati growing up. Yeah. Well, we know coming out of college

he broke a ton of tackles. I mean that he was the number one player in the country from that standpoint overall, I'm with you, Jeff. I thought he finished real strong. I mean, he can finish six overall in the NFL. He probably wants to get to double digit touchdowns. Thinks he's capable of that, and I think he believes he's capable of more explosive plays. He had five plus

twenty yard explosive runs in two plus forty. You look at other guys around the league, they're ripping off of like four when he got guys like Delvin Cook and guys like Aaron Jones, And I think David Montgomery has that type of ability where he can have more explosive plays. It's all got to come together as one. That the you know, that was kind of disjointed and how the season was, but he did kick it in gear down the stretch and WI finished so strong, and he says

he's working out his speed. This office probably the best speed runner in the world. The name is Chris Corfus. He's actually teaching me how to run. Like I'm twenty three years old, getting ready to turn twenty four here soon a couple of days. But I have not know I've not been able to run properly the entire of my life, me not really realizing how I didn't know how to run. He's definitely like clear that image up for me and it's definitely helping me out a lot.

Another crazy admission when you think about it. Then our Mark Roady, you had a follow up question. You know what specifically has this individual his speed coach taught him. He said, well, you know, I have to. It's like giving up my mama's chicken recipe, fried chicken recipe. I'm not gonna do it. And you know that's the competitive advantage of a lot of guys don't want to tell you exactly what they did in the offseason, but Toms,

that's an interesting takeaway as well from David Mountmory. But I hope you're able to compliment the weight room with the style of running that he's being encouraged to use, because I don't, you know, the one thing I don't want to a track coach to tell me how to run fast and then it gets me out of the weight room. Because the recovery ability of David Montgomery, the abuse his yards after contact. It's because he has such a strong, dominant running back frame in the weight room

is needed as much as his running ability. So I hope each compliments each other and one doesn't take away from the other. Well, like anything, I don't think you can assume everything. I remember a few years ago when Prince Amukamara admitted, he goes, you know, we were questioning about the lack of an interceptions and he goes, I

really didn't learn how to catch a football. So I got here to the Chicago Bears and it was Eddie donatell said, you know, you just you figure a player, as you know, this guy was on a world championship team with the Giants. You just assume he knows how to catch a football, and it was Eddie donatell taught him out of Hey, you know, if the ball's low, you know, put your pinkies together. If the ball's high, put your thumbs together. And he got on the jugs

machine and learn and learned how to catch. And I think that year he got four interceptions for the Chicago Bears. So you can't assume everything just because David Montgomery has played running back. You know, there's a technique to running where you know how you you know, pump your arms that you can accelerate quicker and things like that. But he still has to come away with, you know, things about avoiding tackles and you're going to be at awkward angles.

But the the just the style and the technique of running. You know, he's trying to better himself. And so I

give him a lot of credit from that standpoint. Hey, fellas, real quick before I hit this break, did you guys gets and your exit interviews every year or if you had them, because now it sounds like everybody does and they get this is what you want, we want you to work on or this why don't you wanted to add this, lose this in terms of way to or did you guys look yourselves in there and say I need to do this specific aspect of my job better and out. This is one of my work out of

the off season. Time you first and what is it to me? It was always what is Clyde Amer going to do with me in the off season? How is he going to make me a stronger football player? And then we took it to the field and we're able to convert weight room strength into into running coordination. Jim Jim, Yeah, I think you know, definitely when the Bearers went to the West Coast offense under John Chop, I knew I was gonna have to work a lot on my footwork.

I was kind of laxadaisical in my in my dropbacks, but in that system because it's a lot of it is a timing and rhythm. Your feet's got to be your feet have to be like pistons and you know, in an engine. And I literally in one off season so that's all I did, is just a tough footwork and drops and things like that. And I literally came back the next fall. I was at the training camp and I'm watching myself on tape, and I'm like, that doesn't even look like me. You know, I look like

a whole new player, you know it did. I just looked like a totally different player from what I was and what I worked on and then how I applied it after and you definitely could see the improvement coming up next, Cadille Herbert, Bears sixth round running back, joins the program with Sean Anderson, our producer. I'm Jeff Joniac with Tom There and Jim Miller here on Bears All

Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by Athletico Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an appointment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow. Welcome back to Bears All Access here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score with Top There, Jim and our Jeff Joniac and our special guest Tonight, Bears rookie running back and

he's a good one. Godille Herbert joining the program from Virginia Tech after a career at Kansas and hellel thanks for taking the time to join us. Now you're getting your your feet wet and settling down. Watching you both at a rookie mini camp and then watching you at the OTA this past Wednesday, I commented the top there. You know, it's interesting when you read about a guy or watch a guy, but seeing them up close. You are a thick side running back and you are very

impressive in terms of how you move out there. It's on a five nine two ten frame. I don't know if that's your current weight, but obviously you got a lot to you otherwise they're not giving you the nickname Juice, right, Yeah, definitely, definitely I appreciate that. Yeah, I feel like just being able to be that size and that weight, but definitely being able to move and run and run fast helps me on. That's kind of how I got the nickname. Two questions is the gift of the size is that?

Are you? Are you a weight room invested guy throughout being a young guy? Number one? And number two. Every complimentary thing I read about you until we have a chance to watch you was about your vision, and i've viously your vision has to transfer well when you did transfer college programs, but how long does that vision take to catch up to a new system now that you're in the Bear system. Yeah, you know, I definitely think it just comes with reps um. The same thing happened

when I left Kansas to VT. Just getting in the offense, getting comfortable with the names, the terminology, the formation is the plays um. So then once you're once you're comfortable with with the offense, you're able to go out there and play fast and just lay lay your talents do what they do. Um. So, really just becoming comfortable with the offense, I think that I'll start to um slow things down for me and allow me to just go out there and play and use my abilities to help

me out. Well, Khalil Jim Miller here, welcome to Chicago, and you look at that you mentioned transferring. You have just a breakout season and what I love about you, dude, you don't fumble. Man. I mean you had over five hundred carries and and you coughed up the rock only twice. Maybe talk about that because your ability could to break tackles and probably that asset alone, the teams are gonna love you, and I know the Bears are gonna love you playing for the Chicago Bearers. So where that where

does that come from? And why isn't such a successful season last year after you transferred. Yeah, definitely, I give the kudos to the success of season last year, just to my coaches and my teammates at VT. They believed in me. They allowed me to go out there and play my game, and they pushed me a lot during the offseason and during camp. But there's no fumbles. I definitely think it comes from one of my time at Kansas.

Whenever on film the ball would get away from our body or anybody would fumble, or anytime you could see the ball on film, we'd have up downs every five yards um. So we do probably five or six hundred dollars five or six hundred yards up down after practice every day until you know, people stopped, people start taking care of the ball. So after that, definitely to pay brother, that's I don't know if the listeners know what the updowns are, are, but how many you did, that's a

pretty stiff pellow. You guys are pretty hard on yourselves. Yeah, and I mean it helps because we stopped doing it. We didn't want to do up down, so we make sure we took care of the ball man and it translated. So Kylele Herbert Ard guests along with Tom and Jeff here and Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six

seventy to score with that vein of conversation. If you you're familiar with Charles Peanut Tillman, right, Charles Tillman one of the best cornerbacks in Bears history, arguably the best, and Bear and the peanut punch. So I know teams do practice. I don't know if the defense is doing that up at Hollis all these days, but you know, that guy could do things I've never seen before, and

therefore it's it's a namesake for him. That would have been a nice challenge for you up downs with the peanut punch, right, Yeah, definitely, definitely, But you know, that's kind of one thing we harp us. We've pried ourselves on taking care of the ball to make sure the defense doesn't get it. So it'd be a good challenge well, catching the ball going forward. It doesn't seem that you were you know, I had a heavy duty amount of

catching the ball in college. So when you talk about developing that aspect of your game, because it's something that's needed in the modern day NFL offenses, is that something that comes with reps from the quarterback from the jugs machine or just uh, you know, something that you're able to work on it during during your own downtime in

the off season. Yeah, it definitely comes from both. I feel like I'm just working on it on my own in off season, making sure I'm I'm catching the ball and I'm getting reps just mentally catching either tens balls or footballs, but then getting with the quarterbacks, you know, before practice, after practice, during practice, making sure that I'm I'm looking the ball in just making sure I'm doing the little things to catch the ball, and it definitely helps.

But catching the ball has never really been a problem with me. I've always been able to do it, just never got the opportunity to do it that much of CODs, But I'm definitely looking forward to being able to do it here. Well, it's hard to work on it now because you're not in pads. And what I mean specifically is you know, third down blocking or blitz picking up

the blitz and and things like that. But what overall do you feel you need to focus on and want to take your game to to another level that maybe you need to shore up a little bit more. Definitely passed brom definitely just really learning my assignment so I know everything I gotta do Pastor takes in learning my assignment, so whenever I get the opportunity, I'm ready to go. So i'd say those two things are two things I'm really focusing on just getting better at and definitely helping

out on special teams. Just learning my role, learning my job, and trying to learn as many different positions as I can to help the team. Because they Harvard our guests, one of the Bear sixth round draft picks out of Virginia Tech, a Florida kid born and read. And uh, I'll tell you, I know this lingers with players, and I'm certain it's it's in the back of your mind

if not. But you know, when I think of guys, all purpose guys, and I talked to Tom about this today, I'm thinking about guys that put up a lot of all, you know, yards from scrimmage or all purpose yards. And you were great at that. Obviously you led the ACC in all purpose yards in twenty But you think of Alvin Kamara, you think of Dalvin Cook, and then the guy that's had the most in the last two years in the league. And I quizzed Tom on this because

we don't see the Chargers much. But it's Austin Eckler from Western Colorado University. You know, undrafted Alfred Morris out of Florida Atlantic in his rookie year, sixth round pick, sixteen hundred yards. As a rookie. You'll hear the story about Terrell Davis, now a Hall of Famer of the Denver Broncos at Georgia sixth round pick. It doesn't matter, does it, where you're picked. Once you're here, you don't need to have the pedigree of a first round pick.

How do you feel about that? When you when you hear some of those names, Yeah, definitely. Those guys are are guys that I've looked up to growing up. I watched and kind of patted my game after. But to see where they started, you know, it's not where he starts how you finish. So you know they took wherever they got picked up with the chip and or with a chip on the sleeve. Um, but they got an opportunity at the end of the day and they made the best of their opportunity. UM. So I'm trying to

do the same exact thing. But really, just you know, you got to foot it in the door right now. It's what you do with it with that foot in the door. So just being grateful for the opportunity and going out and you know, fully investing in getting taken advantage of it. You know, Khalil, you know, what can you learn from the backs in front of you? Because David Montgomery is one of the best backs in the

NFL at yards after contact. But that's also one of the positive evaluations that I've read about you is they said the best back in the draft at yards after contact? Is that just something comes with the territory or could you actually watch tape of a guy who's good at it and learn something or is it just something that you're good at and you get better at it every

every time you get that opportunity. I definitely think it's a combination of both, being would have watched guys and see different ways they break tackles, different ways they make people miss. Definitely something I do. But then again it comes down to just you know, carrying the ball and getting used to breaking that contact too. So I definitely think it's a combination of both. But like you said, Dave, he's one of the best in the league. At it.

So being able to watch these guys in practice and learn from them has definitely helped me a lot in a short amount of time so far. I definitely think it'll continue to Well, what's the plan for you, Khalil? After the OTAs and everything ends here pretty shortly here in the in the next week we stay in Chicago.

Are you going back home to work with a certain specialist or do you have really a program that you're going to attach to and where you're gonna do it at Yeah, I think I'll be going back to home. I'm looking for a place out here, and then once I found a place, I'll probably go back home for a couple of weeks, just recharge, and then come back and be ready to go. Khalil Herbert our guest here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio Activty The Score brought to you by AGF Energy. Last one from

us before we let you go. We really do appreciate it. It's always interesting to me when I start doing the draft prep of where your journeys all begins as players, and you know, I knew you played at American Heritage High School, which was a star studded program with great talent. Many of your classmates drafted around the National Football League, including Patrick Sir, tan Tyson Campbell, and many others. Furness

a two part question. But first, you know, did that sharpen the steal in you because there were so many great players in that program. You guys won state championships repeatedly. You were there only one year because you were at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, which people know that the Parkland tragedy back in the day, That was your first three years. What did those two experiences do for you as now an NFL player, both the tragedy and also

the success of that pro grandmother the great players. Yeah, definitely, That's why I transferred the heritage. UM. I wanted to play against I wanted to play against the best in practice and and you know, compete against the best UM teams in the nation. UM. I wanted to go there and show coaches that coaches in college that and one of the best facts in the state and one of the best facts in the country. So to be the best, you got to play with the best UM in practice,

you know, in games. Definitely helped. Just being there with the top notch guys. UM we always went out of We always sharpened each other in practice, and they always help. Um, we always compete, and I think that's one thing that I definitely learned and it helped me when I went there and then the parking tragedy. Um, definitely, it was was something you know, to this day, I still have no words to kind of explain how it makes me feel.

But just one of those things that you know, you kind of are a reminder of, and to be grateful for where you are and where you're doing, and to make sure that you love on people because you never know when they're gonna go, no matter what the situation is. So just being able to after all that, you know, I went home and we're able to see everybody, but just being able to connect with everybody in and make

sure everybody's good and take care of people. It's kind of one of the things that ever since that day, I'm kind of trying to do every day and make sure everybody's okay. You never know what anybody's going through. Well, we really appreciate time. We appreciate having you here and being a Chicago bearing wishing nothing but success and what is an outstanding running back room and I know you're

gonna be a big part of the Bears. We didn't even talk about your return ability because you can do that too, So we'll be looking forward to seeing your rookie year winds up. Clail, thanks for joining us. Thank you appreciate you have our pleasure. Clail Herbert. Our guests will continue with Jim Miller and Tom Thayre after this break on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you

by Verizon. Anthony Hadams, I gotta laugh, I gotta tell you a story about Anthony and Lauren screen and cover the world of Bears football on the off the field every Sunday night at ten thir five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com or on the Bears official app GYM and Tom with us. Clil Herbert, that's a pro right there. I love this kid. Very excited about what he's gonna bring to the tables, special teams and on the offensive side

of the football. A crowd of backfield, it's gonna be great. That's a terrific room right now. But Anthony Adams. So you know what, almost once a week, for some reason, fellas on my iPhone, I will butt dial Anthony Adams out of nowhere. All of a sudden, I see Anthony Adams and I'm calling him. I hurry up and hang up. So double a if you're listening, hit me up one of these days. I there's it has to have happened ten or twelve times in the last month alone. And

I don't know why. I'll snug the jeans are you're were? You better? You better look uff a little bit? Yeah, all right, it's be running. It's on my runs. I you know, I don't get it. But anyway, you get into your car right and it goes to Anthony. He's the first letter in the alphabet, Anthony Adams and Rady worst on the list. So you're hopping into your car and and that's that's what's going on. Jeff. You got to move it to a different pocket, That's what I maybe.

But maybe what's worse on this the commentary is that he hasn't called me back, so not even checking out me. Maybe it's an emergency. So I'm certain Big Tim and oh there's Jeff jog Bud dyaling me again. You know he knows you're not even there. Hey, a great thing to check out everybody. Tonight is the first debut episode of the Behind the Scenes nineteen twenty Football Drive then

Chicago Bears dot Com. Uh, it's outstanding. It's on other social media channels YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and it features the twenty twenty one draft, the process, the rookie Minicamp, interviews with scouts about the pro day process, the pre draft interviews with guys like Herbert's, and miked up segments. It's a really nice thirty minute show and there's gonna be three episodes of that, So I shout out to Jordan trut Up and his crew for putting that together.

All those guys in Bears Broadcasting do a heck of a job, all right. Before we let you go, Jim tonight, before we handed off to Mark Rody and then Cubs Baseball there in San Francisco battle of first place clubs. The news today brought a lot of emotion out of my guy Tom there, Jim Miller, because the USFL is coming back out of mothballs after four decades. Spring in

twenty twenty two, the eight teams at a minimum. But if if those eight teams are in the cities that they were back, then they're going to have the original logos that colors all that. And then you got two spring leads now Fellas. So how's this working? Maybe I should start with Tommy because that's an emotional start for you.

The USFLA the USFL played a really important role in the develop me as an NFL player because I had Hall of Fame coaches like George Allen, I had one of the most winning Super Bowl coaches in the history of the league, and John Tierlink as our defensive line coach, who taught me a lot about offensive line play and it was instrumental in my development. But it's also it showcases a lot of guys out there that are super

hungry to play football. I could give you a hundred names of guys you'd never heard of that played football in the USFL that that the only three years of professional football in their life was that USFL. I could tell you about one hundred NFL veterans that it was

able to extend their career because of the USFL. And then you have guys that I brought up today, Sam Mills, Montclair State, became an NFL great, all time great, you know, an all pro guy in every way, shape or the forum, character, preparation and play, and he would have never got a chance because he didn't pass the eye test. But I want to tell you what, if you want to take a linebacker in the NFL that stands about five six, he is one of the most dominant players in the

history of the league. You look at the linebackers he played with down at New Orleans in Vaughan Johnson was another guy that played in the USFL with along with Sam Mills. So I think it plays an important role. You know, I have guys from my high school, a guy like Tie Isaac who has as much desire to be a running back in professional football as anybody that's in the NFL. But this is going to give him

an opportunity. This is going to present an opportunity. And no matter what spring league you're talking about, there's guys out there that are just chopping at the bit for their one opportunity in life to see if they can make it from that league into the NFL, just like every one of these guys playing minor league baseball. I want to see, Okay, sorry about the reverb. Everybody, Jim,

they don't. They don't typically last these leagues. But you know, I was mentioned at tom earlier day, NFL Europe did. It was a long standing thing and you were in it, so you you both have experience in other leagues. How

did that impact you? And because it was necessary, Yeah, it was NFL backed right at that point, every team were allocating players, so every team basically chipped in like a million dollars, I think is what it was back and so you know, you could you could have a legitimate league that could function, and they were owned by European owners, but it was still you know, backed by the National Football League. And I agree with Tom. I mean it was an avenue to get more reps. It

was an avenue to hone your craft. And I definitely came back from NFL Europa and I was more equipped and better equipped to step on the on the field in play. So and I'm always for that. You know, it's more opportunities for guys. It's not just players as coaches, it's officials, it's you name it, training staffs, equipment staff,

so all that's involved. So it supports a lot of people and so you know, I think it's a it's a good thing, and it'll be a good brand of ball and we'll see how it's rolled out and how effective they are. I just want to know if Tom's going to roll out as Chicago Blitzes. You still have his Blitz jersey and his Blitz helmet. I gotta know if Tom still has those things. Jam listen, man, I

got Arizona Wranglers, Arizona laws, as Chicago Blitz. I amn't gonna be mister USFL vintage when I go out there, an are pulling out my equipment and starts sporting around. But you know, listen, you know everybody knows what the White Sox are doing. If you look at what your main Mercedes did in order to get his opportunity, I think he's in his thirties in the road that he traveled in order to get to Major League Baseball, that's

the same desire there. There's a lot of grown men that have that want to play football, and they're willing to get those reps in order to get themselves onto a football field, and it's always going to be their desire to play in the NFL. When I was playing in the USFL alongside some of the all time greats and all the Hall of famers that came from the USFL to the NFL. It was their goal to get

into the NFL, just like it was my goal. So listen, if it provides an opportunity or a spark in their life, or Jim talked about all the supports staffings that will be hired, I'm all for it. Well, you know, Jim, he lost that. You're on the air Zona Wranglers when the Philadelphia Stars won the championship eighty four and it's sixty two thousand in tap. But so you remember that game because right after that year, on the way to Halis or two the next year, the next another year

with the Arizona Outlaws. Okay, okay, okay, came right to the Bears. I came from a Saturday night game that finished in Arizona State Stadium. I got in my car after the game, drove straight through to Platteville, Wisconsin, and started full pad training cap that Monday morning. Yeah, well, I can tell you just growing up, I was a huge USFL fan because here in our ear the obviously the Michigan Panthers. Bobby Abar was a quarterback. Anthony Carter was a their star receiver, and he grew up and

played locally right there at University of Michigan. So and they won it all. I mean, it was USFL really. Maybe they started too fast, but they were trying to arrival the National Football League. Certainly this model is going to be a little bit different for them, but it's it's a good thing overall for everybody, right, and two spring leagues that'll be interesting, And as long as it stays in the spring, the NFL will not have an issue with it, I would think, and so more than merrier,

keep playing the game. Everybody loves you. Got games being broadcast. Fox is going to be a part of that USFL package, so it should be interesting. All right, Fellas, we're running out of time, Jim, Thanks as always. We'll talk to you next week, all right, guys, looking forward to it, and you guys have a great weekend, all right, you two.

Thanks as always to our score staff and our producer today Sean Anderson, Jordan Truentup and Dan Billy are Bears producers and of course Cleil Herbert Bears running back outstanding stories there for Tom there, I'm Jeff Joniac Mark Rody coming up next, followed by Cubs, Giants Baseball. Have a great night, everybody. We'll talk to you next week. We'll have more react from next week's Ota from have us All. Thanks for listening. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy

to score good. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes, or download the official Bears mobile app. Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by Miller Lite